Latest news with #Pao
CBS News
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
New meaningful play about Cambodian family set in Lowell will debut in city
A new play, "What You Are Now," about a Cambodian family will soon open in Lowell, the city with the second-largest Cambodian population in the United States. The play is actually set in the city. The production looks at generational trauma, family connections, and the hopes of healing. "Sharing this piece allows us to not only share what the people go through," says actor Joe Gno. "But also share the history of the tragedy that happened to the characters of the play and of the people of Cambodia." Actor Pisay Pao makes it clear, "I don't want anyone to be turned away and feel like I'm not Cambodian American, so it wouldn't relate to me. I'd rather people know first that this is an American story. It's an American family story. " Pao says that the family aspect is key. "How much do we really know about our mothers and our fathers? How much do they really know about us?" Her character, Pia, is a neuroscientist on a mission. "She's trying to fix her mom, basically. She's trying to connect with her mom. She wants her mom to be happy. She wants to be close to her. And so she goes through this journey in trying to find a cure for her mom's trauma," Pao explains. The trauma stems from surviving the Khmer Rouge, escaping the Cambodian genocide that claimed the lives of nearly two million people, 50 years ago this month. As Siobhan, the director of a non-profit, actor Kalean Ung hopes to convince Pia's mom to open up about fleeing her homeland. "This speaks to lots of different immigrant families and touches on a lot of subjects that we're still talking about, " Ung says. "Many people are going to see themselves on stage, not just Khmer people." Gno tells us, "There's not a huge gap between the Cambodian population and everybody else, especially here in Lowell." The cast feels that the Merrimack Repertory Theater is the perfect company to stage this play. "As a Cambodian-American myself," Gno says, "it means a lot to get to do this piece and offer something back to the community where their voices [are] not often as represented." "Lowell is such an amazing city," Pao tells us. " I stumbled upon city hall, and they were doing a Cambodian flag raising. And I was just stunned. I was shocked. I couldn't believe that this was happening in Lowell. And it wasn't just Cambodians. It was the entire community, and I got to see how diverse the city really is." Ung agrees, "The community is so supportive. They want to be involved, and it's so meaningful to be able to tell a story like this for this community." Merrimack Repertory Theater's production of "What You Are Now" opens at the Lowell Auditorium on Wednesday, April 23 and runs through May 11.
Associated Press
30-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Chloe Kitts shakes off missed free throws, then sinks a pair to send South Carolina to Final Four
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Chloe Kitts doinked two straight free-throw attempts off the basket late in the third quarter of South Carolina's Elite Eight game against Duke. Then she sank a pair of clutch ones when it mattered most. Kitts got to the line and nailed her sixth and seventh free throws of the game to give the Gamecocks a four-point lead in their women's NCAA Tournament regional final. South Carolina held on the final 5 seconds to win 54-50 and earn a trip to the Final Four for the fifth straight year. Duke had worked the clock down before Ashlon Jackson shot an airball on a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left. South Carolina's Bree Hall got the rebound, and the Gamecocks called timeout. 'Coach (Dawn Staley) drew up the play and she said the ball was going to get to me,' Kitts said. The junior forward admitted she was nervous and initially asked her teammate, guard Te-Hina Paopao, to take the ball. 'I walked out there and I was like, 'Pao, can you get the ball? Can you get the ball?'' Kitts said. 'Pao was like 'Girl, what? Go get the ball.'' Kitts did and was fouled with 5.7 seconds left. As she walked up to the line, she said she was too nervous to even look around. Her father stood not too far from the bench cheering on. She was too afraid to glance over at him. Her teammates started yelling. 'I was at the 3-point line screaming: 'You're unshakeable! You're unshakeable! You got this!' Hall said. And Kitts, who led South Carolina with 14 points, told herself the same thing. 'I was just taking a deep breath,' she said. 'I told myself that my coach wanted me to have the ball at the end of the game because she knew I could make my free throws. And I told myself that I'm really good at basketball, and I made both of them.' Duke turned over the ball on the ensuing inbound play. Sania Feagin grabbed it, and the Gamecocks ran out the clock. Staley said Kitt's poise down the stretch was a reflection of her growth. She's spent her entire college career with South Carolina after joining the Gamecocks midway through her high school senior season. She barely played as a freshman, then averaged 9.1 points during the Gamecocks' undefeated championship season as a sophomore. This season, Kitts averaged 10.3 points and eight rebounds, while shooting 52.9% from the field. She's scored in double figures in each round of the tournament, including a 15-point, 11-rebound performance against Maryland in the Sweet 16. 'She's grown in every aspect of her life,' Staley said. 'Mentally, physically, emotionally. We have grown-up conversations and I can't believe it sometimes because of how she came in. Now she's really thought-provoking, like she is really asking all the right things.' Kitts said it was a great feeling to have her coach's confidence despite the earlier misses. 'It feels amazing because I feel like I worked so hard,' Kitts said, 'and my process is different. And everyone's process is different. I'm just so thankful to be in that position at the end of the game to go the Final Four.'
Miami Herald
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Meet the woman who wouldn't let trial, prison or a freak injury keep her from the Miami Marathon
Paola Soto had every excuse not to run in Sunday's Life Time Miami Marathon. In 2022, she was on trial for charges of conspiracy and smuggling. In 2023, she was in prison. And in 2024, finally free from incarceration with plans to finally run, she fell in a pothole and injured her knee. Many people would have given up. Marathons are a test of mental strength; just the very idea of a 26.2-mile run can be deterrent. Soto, however, isn't most people. 'Running saved me,' she said, calling the activity her 'purpose.' 'It's so much easier to stay in bed on a chilly day, watch Netflix or eat snacks. But I need it. It became something that just makes me feel better.' After three years of setback after setback after setback, Soto will finally run the 2025 Life Time Miami Marathon, which starts Sunday morning near the Kaseya Center, runs through Miami Beach and ends downtown. The journey to get here was far from easy — just days before her interview she had a nightmare that Sunday's race had started without her — yet it strengthened her. Taught her. And arguably most importantly, humbled her. 'I learned that I'm capable of surviving the unexpected,' Soto said, later adding that she realized the importance of 'making myself a priority' and 'setting strong boundaries.' 'This is my way out' It started in 2010. A then-24-year-old Soto had began to work for renowned Colombian handbag designer Nancy Gonzalez, whose work was featured everywhere from 'Sex in the City' to the film 'The Devil Wears Prada.' The issue was Gonzalez, like most artists, struggled to meet deadlines. That meant Soto, a Colombian native, would have to transport the bags to the United States herself instead of through the proper channels. 'At some point when you're involved in this world and in that world, you're oriented to your goal,' Soto recalled, adding that she needed to have 'everything in for the exposition at the showroom, exhibited at the right time so the buyers from all these large companies can buy them.' In 2019, however, Soto got caught. It was an experience that she will never forget. 'The company that I worked for was under investigation and I didn't know that,' Soto said Soto who was on vacation when the probe began. When she landed at Miami International Airport in December 2019, U.S. Marshalls greeted her. 'That was the beginning. I was terrified. I was praying that they didn't take me to prison.' Although the Marshalls took her to the Miami Federal Detention Center, she posted bond the next day. Soto spent the next three years in litigation, eventually pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate as witness. Longtime friend Jobeth Ramirez was shocked. 'It was just surprising,' said Ramirez who had known Soto for more than a decade. 'Someone like Pao facing the charge that they said she was facing was just so unreal. It felt like someone was setting her up. It didn't seem like Pao. It seemed like a situation where her kindness was taken advantage of.' On September 28, 2022, Soto would begin her nine-month sentence at Marianna Federal Camp. That's when the fear began to set in. 'When I entered prison, I was in fear not just of the surroundings but of myself,' Soto said. Her mind raced with questions almost immediately. 'Is a really bad depression going to hit me? Am I going to be able to survive? Am I going to think about killing myself? What's going to happen to me?' Negative thoughts, however, can often become a self-fulfilling prophecy and before long, she actually found herself deep in the doldrums, recalled friend Rebecca Cyphers. 'When you're first put there, you don't know what to expect,' said Cyphers, who arrived at Marianna with Soto. 'There are no doors and you're put up on the second floor and you're in quarantine for a couple of weeks at a time.' Added Cyphers: 'We were very scared of what was outside of quarantine. We had all these 'Orange is the New Black' shows that had us sacred to death. We had been told about women killing each other and coming into your room.' Then Soto remembered her old friend. Running 'is therapy for me,' she said. 'This is my way out.' Added Soto: 'I'm a different person when I run.' Although Soto had planned to do the 2023 Miami Marathon alongside Ramirez, her incarceration prevented her from doing so. Soto, however, came up with an idea. 'While I was in prison, there was a track,' she recalled, 'and I was like 'You know what? If they can do it, I can do it. That was it.' Armed with a training guide courtesy of Ramirez, Soto trained profusely during the next three and a half months to prepare herself for a makeshift, half marathon. Many inmates called her crazy. Some even told her she didn't have to do it. Soto, however, knew that she needed to run for her mental health. 'Prison is all mental,' she said, explaining that people often 'set the limitations' on themselves without. 'Even while being in prison, I felt free being able to break those barriers through running.' Eventually, many of her fellow inmates decided to participate. 'So many people got involved and started getting motivated like 'Let me get out there and walk with you,'' Soto recalled being told. When it came time for her own marathon, the prison and inmates alike did everything they could to make it appear some level of normal. They created lap cards and a medal while Cyphers put together a peanut butter victory cake. Her fellow inmates even shared their fruit — bananas in particular — so she could fight off cramps. 'This little group of us positioned ourselves around the track and had words for her on our signs to keep her positive and going,' Cyphers said. 'So she finished — I think it was 54 laps or something — and we had Winner's Circle for her and celebrated that day.' 'I was not surprised that that's how she took it but definitely inspired nonetheless because no one would've blamed her if she didn't choose to run a marathon,' Ramirez added, explaining that Soto 'didn't let her circumstances define her.' 'It just goes to show you as long as you put your mind to something and apply yourself and show up for yourself, you can meet your goals.' When Soto emerged from prison in May 2023, she was a different person. Her resilience inspired Cyphers to write and release a children's book entitled 'Little Running Wolf Girl: Paola's Tale.' 'It's a heartfelt story but she's really coming out an amazing woman, an amazing winner because of all her persistence,' Cyphers said, later quipping that she 'would like to be more like her and I'm twice her age.' Added Cyphers: 'There's really no one quite like her.' Soto, like everyone, is far from perfect. Despite her jovial demeanor, she too has bad days. And when those come, she remembers the words of one woman in particular who cheered her on during her prison marathon. 'On my difficult days, I still have the girls in my head,' Soto said. 'There's one girl in particular. I remember I was tired and she's like 'Come on, baby. You got this! You got this!' 'Mind can be your best ally or your worst enemy' As Soto sat at a coffee shop in Coconut Grove, reflecting on her life ahead of Sunday's marathon, she wasn't bitter. There were a bit of nerves – her last two efforts ultimately didn't pan out – yet she felt confident. 'I think the hardest one was being able to run in prison because your mind can be your best ally or your worst enemy,' Soto said. But when Soto accidentally stepped in a pothole ahead of the 2024 Miami Marathon, she inflamed her infrapatellar fat pad, the tissue behind the kneecap, and the doubt started to creep back into her mind. 'When I fell, I cried but not solely out of pain — it was mostly frustration,' Soto said. She immediately began to question whether a marathon was even God's plan for her. But the more inquiries Soto had, the more she thought about life behind bars. Whether incarcerated or on the mend, it was just another trial for her 'That's life,' Soto said. 'Life is always going to bring you ups and downs. You're going to fall then you're going to have to stand up again.' Nowadays, Soto has her real estate license. She'll get married soon. Prison, as it seems, is way in rearview mirror. But when she finally crosses that finish line, expect a release of the emotions that she has carried around since 2022. 'I'm going to cry. I'm already emotional and I haven't even completed it,' Soto said. 'I feel like I'm closing a chapter in my life and this is graduation.' IF YOU GO WHAT: Miami Marathon WHEN: 5 a.m. Sunday, February 2, 2025 WHERE: City of Miami and Miami Beach PRICE: Free for spectators For more information, visit
