Information

Level With Me
Overview about the Collaborative Project

Level With Me is a collaborative project between two universities, Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) and Chulalongkorn University (CU). This project had been discussed and processed by chairpersons of both schools.

The idea of this collaboration is to foster our students to create their own original works and also to offer a chance for them to join crafting some parts of the performance together under international circumstance. Students from each school have created their own unique episodes of the performance on the same theme, “Contemporary Performing Arts in Local Wisdom within”. The last part has been created together under the co-direction of Professor Zu-Ling Hong (TNUA) and Professor Bhanbhassa Dhubthien (CU) at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, hosted by Department of Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, CU.

Level With Me consists of 3 episodes (25 minutes each) as the followings：
• Being, Beside A Burning Sun, directed by Juno Chen with TNUA schoolmates
• Pathway in the Darkness, devised by Dramatic Arts students, CU
• Level With Me, co-directed by faculty directors from both schools
Level With Me was launched as the world premiere in Bangkok on 12 – 13 September 2018 at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, CU. Then, professors and students from both schools were on tour to Yogyakarta, Indonesia for joining 11th Asia Pacific Bond (APB) of Theatre School Festival and Director’s Conference, and served as the opening play on 17 September. All the performances both in Bangkok and Yogyakarta aroused massive attention and enthusiastic feedback. Pawit Mahasarinand, the critic and chairperson of Bangkok Arts and Culture Center, described this play ‘as delectable as pineapple tarts’, he thought, “Three playlets by Taiwanese and Thai students made for an entertaining and insightful evening.”

Synopsis
Being, Beside A Burning Sun (TNUA)
We sing, we dance, we stand on the land that is becoming more and more heated for being beside a burning sun. As young artists, we dedicate our first voice to the land that nurtures us. How do we see it? What have and haven’t been done for it? Where do we go next? In order to face this severe situation in which we have become more and more isolated, it is time for us to think: What is our “Local Wisdom Within”?

Pathway in the Darkness (CU)
This performance was inspired by the worldwide-recognized incident involving the Youth Football Team and their coach entrapped in Tham Luang Cave in Chiang Rai province, Thailand. The rescue operation gathered helps from people all over the world and overcame the almost impossible mission, igniting hopes and restoring humanity in a way the world will never forget. Unlike those boys, many people nowadays are entrapped in a cave of social prejudice, trying to search for the light that may guide them out of darkness someday.

Level With Me (CU-TNUA)
“Level With Me” might be an heartful invitation, a disguised mask for selfish goal, or an cynical irony for ignoring the difference between each other ......., yet in the meantime, it could be an warm gesture to speak honestly.
With six days intensive rehearsal, the ensemble created a piece full of physical movements and voiced out their true opinions about their country and personal situation or living circumstances.
The critic Pawit Mahasarinand confirmed the special value of this play, “ It was an opportunity to see and hear what our young people, the next generation of professional artists, are concerned with and how they’re using what they’ve been studying to express these thoughts.”

Level With Me

I. Being, Beside A Burning Sun
Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA)

producer: Chi-Feng Chang
supervisor: Zu-Ling Hong
conceived and directed by: Chiu-Jung Chen
devised by: Chiu-Jung Chen, Shih-Yung Cheng, Chi-Wai Ng, Shi-Quan Peng, Yu-Shu Chen, Bo-Hua Lin
cast: Shi-Quan Peng, Shih-Yung Cheng, Chi-Wai Ng, Chiu-Jung Chen
lighting designer & musician: Yu-Shu Chen
set designer: Bo-Hua Lin
technical designer: Shu-Chen Chang
costume designer: Fang Yeh
movement coach: Ching-Cheng Tsai
graphic designer: Ching-Jung Wang


II. Pathway in the Darkness
Chulalongkorn University (CU)

producer & manager: Piyawat Thamkulangkool
performance supervisor: Bhanbhassa Dhubthien devised and performed by: Tharatip Thanarak, Vasan Mahakiattikun, Kuntara Chaichran, Warittha Kraturiksha, Phatcharawan Khrueaphan, Romteera Monkhla
content supervisor: Parida Manomaiphibul
music director: Rapeedech Kulabusaya
technical manager: Thachaporn Jirasakkee

III. Level With Me
CU-TNUA

producer: Piyawat Thamkulangkool, Chi-Feng Chang
co-directed by : Zu-Ling Hong, Bhanbhassa Dhubthien
devised and performed by: Shih-Yung Cheng, Chi-Wai Ng, Shi-Quan Peng, Yu-Shu Chen, Bo-Hua Lin, Chiu-Jung Chen, Tharatip Thanarak、Vasan Mahakiattikun、 Kuntara Chaichran、Warittha Kraturiksha、 Phatcharawan Khrueaphan、Romteera Monkhlang
lighting designer: Thachaporn Jirasakkee

Level With Me (whole play)
producer: Chi-Feng Chang, Piyawat Thamkulangkoo
music designer for whole play’s transition: Rapeedech Kulabusaya
photographer: Chatchadaphan Sangangam
stage manager (at Kaundu Art Festival): Keng-In Ng
master electrician (at Kaundu Art Festival): Bo-Han Liu
production executive: Yi-Chien Feng
assistance to production executive: Shih-Yung Cheng