“Searching for Sanook”
In November of 2009 Mike and Ann Leming (Directors of Spring Semester in Thailand affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities of Chiang Mai University) saw a performance of “Northern Lights Southern Cross: Tales From the Other Side of the World”–a cross-cultural performance by Interact Theater and the Tutti Ensemble of Australia at the prestigious Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were so inspired that they thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could do some thing like this in Thailand?” As longtime supporters of the Healing Family Foundation of Chiang Mai they felt that the artists at Baan Sanook were capable of similar feats. It was this idea that served as a springboard for the idea of a pilot project with Interact and Bann Sanook. As things progressed other groups became involved.
Sponsored by The Healing Family, Baan Sanook, Spring Semester in Thailand, Rajanagarinda Institute for Child Development (RICD) and Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (Minneapolis), Ms. Jeanne Calvit came to Thailand on February 14, 2010 for a one month Clown workshop with artists with developmental disabilities. She also worked with the leaders in the educational and mental health community of Chiang Mai working with the disabled.
Prior to her arrival Dr. Samai (Director of RICD) and members of his staff who worked with the disabled of Chiang Mai, Dr. Pradit (President of the Healing Family Foundation), Dr. Chaiyan (parent of one of the artists at Baan Sanook), and Ajarns Ann and Mike Leming met together to discuss this opportunity to collaborate with Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (Minneapolis). As a result of this meeting it was decided to initiate a project to provide artists with disabilities and the educators and clinicians who work with them the skills and opportunities for creative expression, artistic growth, and professional performance opportunities. Last year the first clown shows were held at RICD.
During the rehearsals there were actors and performers from RICD, Baan Sanook, a community center, SST, and the community. It became obvious after just two workshops, there were many positive outcomes:
- The three groups, including one artist who did not speak Thai, formed a bond and began improvising together.
- They began to form a community with much mutual caring between the actors.
- The individual actors’ behavior began to visibly change (i.e. one person who sat passively and did not interact began speaking and taking on a leadership role, another that was painfully shy and spoke no Thai became one of the leading clowns, another who had a history of seizures and could concentrate no longer than 10 minutes was working on scenes for 2 hours without any problems).
- The participants began to take initiative and would rehearse at home and during rehearsal breaks they often came up with many creative ideas on their own.
- Their physical and mental endurance improved and they were able to work longer days and be very energetic for 6 hours at a time
- The participants found a sense of purpose and talked about how this was their lives’ dream to become performers.
As a result of the positive changes in the participants last year, RICD and Interact have put together a much bigger effort involving professional musicians, actors, directors, and persons with disabilities. Our long-term goal would be to create a sustaining NGO Center for the Visual and Performing Arts for adults of disability and to affiliate with RICD–the premier Thai governmental mental health facility in Chiang Mai. In the next two years RICD will build a Performing Arts Center, built to look like a piano, and to be used in arts therapy for children and adults.
This center of international cooperation would serve the adult disabled population (post high school) presently underserved in Thailand. RICD would coordinate services by medical professionals with those of the artistic community in Chiang Mai as we challenge existing stereotypes that assume people with disabilities are only able to do menial work and are not capable of higher order skills that involve creativity, focus and discipline. We would also hope to challenge the artistic community to recognize and include the unique talents and visions of people who have long been marginalized in Thai society.
We would encourage everyone to consider attending the musical play “Searching for Sanook” which will be performed for the public in two shows at 2 pm and 7 pm on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at CMU Art Museum Theater (Corner of Suthep Road and Nimmanhemin Road). Tickets are available at the door for 200 baht.
