Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

80 INTERMINGLING OF CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITYfrom their teenage years to their college years to performparticular roles in the play. At the Bangkok College ofDramatic Arts, for example, a bachelor’s degree courseis offered for students who want to specialize in therole of Hanuman. The actor-dancers learn the classicalmovements of the character, including the nuances andattitudes of the dance form, the verses that go with themovement, and the music and songs that accompanyit. Pictures and notations of traditional dance forms,developed as the basic language of the Ramayana dance,has helped in preserving the Ramayana. According tomaster teacher-artist and master Hanuman dancerAjahn Prusit Rungkaew, the actor-dancers learn themovements of the character Hanuman, first as partof the monkey army until they progress and learnthe more complex and demanding role of Hanuman.Students also have a handbook on the rudiments ofthe different dance forms performed by the characters,complete with pictures and illustrations of the formand body position of each dance step, instruments andcorresponding props and costumes that go with therole. Through textbooks written by master teachersfrom the Bangkok College of Dramatic Arts, the statesupportedinstitution for learning dramatic arts, thebasic dance alphabet has been notated through picturesand illustrations. Master teachers like Ajahn AkomSayakom, who have been recognized by no less thanHis Majesty the King, and Ajahn Prusit Rungkaew arefeatured in the handbook together with other masterteachers in the college. Textbooks on other traditionaltheater forms such as the manora dance theater are usedto guide the students through their training. Accordingto master manora dancer-teacher Ajahn ThummanitNikomrat of the Prince of Songkhla University ofSouthern Thailand, the publication of these books wasfunded by the Queen through the Prince of SongkhlaUniversity.Training programs for students have been gearedtowards creating master artists who will eventuallyteach their craft to younger generations. Students whoenroll in the program start out as regular students whohave been drawn into the program by their desire to begood artists. Eventually, they imbibe the orientation oflearning the craft and become culture bearers of theirartistic heritage. Master teachers treat their students likemembers of their families, taking care of their artisticdevelopment as well as their personal lives. Studentartists learn their art from the traditions set by theirmaster which the masters also learned from the masterartists of previous generations. Students are taughtto write down their experiences as well as learn theirmovements and verses by heart. The more advancedstudents are sent to do performances at meetings ofgovernment officials. Master teachers and performersof the National Theater are mostly graduates of theBangkok College of Dramatic Arts. Other senior artistsbecome performance managers, handlers of props andtechnical equipment or costume mistresses like AjahnAurapin Isarangkura of the National Theater. Otherstate universities teach theater and other related arts.Srinakharinwirot University has a theater program andmusic department which handles theater performancesand music programs, with many of the master teacherscoming from the Bangkok College of Dramatic Arts.Master teachers of Srinakharinwirot University alsoconduct mentoring for their artist-students. Many ofthem learn their craft from master teachers as in the caseof Ajahn Surasak Paidam, who trained under a nationalartist for music for free while rendering services forhim on his farm. Other training institutions, like theschool handled by Ajahn Vic Chimplee in the southernpart of Bangkok, train youngsters from as young as agethree to age twelve to perform the children’s versionof the Ramayana. Other theater forms such as likay(improvised poetic joust based on the Ramayana)and lakhon chantree (poetic narrative in honor of thegods, an innovation of the Ramayana story) have beensupported through the patronage of the King and thecommunity. Puppet plays such as nang yai and nangtalung (traditional shadow puppet theater forms) havebeen promoted through the state’s tourism program.Some researchers, like Ajahn Anan Narkkong ofMahidol University and a musician from Petchaburiprovince, observe that theater forms such as the nangyai and nang talung are sometimes shown during thedaytime, a practice that runs counter to the traditionaluse of shadows created during night time as a venuefor people to convene and enjoy a puppet show. Theduration of the performance has also been shortenedto accommodate the schedule of tourist packages thatinclude the shadow puppets as one of their touristdestinations along with a visit to the floating marketand other local handicrafts. This practice has altered theconcept of the shadow puppets and has greatly affectedthe aesthetic quality of the play.As a fitting support to the Ramakien, the performancearea of the National Theater has been designed toaccommodate scenes from it. A portion of the stagearea’s left side has a ramp-like elevation from thedownstage area to the upstage area to accommodate thechariot scene of the Ramakien, according to the Directorof the National Theater, Mr. Yongyut Waiprip. Thebackstage area has provisions to accommodate sets forthe performance. Although the traditional platform isused for the performances, the number of performers,costumes and props demands a large performance area;Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows