Lost and Found: A Slice of Life was hosted at PoA White Box, Yellow Lane as part of the Open Stage showcase on Saturday 29 October 2022.
This original piece was created and performed by Nanat Rittinaka and Supissara Wanchanwech. They spent an hour on stage telling the stories of roommates moving out of their apartment while addressing past traumas. The characters expressed themselves through spoken words, improvisations, songs, and physical movements based on the real life experiences of the actors.
The artists also played with the existing architecture of PoA White Box, such as the windows, which helped make the apartment scene look more realistic.
PoA Open Stage is a creative platform for artists to explore ideas, experiment, and share their work with the community. If you have a project you would like to share through the Open Stage platform, sign up here.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Supissara Wanchanwech (Bambam) has acted in different theatre productions since she was in University, with special interests in physical movement and children’s theatre. Her notable college performances include Summer and Smoke, Antigone, Wiley and the Hairy Man, The Voyage, and The Ice Wolf. Throughout her student and professional life, Bambam worked with renowned theatre troupes, such as Crescent Moon Theatre, a leading theatre company in Thailand focusing on contemporary/physical performances. She was featured in some of the company’s most acclaimed works such as Woyzek, Women and the Lighthouse, and Butoh Blowing.
Nanat Rittinaka graduated from the Department of Dramatic Arts, Thammasat University. He is a versatile artist who has worked as a producer, singer, and freelance actor. Currently he is working full time at a tech company, yet his passion for performing is ever-present, especially for musical theatre. Nanat performed leading roles in university productions such as Little Shop of Horrors, Heathers the Musical, First Date the Musical, and Dilok Von Siam. His involvement in professional productions include Our Land by Good Show Production in 2015, The Firefly Story and Father’s Shoes, both by Siam Pic-Ganesha in 2017. He is also a co-founder of Bangkok-based theatre group Anti-Thesis, with an upcoming production in 2023.
ARTIST INTERVIEW
Lost and Found: A Slice of life is based on the artists’ past struggles with depression. It captures moments of pain and loss, as well as breakthroughs they experienced. It is a story of roommates who are about to move from an old dorm and mark new beginnings. As they pack their belongings, their emotions are in-turn unpacked. Nanat explained the idea behind the performance, “All objects have countless memories and stories tied to them. The moment that we touch them for the first time after years might bring us some new perspectives.”
This project was created out of the duo’s attempt to find common ground, both in terms of personal stories told, and performing styles they like. It includes dialogue, songs, and physical movements. Their interactions on stage are drawn from the performers’ own experiences of living in college dorm rooms, despite them never actually being roommates. “Being dorm kids, we both understand the kind of behaviour and situations that happen in a dorm room, so we explore through improvisations to find possibilities of what could happen between two roommates. We want the audience to feel as though they are visiting their friend’s room,” said Nanat.
Nanat and Bambam aim to address complex subjects through small, seemingly trivial details of life. Both believe that everyone has experienced feelings of being lost at some point, not just those with depression. “The little things can sometimes make us feel lost, and it’s also the little things that get us back on our feet. We want those who are lost to feel like they have a friend, or a space that allows some sort of healing. If we can make them feel better, even for 5 minutes after seeing the show, that’s enough,” shared Bambam.
“We really pour our hearts and souls into this piece. It might not be full of spectacles but we have put in a lot of details, sincerity, and most importantly, the messages that we want to convey. It’s our most personal and honest work” said Bambam.