An Earth Goddess (Preah Mae Thorani)

What?

This show feels unfinished. It needs a narrator or something to tell us what’s going on. I couldn’t follow any story or plot line, and the scenes felt random and unconnected. The kids are cute.

Clem’s review above nailed it

I am happy the performance brought joy to the family & friends in attendance, but if you’re picking amongst competing shows in a slot, I would look elsewhere, respectfully.

It's actually pretty sweet

Ugly stuff first: the music is all canned, lots of the singing is also canned, half of the dialogue is inaudible, the dialogue itself is sometimes nonsense, and if you put a gun to my face I still wouldn't be able to tell you what this play is about. Now the good stuff: this is probably the most psychedelic play I'm going to see all fringe. It's impossible to tell if that's intended or not, my money's on not, but the intention doesn't matter. The saturated lights, absurd gags, weaving choreography, offensively long game of duck duck goose that interrupts the narrative out of nowhere, and the confusing state of the narrative itself are all perks. The performers are amazing in their commitment, they feel very sincere and believable, and they ground a world that would otherwise fly off the hinges. You can tell a director really sank their hooks into this one, gave it lots of CPR, despairing the whole time if I had to guess. The result is a play that radiates beautiful energy and beautiful colors and a beautiful sense of calm. You just have to treat it like someone has secretly drugged you, and let it wash over you, don't fight it, curl up into a ball and let your lizard brain ride the wave. That's what I did, and instead of getting a headache, I felt like I was levitating by the end of this show. Even when an ancient Cambodian elephant person in a saffron robe explicitly mentions Minnesota and bemoans the death of social media, or a very sudden evil rap song blasts through the middle of a villain's monologue and drowns out every imaginable sound with bass and incomprehensible lyrics that I'm pretty sure were about literally surfing. The child performers were all awesome.

Review of Preah Mae Thorani (An Earth Goddess)

Plot: Ganesh (the Hindu Elephant God) and Samudra/Samutra (a Hindu Goddess) introduce you to the play. They are like the narrators of the play. They introduce you to the ancient kingdom of Cambodia. Then, they return to the present day in Minnesota. This is the second play by emerging Cambodian American playwright Narate Keys. (Her first play, Apsara, was an excellent production.) In this second play, the costumes were beautiful. The child performers were adorable. I thought the actor who played Ganesh, the Elephant God, was the strongest performer. All of the actors performed with enthusiasm and heart. I think next time you might have a stronger narrator and explain the plot more in the program. Keep up the good work, Narate Keys!

Not quite polished enough for me.

I think I kind of followed the overall story, but it did not flow as smoothly as I would have liked. The costumes were fun and the young kids were cute, but I was not wowed by the performance.

A fun show with lots going on!

This is an entertaining play with lots going on. The music is good and the actors are especially strong performers. The play brings together important historical characters across Khmer history including the Buddha himself! The show keeps you on your toes as each scene leaves you wondering about what's next. My suggestion is for more information to the audience about the characters and their significance to Khmer culture and history. I don't have suggestions for how to do this but it would help viewers better follow the story. The children actors were quite good and very sweet. It's definitely worth checking out!

An Earth Goddess

Loved the traditional Khmer fusion mixed with modern day Minnesota! Made it so easy for a lot of us to relate to!

An ethnic eco-drama about migration and home

It is very suitable for children, so much so that it creates the illusion that it was created specifically for children, adults will be bored.

I know other people didn't like it but I...

Full disclosure: I acted in Apsara the Musical in 2025 (last year), playing Hanuman. So, I do have personal experience with the playwright and her way of doing things. I certainly think it's fair to say that the play needed to be fleshed out and worked on more. Also, my neurospicy brain did kinda emotionally connect with what it was trying to do. I did see into the whiplash of being Khmer in Minnesota, with the script's attempts to connect Cambodian bodies of water with Minnesota bodies of water. Not perfectly executed, but I felt it. And the kid's games part brought back memories of me learning Korean games at a Korean culture camp as a Korean adoptee. To me, it felt relatable because of how I wish I had deeper connections to being Korean and also a wistful memory for my days in Korean culture camp. The part of the Buddha felt like an immigrant's search for meaning in the confusing state of Minnesota. I related to that as well. I know some people didn't like the vocals. Certainly there were some parts where the singing in the track was not in tune (and not in a way which was clearly the use of a non-Western scale with microtonalities), and this was a tad rough. But also, there were actually times when I think it somehow added to the performace. With the antagonist of the show, it created an effect of multi-voice villain. That felt cool and interesting. Yes, I think this show could have been worked on for next year. Quite a few things DID work for me, contrary to what other reviewers say.