BEI Fellow Mary Swander collaborated with Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Dennis Chamberlain and Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival award-winner Matt Foss to create a drama, Vang (meaning “garden” or “farm” in Hmong). Vang follows the lives of recent immigrant farmers in Iowa, drawing heavily from the true stories and actual words of Hmong, Mexican, Sudanese, and Dutch immigrant families. During the play, acted by Matt Foss and Cora Vander Broek, photos from the immigrants’ lives are projected onto a screen to contextualize the performance. Vang is currently touring in the United States.
More information on the play and bookings can be found on her website.