In Conversation with Wichaya Artamat

Wichaya Artamat is a co-founding member of For What Theatre. He has been long captivated by performances, even when he was still studying film. He started working in theatre as a project coordinator for Bangkok Theatre Festival 2008. He joined the New Theatre Society in 2009, during which he grew to become a director recognised for various experimental forms and unconventional theatrical approaches.

Wichaya’s work was awarded Best Play for two years in a row (2014 – 2015) by the International Theatre Critics Association, Thailand Centre (IATC). His international exposure started when he worked as an assistant director to Toshiki Okada’s Pratthana which toured Bangkok, Paris, and Tokyo. Since the European premiere of his most prominent work This Song Father Used to Sing (Three Days in May) at Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2019, Wichaya has been extensively touring and creating in Europe, Asia and beyond.

Hailed as “one of the most promising contemporary theatre creators of Southeast Asia”, Wichaya is especially interested in exploring how society remembers and unremembers its history through certain calendar days. He co-founded For What Theatre in 2015 and is also a member of Sudvisai Club and Collective Thai Scripts.

Sasapin Siriwanij is a Bangkok-based performing arts producer, curator and artist. She holds both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English from the Faculty of Arts at Chulalongkorn University. For over a decade, Sasapin has built a distinguished career at B-Floor Theatre as a performer, director and producer, where she has become a core member and expert in movement-based performance practices. Her work is deeply rooted in social critique, personal empowerment and societal transformation. Sasapin has been the Artistic Director of the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM) since 2018. She also co-founded the Producers of Thai Performing Arts Network (POTPAN), reinforcing her commitment to the development of the local arts scene in Thailand. In addition to her leadership roles, Sasapin is an independent theatre artist and international touring producer, collaborating extensively with For What Theatre and Wichaya Artamat.

Tan Shou Chen is a theatremaker from Singapore. Shou Chen has created and performed in works that have been seen in Thailand, France, China, Portugal, and Singapore. His directorial works explore the encounters between different cultures across time and space and the traverse between tradition and contemporary.

One of his works, Open Waters, was an international collaboration with Thai artist Jaturachai Srichanwanpen. The year-long process, based on a theme of geography, produced two new creation myths for Singapore and Thailand. It culminated in a presentation at the 2017 Bangkok Theatre Festival and was supported by the National Arts Council Creation Grant. Shou Chen’s connection with the Thai contemporary theatre community extends back to 2014 with The Substation’s Director’s Lab.

Shou Chen’s selected directorial works include Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information (SMU Arts Festival, 2023); Joel Tan’s Mosaic (Esplanade Studios, Singtel Waterfront, 2023); Henry Purcell’s Dido (The Opera People, 2023); George Frideric Handel’s Alcina (The Opera People, 2021). Shou Chen was also a resident artist at the HANGAR Centro de Investigaçāo Artística in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2019.