PROJECTS WITHIN THE PROGRAMME
1. Kami Bukannya Patong (1991)
This forum theatre performance was produced by Five Arts Centre, directed by Janet Pillai, and designed by Liew Kung Yew. The show was performed by 15 secondary school students from SMK Seri Puteri on the topic of oppression. The script was devised by the performers and was made up of scenarios culled from their personal surroundings, where they had experienced oppression of one kind or another. In the interactive play, they invite the audience to provide a way out of the situations of oppression. Directed by Janet Pillai, with Charlene Rajendran as Assistant Director. The performance also incorporated video snippets from popular superhero movies compiled by Wong Hoi Chong. These snippets were projected during scenes of conflict, to juxtapose the children’s lack of bravado in comparison to their fantasies of being saved by fictional heroes.
2. Setumpok Pisang (1996)
The TIE performance ‘Setumpuk Pisang’ was directed at 15 and 16 year-olds, and based on the topic of teenage self-image. In this musical comedy, a bunch of characters reveal their personal conflicts related to self-esteem and image projection. An intermediary instigates the audiences to interject and make comments or suggestions on how the characters could bring changes into their own lives. The script was devised from focus group discussions with teenagers. The TIE team consisted of 7 performers, together with guest director Steve Gration, dramaturg Charlene Rajendran of Five Arts Centre, and writer Mahani Gunnel. The project consisted of 3 phases; pre-performance research and workshop activities to cull ideas, an interactive performance in schools, and post-performance classroom activities. The performance toured 5 secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur, and additionally played to a mixed audience at 2 public performances.
3. OK Tak OK (1998-2002)
‘OK Tak OK’ was devised at a time when cases of child abuse were becoming public in Malaysia. The project was developed in partnership with an NGO, the Women’s Centre for Change (WCC, then known as Women’s Crisis Centre) in Penang, who championed the protection of women and children. The project aimed to help primary school children aged 10-12 years to distinguish between ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch,’ and also to empower them through participation on how to manage such a situation were it to arise. The team – consisting of 4 adult actors, who toured the performance to 18 primary schools in 1998, and 8 schools in 1999, throughout the state of Penang – used the forum theater technique and an information picture book as post-performance reflection. As the demand for the performance increased, WCC found it necessary to produce a VCD version of the performance (2000) in collaboration with the media company Red Communications. In 2001, a comprehensive kit containing the video, a manual, a pamphlet for teachers, and a picture book for students; was produced for school distribution. A new, updated video was produced and distributed again in 2004.
4. STOP! LOOK! GO! (1998)
‘STOP! LOOK! GO!’ was a Theatre-in-Education project aimed at raising conflict literacy, by introducing the notion of emotional management in conflict situations among teenage students aged 16-17. The project was devised and performed as part of the inter-disciplinary research project entitled ‘Drama and Conflict Handling’ (DRACON), led by a conflict researcher and a drama educator from Universiti Sains Malaysia. The TIE team consisted of a director-dramaturg, 6 adult actors, and a designer. Ten performances of the TIE production ‘Stop! Look! Go!’ were played to a total of 1300 teenagers aged 16 and 17 years, across 5 schools in Penang. The TIE package included a Teacher’s Guide on conflict theory, and a pre-performance Activity Kit for students, which contained desk activities and information about conflict that would prepare the student audience for the participatory performance.
5. RESPEK! (1999-2004) The TIE performance ‘RESPEK!’ (1999) was initiated by the Women’s Crisis Centre (now known as the Women’s Centre for Change), an NGO which undertakes extensive outreach programmes on violence against women. WCC worked with Young Theatre Penang to design this TIE aimed at helping 14-16 year old adolescents understand puberty, via their struggle with self-esteem, image, and negotiation in relationship situations. The TIE performance was preceded by interactive workshop sessions; which covered the topics of puberty, sex education, and reproduction. The performance following the workshop dramatised adolescents negotiating potentially exploitative relationships; participants were encouraged to explore and suggest options in handling such situations, through discussion and participatory role play in the drama. Students from 7 welfare institutions and 2 secondary schools participated in the 3-hour workshop cum performance. The programme’s success spurred the WCC to expand it across Penang schools, which required them to develop a videotape – cum-manual package – in the year 2000. The package was piloted by trained facilitators, and was followed by training for teachers on how to execute it with their secondary students.