Front Row

One Mic Stand, a local comedy open mic show, is celebrating its 6th anniversary in June 2018. To celebrate this, they’re having a special anniversary showcase called Mega OMS 6. Stand-up comics Prakash Daniel and Brian Tan, the current boys behind the laughs, talk to us about running the longest running comedy open mic show in Malaysia.  

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Renee Kraal is a Kuala Lumpur born-and-bred artist who has been painting for at least the last four decades. She was an early member of the Wednesday Art Group, an pioneering arts collective in the 1960s and 1970s that counted among its members illustrious Malaysian artists like Sivam Selvaratnam, Patrick Ng, and Mustapha Mahmud. An exhibition called “A Ha Moments” is displaying Renee’s works over the years. Renee talks to us about the exhibition and her journey as an artist.

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The classical music festival in Johor Bahru is in its fourth year. The artistic curator tells why it is growing and points out that indeed classical music is not declining in the country but on the ascend. He also tells about the festival’s offerings of small chamber-sized music groups in pointing to what “small” can offer which large orchestras can’t. Hear also samples of the music that will be performed.

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The annual Refugee Festival, now in its third edition, aims to provide a different view of refugees. The cultures, tradition and art of the various refugee communities in Malaysia are highlighted in the festival, with the aim of building bridges and celebrating the diversity that they can bring to our country. We speak to festival director Mahi Ramakrishnan, and two performers who are Syrian refugees, on how arts and culture can provide a voice for the displaced as well as be a way of connecting with their new communities.

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The 15th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards are being presented on June 24, 2018, with awards being presented for the best Malaysian productions staged last year across four performing arts categories: music, dance, theatre, and musical theatre. We speak to executive judges Sandra Sodhy and Foo Chi Wei on the judging process, and their thoughts on the Malaysian performing arts over the past year.

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Our producer was in Manila when this adaptation of Shakespeare’s play ‘Richard III’ was performed in a mix of the Bard’s language, contemporary English and Filipino. In the small black box the experience of the violence was made more immediate when lived experiences on the streets of killings documented on video were woven into the live performance about murdering to be a king.

Cast of RD3RD

Richard III Teroy Guzman
Narrator, Duchess of York Dr Ricky Abad
Queen Margaret Judy Ick
Queen Elizabeth Jay Valencia Glorioso
Lady Hasting Katski Flores
Clarence Joseph Dela Cruz
Lady Anne Missy Maramara
And others
Directed by Dr Anton Juan and Dr Ricky Abad

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Our guests describe the genre of performance that will be held under the banyan tree at klpac and under the cover of night. Theatre performers-and-writers will perform their own poems, freed from the strictures of a microphone. This isn’t slam poetry, not performance poetry. It is poetry performed.

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Ampannee Satoh is from the Pattani region in Thailand, and she is also one of very few female photographers to focus on the social and cultural aspects of this region. Her latest series, “Lost Motherland”, focuses on questions of the homeland, the diaspora, and migrants. Ampannee talks to us about being a female, Muslim photographer from Thailand, and the importance of sharing diverse narratives from her country.

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Souls Impact Percussion returns for their third production with a drum-dance theatre performance that draws inspiration from The Heart Sutra, one of the scriptures of Buddhism. The show’s artistic director Cross Chin and choreographer Joyce Chan talk to us about how they use drum, dance, and theatre to bring the show, “Wuwuming”, to life.

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Brian Lowdermilk is one half of Kerrigan-Lowdermilk, the musical theatre duo who has made a name in the US as the ones to watch in Broadway. Their works include musicals like Henry & Mudge, and most recently, The Mad Ones. Brian, who was in Kuala Lumpur for a musical theatre masterclass and a performance, talks to us about musical theatre, his work, and why there’s no business like show business.

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