The Story Behind The Actors Studio

The Actors Studio was set up in April of 1989 by husband and wife team Joe Hasham and Dato’ Faridah Merican with the following objectives: staging meaningful theatre, nurturing Performing Arts in the young, providing training in acting, music, dance, creative movement, creative writing, singing and production. The other priority of The Actors Studio was to set up performance venues in order to develop the Malaysian Performance Art scene by providing space so that performances could be held on a regular basis.

After several years a location was found at Plaza Putra, beneath Dataran Merdeka, right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. On August 9th 1995, Joe and Faridah created theatre history by building the first privately owned and operated theatre space; The Actors Studio Theatre - a 153 seat proscenium space was set up with Faridah and Joe’s personal money. In 1998 they followed suit with The Actors Studio Academy, also at Plaza Putra. The Academy was a true extension of their desire to nurture theatre. Comprising 4 studios, named after performing arts practitioners Leslie Dawson, Mustapha Noor, Bosco D’Cruz and Lim Beng Choon, The Actors Studio Academy became responsible for the training of many of today’s leading theatre practitioners. In January 1999, inspired by a visit to the Edinburgh Festival, Faridah & Joe provided another venue at Plaza Putra - The Actors Studio Box, a 100 seat experimental space catering for the younger performing arts groups. This proved to be a very popular venue for music, dance, drama and comedy.

In order to complete this little underground empire, Faridah & Joe set up The Actors Studio Book Shoppe cum Resource Centre where patrons could browse through books on the arts (over a cup of coffee and a sandwich) which were collected from Embassies and High Commissions, Institutions and individuals.

 

For five years Faridah & Joe struggled to make ends meet, pumping in more of their own money, as well as sourcing for funds. In 2000, Faridah and Joe met Dato’ Jagan of Bandar Raya Developments Berhad and were offered the cineplex on the third level of Bangsar Shopping Centre. This prodigious meeting resulted in the setting up of The Actors Studio @ BSC. A 260-seater theatre, comprising a thrust stage, opened its doors on January 1st 2001.

 

Running three venues, an academy and Book Shoppe (there was even a short stint of an Italian restaurant at Plaza Putra) meant more staff, more expenses, and much joy for Faridah & Joe.

 

Another opportunity came knocking. An old advertising friend who was heading the Zhong Zheng School memorial centre offered Faridah and Joe a small space at Lebuh Light in Penang. This meant that The Actors Studio could move up North to Faridah’s home state. On August 9, 2002, exactly 7 years after their first venue, The Actors Studio Greenhall opened its doors to the delight of Penang’s theatre enthusiasts. The highest expenses faced by The Actors Studio, besides the mounting of shows, were rentals charged by Plaza Putra, Bangsar Shopping Centre, and staff salaries.

 

The Actors Studio at Plaza Putra became the country’s centre of performing arts and attracted theatre companies and practitioners from all over the world. It was a constant struggle for survival, but somehow Faridah and Joe managed. Then, on June 10th, 2003, while Faridah & Joe were handling an important corporate event at The Actors Studio Bangsar, floods inundated Kuala Lumpur and the whole of Plaza Putra was devastated, staying that way for 3 - 4 days, destroying everything Faridah & Joe had set up over the previous eight years. Several Institutions, individuals and theatre practitioners came forward to help The Actors Studio with funds. During the several weeks after the flood, many theatre enthusiasts helped clean up the mess, some providing temporary studio space, computers, even a micro-wave oven. Their kindness will always be remembered.

 

Faridah has never been one to say die. She has always believed that the closing of one door heralds the opening of another.

 

In 2005, The Actors Studio joined hands with YTL and Penyayang and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre was born.

 

Towards the end of 2008, news came that the popular Bangsar theatre had to be closed down. After two weeks of Gala Farewell performances, The Actors Studio @ BSC closed its doors on 28 February. In October the same year, The Actors Studio moved into its spanking new 250-seater theatre on the rooftop of Lot 10 Shopping Centre.