HOME OF THEATRE

       It's half past five in the morning and darkness has not yet given way to the morning light. The few light bulbs that dot the premise of Moradokmai Home School do not reveal the shapes of the school's modest buildings or the surroundings. It's only when you cross the tiny wooden bridge that leads to the school's main building that you realise the 60-plus lives have already begun their long day.
       In a high-ceiling building, lit only by candles,jong kraben (Thai style pantaloon)-clad students are reciting rhymes, alphabets and the multiplication table as they stretch their bodies, bend their fingers, lift their legs - performing the Thai classical dance warm-up routine.They also sing old folk songs from Thailand's central region - the boat song, the rice harvest song. They recite English verses from the plays they have done. Some of the students and teachers are stationed at various types of Thai drums. On a platform, against a long panel of windows, sat three male xylophonists. The one in the middle, long-haired, fiery and intensely focused, is Janaprakal Chandruang,or Khru Chang to his students, colleagues and fellow theatre practitioners.
       "Every morning, Khru Chang is the first one to arrive. Then the students, each with a candle in hand, light their candles from his. It symbolises the beginning of our learning. The morning drill is what this school is about: doing things together. So we start our day together," says Pobchan Leelasartsuntorn, teacher and wife of Khru Chang.
       Life here is riddled with symbols, rituals and theatre. After the drill, Khru Chang gives his morning lesson. This morning, he links the story of the Lord Buddha and his audience to the function of theatre artists and their search for the right audience.
       Before breakfast, a student gives a short presentation on World War II. This is another daily activity. He tests his audience on the knowledge he just imparted. And hands shoot up in the air, answers ring up brightly. Khru Chang smiles as he watches from a distance, energised by the small commotion in the room. He points at the lighting equipment the students use to add theatricality to their performance.
       "We don't watch TV here. We subscribe to a few periodicals - not every publication we want, but we try our best. And students have access to the internet," says Pobchan.
       Moradokmai Home School is almost hidden. The roads shrink in size and trees thicken as you inch closer to its premise. Situated in Pathum Thani province, the school is surrounded by rice paddies.Stench of cattle can hit you at any given moment. It's usually quiet all around, except for the outbursts of music from impromptu jam sessions punctuating the day.
       Since Khru Chang's receipt of this year's Silpathorn Award, the students at Moradokmai have been enjoying a greater variety of musical instruments. There were talks that he would turn down the accolade. He refuses to venture into the details of the subject, but instead speaks happily of the new pieces of instruments he was able to buy for his students, including stronger instrument cases for the school's international tourings.
       Teachers come in from Bangkok to give music and Thai classical dance lessons two to three times a week. Visits paid by artists from other countries and continents are not uncommon. They conduct theatre workshops and collaborate on productions with the teachers and students at the school.
       Students at Moradokmai take turn participating in international festivals every year. In October alone, the cast and crew of two of Moradokmai's oldest productions,Wesandon: Lost Track to Nirvana and Srisamut Rong Took ("Claim to Justice") will tour in Belgium,Romania, France and the Netherlands. At the moment, two Amsterdambased mime artists, Kimmy Ligtvoet and Christine Flick, are working with the students, leading physical theatre workshops. Earlier this year they co-created with the students a short performance,Banana Happiness , which the children will present in November during the Bangkok Theatre Festival.
       "When we first came here, we really got along with the people and wanted to come back. I think it's perfect for the kids: learning by doing.They're living together and using theatre to work together. I like that they can do and use anything to create their own work. And it's good training for dealing with the public," says Flick.
       None of the students pay a fee to attend Moradokmai Home School,which has been officially recognised by the Education Ministry as of last year. Teachers receive no salary. The school makes most of its money by touring their productions around the schools in Thailand in the first term. The second and third terms are devoted to rehearsing,taking classes, attending international festivals and engaging in exchanges with foreign artists.
       How can they afford to eat here? Parents are allowed to visit whenever they wish. They often come with enough food to feed the whole school for a meal or two. Visiting artists or institutions sometimes bring bags of rice to last the school for months. The Moradokmai community also grows their own vegetables and fruits. They're currently preparing a small plot of land to grow their own rice. If this undertaking is successful,Pobchan estimates that the rectangular piece of land can yield onemonth supply of rice for the school.
       "I don't have any administrative skill. If you have the Tipitaka, you don't need an MBA," says Khru Chang.
       The lush-voiced theatre man comes from a family of musicians. His maternal grandfather is Thai classical music maestro Luang Pradit Phairoah. He received his formal education in theatre at the University of Montana before returning to Thailand to begin his long career in theatre as a practitioner and pedagogue.
       During his 20 years at Chulalongkorn University, Khru Chang built a career for himself in television and film as a writer, director and actor. After leaving the university, he formed Moradokmai Theatre Troupe in 1995. In the beginning, the company was doing theatre for theatre's sake, even using famous actors in their productions.
       "When I began, I still considered theatre as something commercial.I still couldn't resist doing film and TV projects on the side. But in the end, I had to cut myself off from all that and focus solely on theatre."
       Putting on productions proved unfulfilling for Khru Chang. Moradokmai then began making its journey in the direction of youth development through theatre. Ten years, two provinces (Bangkok and Chiang Mai) and no less than five venues later, they are what they are now: A home, a school,a community, a theatre troupe, a theatre.
       "There was no theatre audience.Bangkokians don't go to the theatre.We don't have a theatre-going culture,"Khru Chang reflects."With those venues in Bangkok, it was before the Skytrain existed. The concept of small theatre hadn't begun to take shape. It was before its time."
       Earlier this year, Khru Chang initiated a week-long Pathum Thani International Theatre Festival, which gathered troupes from the Netherlands, Slovenia,South Korea, Nepal, India and the US.The free event provided opportunities for artists to exchange and give feedback to the students from Moradokmai and other schools, who also perform in the festival and were required to watch every production. Theatre practitioners are the best theatre audience, Khru Chang believes.
       "Theatre needs to be able to affect change in our behaviour. A true theatre culture is more than walking into a theatre to see a show. Monks used to care about reaching their listeners with their sermons. If teachers don't see teaching as a form of theatre - if they don't care to reach out and touch their students with what they teach - then that's the end of it."
       This is not Khru Chang's only gripe with Thailand's education system.
       "Can you believe it? Some of the students, when they first arrived here,couldn't recite the English alphabet.And they already finished Grade 9!"Khru Chang recounts.
       Moradokmai continues to resist the education's authority suggestion that the school formulate an evaluation system and give their students examinations.
       "That fosters competition. What the hell are they going to compete for? We will have none of that. We will not give grades to our students," says Khru Chang.
       Here, each teacher, who's referred to as "Phi" or big brother or sister, has three students in their charge. The teachers are what Khru Chang calls the "leftovers" from when Moradokmai was just a theatre company. Many of them come from family with agricultural backgrounds and have fallen in love with theatre. Some of them met their significant others at the school and have since formed a family.
       "With the teachers, we emphasise on teaching through example. Good examples are more valuable than wise words. And adults don't often set good examples for children," says Pobchan."We try to be as student-centred as possible here. But we all come from an education system that is not studentcentred. It's not easy to pull ourselves out of that mindset. To be able to understand students and to be able to get in touch with them are two different things. Khru Chang is the most successful at this. He's the person most in touch with the students. And he's the first one in school to wake up. Always.Despite being old," she laughs.
       Dialects abound on the grounds of Moradokmai Home School. The 30 students, middle school and high schoolaged, hail from various regions of Thailand. Some of them decided to attend the school after participating in drama activities with Moradokmai at their previous schools. Some parents matriculate their children because they appreciate the school's philosophy. School principles are known to have dropped their problem youths at the school,seeking an alternative environment for them.
       Here, they use their mathematic skills when building the clay houses that become their dorms. Pobchan admits Moradokmai doesn't put emphasis on maths or science. They are encouraged,however, to record their reflections on and critiques of each of the school's activities.
       Students learn farming skills. They learn how to make soap and shampoo for themselves. They learn English with Pobchan, who integrates theatre into her teaching and focuses less on grammar and more on practicality. They also pick up some more from performing Moradokmai's plays in English for the theatre festivals.
       The toughest lesson, the toughest test, at Moradokmai, it seems, is in simplicity. Twice a month, the community observes the "Self-Dependence Day", when no food is bought or given.They must feed themselves with whatever they can find from their surroundings.
       "To outsiders, we always stress that we're not running a charitable organisation. Our relationship with others is more interdependent. We want our students to be proud of what they can do for themselves. We want our kids to have ideals, to be thinkers. We want them to know how to live simply happily," says Pobchan.