The TERASIA Collective

Born in Tokyo in 1987, Yukari Sakata graduated from the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment at Tokyo University of the Arts and then honed her skills working as a stage technician at theatres around Japan. At Festival/Tokyo 2014, she directed “Rashomon | Yabunonaka” in collaboration with Al-Kasaba Theatre from Palestine. In recent years, she has experimented with applying the ideas and techniques of theatre to the format of the exhibition. Her long-term project “Dear Gullivers” with the architect Jorge Martín García was featured in the Spanish pavilion at the 16th Venice Biennale in 2018. Sakata employs collaboration with existing narratives as a means of attempting artistic interventions in communities.

Born in Hyogo in 1987, Miho Inatsugu started her career in the theatre while studying at Tokyo University of the Arts. She works as an independent actor, mainly for the stage. Her acting credits include productions by Okazaki Art Theatre, Sample, Toshiki Okada’s chelfitsch, Mikuni Yanaihara Project, Busstrio, Office Mountain, and Tokatsu Sports. She has played a wide range of roles in Japan and abroad, including in “Always Coming Home” (2019), a Japanese-Polish co-production directed by Magda Szpecht. In productions directed by Yukari Sakata, she has appeared in “BOMBSONG” (2008), “Proserpina” (2009), “Khail Taiha” (2017), and “Tera” (2018, 2021).

Born in Tokyo in 1983, Kyojun Tanaka is a drummer, percussionist, and composer. He started his musical career since he was a student in Tokyo University of the Arts. Following time with the likes of Naruyoshi Kikuchi’s dCprG, he attained his Ph.D., and is currently a rhythm-addicted university staff who travels the world in search of rhythms that make one want to “embrace.” Kyojun performs with his unit MIDOUTEI and the Latin jazz band Septeto Bunga Tropis. He is also engaged in the research and musical training of hsaing waing at the National University of Arts and Culture in Myanmar. “Tera” (2018) was his first participation in Yukari Sakata’s works, and he also performed in its shows in Tunisia (2019).

Born in Saitama in 1992, Maho Watanabe is a translator and dramaturg who works in and around art, media, and humanitarian work. In 2014, during her year abroad in the West Bank as an Arabic Studies student, she joined the director Yukari Sakata in “Rashomon | Yabunonaka,” a theatre co-production by Palestinian and Japanese artists. This marked her first involvement in performing arts, followed by numerous international collaboration projects, festivals, and workshops. Her translation of “Lilac Duhaa (Death in the Era of IS)” by Palestinian playwright Ghannam Ghannam won the 2019 Odashima Yushi Award for Drama Translation.

Narumol Thammapruksa is a performing artist and a self-defense artist, or an Aikido artist, with a special interest in social issues.

She portrays the performer’s experiences by developing a technique called autobiographical storytelling, which tells stories of the individual’s views on societies in parallel with the present world. On the other hand, this also portrays how one was oppressed and how others are affected by oppression. Other than plays, she is also interested in non-verbal movement, including mime, modern dance, and using masks. The director breaks the old tradition of the imagined “wall” that separates the performers from the audience. Throughout the performance, every now and then, she urges the audience not to be taken by its stories. She uses symbolic language to deconstruct and reconstruct.

At present, she is on the committee of the Peace Culture Foundation, whose aim is to build the culture of peace, promoting non-violence through social art activities and Aikido practices. She hopes that these activities will help foster love and compassion, empathy, and diversity, aiming for harmonious societies.

www.sonokoprow.com

Sonoko Prow is half Japanese and half Thai-Chinese, working as a director and performer. She has a multi-disciplinary, passionate, and multi-cultured background which makes her an extraordinary performer. She has created her own self-discovery and development program, which she uniquely applies to her Butoh performances.

Sonoko also founded Khandha Arts’n Theatre Company. She works as its director, performer, workshop provider, collaborating with world-renowned artists producing works for stage performances and arts festivals.

Kram Thum is a traveler, graphic designer, and interior designer. He graduated in Buddhist Studies from Delhi University, India.

When he returned to Thailand, he merged his traveling experiences with designs in various graphic and interior design projects he co-created, such as Karmakamet hotel and X2 at Koh Samui.

In 2010 he got a chance to work with world-renowned Japanese multi-disciplinary artist Tadasu Takamine in Japan and Thailand in a performing arts project named “Melody Cup.”

He is currently an astrology teacher at Suwannakhomkham Foundation, Bangkok.

After graduating in music from Mahidol University, Great lectured in Japan at Kanda International Language Studies University, teaching music and religions in South East Asia and Thai music performances. Afterward he studied for his doctorate at SOAS, the University of London in Ethnomusicology. After his graduation, he became a lecturer at SOAS.

With his specialties in Thai and experimental music, he became a member of Korphai, the renowned contemporary Thai music band since 2000. He also co-produced the musical soundtrack of Homrong films on Thai music in 2004. He also got selected as the Thai musicians representative to perform in the Asia Traditional Music Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea. In 2019 he produced and performed his music in Mahajanaka performing arts, highlighting the Buddha’s past life, with Pichet Kluncheun, which was performed in various cities in the UK.

Currently, he is the permanent lecturer in Performing Arts at Chiang Mai University.

Torpong Samerjai is an artist who specializes in Lanna music. He graduated from Chiang Mai University in Thai arts and cultures.

He performed and directed various music events in Chiang Mai. In addition to his musical talents, he also works as a Lanna and ethnic music scholar. He is also the editor of a book about Lanna percussion musicians.

At present, Torpong is affiliated with the cultural promotion centre of Chiang Mai University.

A barista of a coffee corner in a kids’ bookstore, namely ‘Bookish Buffalo.’ A filmmaker of an independent studio called ‘Mayim Studio.’ A writer with various pen names. A person interested in religions, philosophy, soul searching, what’s going on in society and at the margin, who tries to communicate his thoughts via documentaries, feature films, short stories, novels, essays, poems, and songs. Currently, apart from making coffee, his time is spent on a long documentary about political demands in Thailand, film script writings, and other writings.