The TERASIA Collective

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.

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 Sample, chelfitsch, Okazaki Art Theatre, Mikuni Yanaihara Project, Busstrio, Office Mountain, Tokatsu Sports, Yukari Sakata, Chiharu Shinoda, and OLTA. She has also participated in many international tours, as well as in the 2019 Japanese-Polish coproduction “Always Coming Home” by director Magda Szpecht. Playing a wide range of roles both domestically and internationally, she works beyond conventional boundaries. Since 2022, she has hosted “The Classroom of Acting” at PARA Jimbocho in Tokyo, a place to think about acting through experimentation.

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.

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. She served as dramaturg for the original production of TERA (2018), and in May 2020, she was part of initiating TERASIA with Kop in Thailand and other artists. She is an Asian Cultural Council fellow for 2022.

Narumol Thammapruksa is a performing artist and a self-defense or 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, while also portraying how the individual has been oppressed and how others are affected by oppression. Besides 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 in 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, 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, multicultural, and passionate 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, and workshop provider, collaborating with world-renowned artists to produce 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 performances of Thai music. After he completed his doctorate in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, the University of London, he became a lecturer there. With his specialties in Thai and experimental music, he became a member of Korphai, the renowned contemporary Thai music band, in 2000. He also co-produced the musical soundtrack of Homrong films on Thai music in 2004. He was selected as a representative of Thai musicians to perform in the Asia Traditional Music Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea. In 2019 he produced and performed his music in Mahajanaka performing arts with Pichet Klunchun, highlighting the Buddha’s past life; this was performed in various cities in the UK. Currently, he is the permanent lecturer in Performing Arts at Chiang Mai University. 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, where he studied Thai arts and cultures. He has performed and directed various music events in Chiang Mai. In addition to his musical talents, he also works as a scholar of Lanna and ethnic music. He has edited a book about Lanna percussionists. At present, Torpong is affiliated with the cultural promotion center 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.

Zun Ei is a medical doctor and multidisciplinary artist. Zun Ei’s primary interest concerns public participatory art works and community art projects. Main themes of her works are social and ecological issues related to children and elderly people. During the different crises in her country and around the world, her works become involved in peace, justice and psychosocial rebuilding toward resiliency. Her artworks are collected not only locally but also internationally.
She has been involved in many international art projects and worked with different communities across South East Asia and some European countries. She is a fellow of Mekong Cultural Hub and is currently working as a program manager for the Association for Myanmar Contemporary Arts (AMCA).

Thila Min, co-founder and artistic director of Thukhuma Khayeethee (TK) Theatre (TKT) created a theatre group composed of young people interested in theatre and working in collaboration with local and international artists. He has participated in many international festivals as Director and Performer, such as Theatre and Performance Art Meeting (Japan, 2017), Asian Performance Art Forum (Japan, 2016), Bangkok Theater Festival (2011) and the Stockholm Arts Festival (2010). He also participated in the Cultural Visitor Program organized by the US Department of State in 2009. He received an Asian Cultural Council (New York) Fellowship award in 2012. He writes, directs and performs participatory plays with his theatre company, and tours throughout Myanmar questioning the current condition of community.

Performer and Theater Trainer of Thukhuma Khayeethe Theater (TKT). He has participated in many international festivals as Performer and Trainer, such as the Stockholm Arts Festival (2011) and Bangkok Theater Festival (2011). He also participated in the Under, After and In Between Program (Indonesia) organized by Empty Space Theater (Thailand). He worked on the Theatre for Civic Engagement project at the Bond Street Theater of New York and took part in the Theatre and Performing Arts Meeting (TPAM) in Yokohama, Japan. He has much experience creating community theater in Myanmar. He writes and performs original plays with his theater company.

Theater Maker of Thukhuma Khayeethe Theater (TKT). He has participated in many international festivals as Performer, such as the Bangkok Study Tour Program (2011), Under, After and In Between project at the Indonesia Theater Festival (2012) and Asian Performing Arts Forum International Collaboration in Japan (2017). He has also served as consultant for theater workshops and plays in Myanmar.

Suu Myat Noe Oo began performing with the Thukhuma Khayeethe Theater (TKT) in 2017 at the age of 19. Since then, she has performed in many theatre pieces in the form of the Theatre of the Oppressed and expanded her practice to its different branches, such as Forum Theatre, Image Theatre, Invisible Theatre, and Edutainment. She has also started sharing the technique of Forum Theatre with her friends nationwide, which has spread throughout universities in Myanmar. Together, they have performed and shared this technique at regular intervals in the past few years. Now, they are continuing to share their knowledge on a digital platform for the next generations of performers.

Actor and Dancer of Thukhuma Khayeethe Theater (TKT), which works in collaboration with local and international artists. She has participated in many events as actor and performer, such as the Image Will Tell Youth Campaign on Social Media organized by Thukhuma Khayeethe Theater (TKT) and Forum Theatre Workshop by Kalyana Mitta Foundation (KMF). She also performed and danced in many works at the University Festivals during her student life, such as opera, plays, and musical and traditional dances.

Kamizu is an artist and art therapist who has pursued a career in visual art for over two decades. Actively involved in numerous domestic and overseas art projects and workshops over that time, she strongly believes that art can bring peace and mindfulness to anyone. Her philosophy is that every human being is an artist from a different perspective; it is just that some do not notice this themselves. She hopes art can be a platform to interact with people and connect them to themselves, to each other, and to nature as part of an emotional journey. Her works are research-based, and extend beyond painting and drawing. Kamizu has presented four solo exhibitions to date in Myanmar, Japan, and Malaysia. In addition, she has participated in numerous international art festivals, art fairs, and artist residencies. Her works have been featured in more than twenty group exhibitions at venues in Myanmar, Austria, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. She is also one of the founders of Expressive Therapy Space, where she facilitates and runs art and healing workshops and programs.