Our People
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre – Our People
Dato’ Faridah Merican – Executive Producer / Director faridah@klpac.org
Known as the First Lady of Malaysian Theatre, Faridah’s early acting credits include such plays as ‘Lela Mayang’, ‘Tok Perak’, ‘Uda dan Dara’ and ‘Alang Rentak Seribu’, works that defined the Malaysian theatre in the 60s and 70s, and determined the direction that theatre would take in the next few decades. In the early 60s, she joined Radio and TV Malaysia. Simultaneously, she was involved in the formative years of Malaysian Advertising, and is today, a member of the board of directors of Ogilvy & Mather. She also sits on the board of several other institutions.
In 1989, Faridah co-founded The Actors Studio with her husband Joe Hasham. In June of 2003, floods destroyed the entire complex of The Actors Studio in Plaza Putra, Dataran Merdeka. Out of that devastation, Faridah’s ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude generated yet another ground-breaking event – the birth of The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, set up by the YTL Group, Yayasan Budi Penyayang and The Actors Studio.
Faridah Merican was awarded the BOH Cameronian Lifetime Achievement Award for 2004. In July 2005, Faridah was conferred the ‘Darjah Dato’ Paduka Tuanku Ja’afar’ by the Yang Di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan on the occasion of His Highness’ 83rd Birthday. In August 2006, she received an Honorary Master of Letters at University Sains Malaysia’s 35th Convocation. Faridah is also the Executive Producer and co-founder of Penang Performing Arts Centre (penangpac).
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Joe Hasham OAM – Artistic Director joe@klpac.org
Joe was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, did his schooling in Sydney, Australia, moved to Malaysia in 1984 and is now a proud permanent resident of his adopted country. Joe is Artistic Director of The Actors Studio, which he set up with his wife Faridah in 1989 and also Artistic Director of The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. Joe is a graduate of NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) at the University of NSW, Sydney, Australia. Before he made the decision to come to Malaysia, he was one of the most sought after actors in Australia. Joe is a multi award winning film director, actor, writer and recording artist.
Joe was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), within the Australian Honours System “For Service to the performing arts through The Actors Studio (Malaysia) and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre; and, as an actor, writer, producer and director”. He is also the Artistic Director and co-founder of Penang Performing Arts Centre (penangpac).
Klpac Resident Directors
In line with its aim to nurture young talent, klpac runs a residency programme giving young talents a safe space to hone their skills and craft. We started with just one full-time director as part of the programme, Gavin Yap. Since then, the programme has expanded and klpac boasts resident directors specialized in their individual artistic fields such as Mark Beau de Silva, Christopher Ling, Lex Lakshman Balakrishnan .
The residents are charged with presenting a wide range of performances and activities. They also run courses at our Academy. All residents are also actively involved in our Community Outreach programme, bringing the arts to the underprivileged.
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Mark Beau de Silva: Co-Associate Artistic Director / Director in-Residence mark@klpac.org
Mark Beau de Silva is a playwright, actor and teacher. He has been writing plays since his teenage years and his play Stories for Amah (directed by Joe Hasham) was nominated for 5 awards at the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards 2002, including Best Script.
Since then, Mark has written plays for The Actors Studio and klpac, such as 8 Ways to Lighten the Schoolbag, Oh My God (OMG), Belacan, Geragok and other prawns, Bottom Top, Strange Tales of Ma Lai Sia 1: Oink andJesus Lives in South Korea. He has also written two musicals – Kaki Blue and ADAM The Musical.
Mark is also an actor and was most recently seen in Bottom Top and Hotaru. He is the Co-Associate Artistic Director and Writer / Director-in-Residence at klpac. He was one of the eight individuals selected from around the world to be part of the Artist in-Residence programme at Hooyong Performing Arts Centre, Korea.
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Christopher Ling: Co-Associate Artistic Director / Director in-Residence chris@klpac.org
Christopher Ling trained in Drama and Theatre Arts at Middlesex University, London and with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He is klpac’s Co-Associate Artistic Director where he also spearheads it’s Theatre for Young People (T4YP) programme.
For klpac, Christopher has directed The 100 Words Project, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, Steven Berkoff’s The Secret Love Life of Ophelia, Desmond Sim’s The Swimming Instructor and Bernarda Alba, a musical by Michael John LaChuisa. For T4YP, he has also directed Ten: Theatrical Lightning Strikes Human Relationships, Love & Beauty: The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Hamlet, Sarah Kane’s Crave and Past Perfect/Future Tense.
He received the Anugerah Seni Negara (National Arts Awards) Young Talent Award for Theatre Directing in February 2009.
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Lex Lakshman Balakrishnan: Dancer / Choreographer in-Residence lex@klpac.org
A graduate from ASWARA, Lex loves to create dance, fusing traditional and contemporary elements in his works. He was the choreographer for klpac’s Kaki Blue and The Actors Studio’s Adam the Musical. Besides these, he can also be seen on stage as an actor, dancer and singer and was awarded the Bintang Irama 1Malaysia in 2010. Currently, he is klpac’s choreographer-in-residence. www.ababilaswad.blogspot.com
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