Sukrit says he continues to work on finding that balance in Noppon’s character. “In Thailand, I know Thai audiences. I know how to make them laugh, how to make them happy, or how to make them cry,” he said. “But I don’t have that sense yet for American audiences.”
As an actor, Sukrit has expressed appreciation for the support he has received from the American performers in the ensemble. “They are all so nice and everyone helps me so much with my English, as well as helping me to learn everything I want to know about America,” he said.
Director Viravan said that the entire team has been generous with their feedback. “The Asian cultures and American cultures are so different, so it is about how to communicate to the American audiences, while still being true and sincere to our culture,” he said. “We have to listen very carefully to everyone in the team, and honor every note and comment.”
Seattle audiences should also expect some surprises in this latest version of Waterfall. “There is a scene in which we have to communicate to the audience that a Thai man and a Thai woman are lovers, and they are in a public place,” Viravan said. “Naturally, for an American audience, the characters would kiss.”
But this typical American gesture would not ring true in Thailand. “Some Thai women in the audience in Pasadena knew that kiss was wrong, and were quite offended,” Viravan said. “I knew that that was wrong, too.”
Yet, as the director, Viravan had to find a balance between cultural authenticity in Thailand and cultural recognition in America. “We let it be that way in Pasadena [with the kiss], because it was the best way to communicate to the American audience,” he said. “But with this new version, we know we have to find another way to communicate, since we want it to be true as well.”
Both Viravan and Sukrit have found the parallels of promoting intercultural understanding within Waterfall’s story and in their own creative experience to be illuminating, and Viravan summed it up by echoing what many artists have found over the centuries: “Art imitates life, and so life imitates art.”