This January, I had the tremendous opportunity to further my education and training on an international scale, having been nominated by the Associate Dean of the NYU Institute of Performing Arts to venture to Bangkok, Thailand as a Research Assistant. Under the direction and mentorship of the former head of Tisch Drama and Founding Artistic Director of Theater Mitu, Rubén Polendo, I joined an NYU Abu Dhabi class titled Dramaturgy of Disruption to train with Thai masters in a multitude of forms including Kohn, Klong Sabat Chai, Muay Thai, Butoh, and classical Thai Dance.
We thought critically, discussed, and applied practices of non-traditional performance structures while immersed in the spiritual and geographic terrain of Thailand. The intersection of dramaturgy and global collaboration from a research-based and artistically generative point of view ultimately expanded my understanding of theater and its forms, fostering global connections through an exchange of artistic ideas and practices.
