Upcoming Projects
Makhampom Study Tour 2020
Registrations are Open...
June 24 - July 11, 2020
Makhampom Art Space
Chiang Dao, Thailand
The 2020 Makhampom Study Tour is now open for registration. Join us on this special 20th Study Tour program, the final opportunity to participate in this unique program. The 18-day intensive brings participants together in an intensive but playful mix of inter-cultural exchange, community engagement, and performance making. The local environment offers waterfalls, caves, hot springs, and the beautiful Chiang Dao valley. And in engaging with the indigenous partner communities of Pateung Ngam and Pang Daeng Nok, you will be part of an exchange that has been recognised as a model of community empowerment and solidarity.
Study Tour Program
Day 1 Arrivals, Introductions, Thai Language & Bicycle Ride, Cultural Night
Day 2 Homeland Mapping & Personal Mapping Workshops, Makhampom presentation
Day 3 Relaxed Morning, Waterfall & Temple VIsit, Community Engagement Preparation
Day 4 Community Exchange in Pateung Ngam village
(youth workshops, cultural trail, family life, cultural night, homestay)
Day 5 Community Reflection Workshop, Cave & Hot Springs Visit
Day 6 Thai Theatre Workshops - Thai Gestural Dance, Likay (Thai folk opera), Muay Thai
Day 7 Performance Workshops - Image Theatre, 'Junk' music & puppetry, Shadow theatre
Day 8 Community Performance Devising, Dramaturg & Production Process, Hot Springs
Day 9 Storyboarding, Devising & Rehearsal, Dress Rehearsal
Day 10 Rehearsal & Community performance in Pateung Ngam village
Day 11 Pang Daeng Documentary, Community Engagement Workshop, Community Exchange
(Pang Daeng children’s troupe, sword dance class, open circus space, community discussion, traditional dinner, cultural night & performance)
Day 12 Chiang Mai Free Day
Day 13 Chiang Mai Free Day
Day 14 Introduction to Dialogue Theatre - Scenario & Character, Makhampom Showcase
Day 15 The Dialogue Technique - Dialogue Methods, Q&A, Transformation, Rehearsal
Day 16 Dialogue Theatre Showcase - Performances for Guest Audience
Day 17 Evaluation & Farewell Party
Day 18 Farewells & Departures
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Makhampom Reunion
in 2020
2020 marks Makhampom's 40th anniversary. It is also the year of the 20th and final Study Tour. Makhampom is inviting its international family of friends, colleagues, and collaborators in a program of celebration and reconnection, for 5 days of reunion in October 2020 at the Makhampom Art Space in Chiang Dao in northern Thailand. The reunion will be an open exchange, that includes performance workshops, other skills sharing, storytelling, an open stage, nightly Makhampom performances, community visits, sightseeing, a Study Tour forum, kids space, digital presentations, and even a giant scarecrow project. Alongside the gathering, a digital publication of essays, reflections, anecdotes, testimonies, photo essays, video clips, and memorabilia will be developed as a document and public resource.
The Echoes Project
Coming to the Abbotsford Convent in 2020!
The Happy Ending
The Happy Ending brings years of lived experience in the world of Thai massage to the stage in this solo theatre production by Pongjit Saphakhun, aka Honey the masseur. The strong spiritual-cultural traditions, the beauty of the physical massage form, the personal journey of Honey, and the situation of the Thai massage shop in Australia are woven together under the guidance of Pongjit’s theatre teacher and director, John Bolton. The stigmas and discriminations faced by the Thai masseur through their second class status and sexualised labour are unwrapped in the complex web of culture, gender, wellbeing, and the law.
Honey invites you into her massage room to immerse yourself in her story and their stories, told in word, movement, mask, song, music, and ritual.
Creative Team: Pongjit Saphakhun (actor, writer), John Bolton (artistic director), Richard Barber (producer, musician), Rosa Campagnaro (support actor), Lara Week (designer), Janita Barber (musician, vocals).
The Happy Ending is a project in development. The timing of the performance season will be shaped by the procurement of funding and sponsorship.