NHP Board member and alum (2018 and 2021) Vichet Chum’s play Kween will receive its world premiere at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA. The play was also commissioned by MRT.

Set in Lowell, this joyful journey follows Soma, a queer Cambodian American teenager, finding her voice and stepping into her legacy. When Soma posts a video performing her own poetry about the struggles, she’s facing including her father's deportation, it quickly goes viral. With Lowell High School's spoken word contest approaching and her family deeply impacted, Soma must decide if she's brave enough to step into the spotlight. Told with humor, heart-forward characters, and culminating in a Khmer wedding ceremony, Kween explores all the ways we author our path home.