Ladies out of bondage

AFTER AN ILLUSTRIOUS career in the US in Joseph Papp’s productions, Korean-American artist Asa Gim Palomera settled in Bangkok in the early ’80s for a decade-long stay. Today, the former Chulalongkorn University artist-in-residence, teacher and producer is back on the Thai stage with her acclaimed play “Women of Asia”, which features her old friends, the grandes dames of Thai theatre Patravadi Mejudhon and Onchuma Yuthavong
Khru Asa, as she’s fondly known, brought such plays as “The Odd Couple”, “La cage aux folles”, “Equus”, “Amadeus” and “Five finger Exercises”, to the Silpa Bhirasri Institute and Montienthong Theatre some 25 years ago and, at the invitation of National Artist Sodsai Pantoomkomol, also taught acting and dance and choreography classes to a generation of students. While at Chulalongkorn, she staged “Rashomon” and wrote “Plai Thang Thi Khwam Ba”, a play based on the family lives of her young charges.
In the early 1980s she was invited to a dinner hosted by the Oriental Hotel for Joseph Papp. She recalls his surprise at finding her in Bangkok, as the producer was under the impression that she’d left New York to study Shakespearean acting in London.
Asa, who’d played Vietnamese women in plays on and off Broadway, says that after the Vietnam War ended, New York theatre had no roles for the Asian woman.
“It was a moment of absolute clarity that a great future neither on stage nor in films was in my sphere as long as my eyes were slanted,” she says.
“My fellow cast members, all white, left for Hollywood soon after the second play wrapped. Today, I see them in movies and that bitter taste in my mouth returns.”
Papp suggested she write a play. “About what?” she asked. “Here, Asia!” he replied. And so Khru Asa started writing “Women of Asia”, playing it out in workshops with her professor colleague Onchuma “Khru Aew” Yuthavong and Indian actress Mallika Sarabhai. When Sarabhai couldn’t make it to Cairo, where the world premiere was planned, she left the project and Patravadi “Khru Lek” Mejudhon came on board.
“One of the very first scenes I finished was ‘The Kuwaiti Princess vs the Filipino Maid’, which was based on a real-life Egyptian murder case. I wasn’t allowed to interview the Filipina accused of the murder so I asked my maids, also Filipina, to find out about her. And through their honeycomb-like network they found out what actually happened. The inhuman treatment the maids there received moved me to write this scene,” she says.
As a diplomatic wife, Khru Asa has lived in many parts of the world and credits her 10 years in Bangkok with teaching her “to become Asian and to like being Asian”.
She finished writing “Women of Asia” in Cairo a few days after Papp passed away but her pitch to his successor at the Public Theatre and to the Lincoln Centre Theatre were not successful.
The play finally had its world premiere at the Abron Arts Centre Henry Street Settlement, with 28 interracial cast members performing the 12 scenes, followed by short runs at a few other playhouses including the world-famous La Mama.
When Khru Asa moved to Melbourne, the play enjoyed another
 successful run, this time with six Asian actresses playing multiple roles in six scenes.
Despite the subject matter, Khru Asa says it isn’t a “feminist play”.
“This play doesn’t accuse men. Our biggest enemy is tradition. Mothers are the ones who chain us and perpetuate this bondage,” she says.
For her part, Khru Lek is thrilled to be coming back to stage portraying “a woman at the top”, the scene which Khru Asa specifically wrote for her.
“I was married to an ambassador too and so I had opportunities to meet these female leaders,” she says. “I wondered whether I would be able to control a situation where socio-political greatness was more important than personal happiness.
“This role portrays three characteristics of Asian women – delicateness, beauty and strength. I’m really looking forward to opening night even though I haven’t performed anywhere other than my own theatre for a long time. This is also a monologue which makes it even harder.”
Khru Aew, Thailand’s most sought-after acting coach, whose monologue will open the play, adds, “This play is like my baby as I’ve been with it from the very beginning. I can still recall meeting Sarabhai at a puppetry conference in India. When I returned home, I pitched the idea of the three of us working together to Khru Asa.
“Khru Asa is a brilliant playwright. The play may sound like an understatement but its effects are very strong.
“For me, Asian women are like yin and yang. Thai women do not make many demands, yet we’ve reached the top. The play shows different social structures in which women exist.”
Other cast members include singer and actress Rudklao Amratisha, most recently seen in “Si Phaendin: The Musical” and Sunon Wachirawarakarn. The only male actor in this play, he’s not in drag, but portrays a Japanese salary man married to a Thai wife bored with soy sauce and small portions.
 WOMEN ON
THE BOARDS
- “Women of Asia” runs from next Thursday to August 25 at the Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts at Chulalongkorn University.
- Shows are at 7.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday and 2pm on Saturday and Sunday.
- It’s in Thai and English with English and Thai surtitles.
- Tickets are Bt600 (Bt300 for students). Call (02) 218 4802 and (081) 559 7252 or check out “Drama Arts Chula” on Facebook.