“TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” is a collaborative Asian project that began in 2020 along with the global coronavirus pandemic. Teams of artists from the various Asian regions of Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia successively reworked the theatrical piece “Tera,” which premiered in Tokyo in 2018, recreating and presenting it under the theme of modern beliefs and perspectives on life and death.
The practices of “TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” as a project have direct links to the many questions that present obstacles to the realization of a multicultural symbiotic society– questions like how to respect mutually different cultures, whether it is possible to collaborate from a distance, and how people can continue to work together and demonstrate solidarity in difficult situations.
The aim of the TERASIA project, which has been grappling with these issues through the medium of art since 2020, is to show society a model case for international partnerships going forward.
The highlight of the project will be the international symposium “TERASIA Summit” to be held in Indonesia in October 2023. Participants will engage in creative work and the collection of interviews for the first year and a half of the project, and after the summit will produce a digital version of a book documenting the project.

First year
(1)Interviews -published online in Japanese/English 1
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA will be published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Delineating project members’ personal histories in interviews, an element not fully divulged before now, will allow project organizers to share the larger context behind the project with international readers. In addition to being an archive focusing on changes to the emotions and thoughts of TERASIA members from all over Asia as they continued to work on creating works amid changing social conditions, the interviews will play a PR role, broadening the audience base beyond that of art lovers.
Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online

(2) Indonesia: research in residence
Details: Several project members from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar will get together to prepare for the TERASIA Summit in the second year.
Audiences will be able to enjoy a work in progress performance of “TERA Indonesia: Back to Nature,” a new work directed by Dindon W.S. of Teater Kabur in Jakarta.
Members will visit Cianjur to inspect and research Gunung Padang Megalithic Site as a possible venue for the summit.
Networking with other arts organizations etc. and researching of venues.
Period: Sunday, September 4 – Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Venue: Teater Kubur, Jakarta, Indonesia, Gunung Padang Megalithic Site, Cianjur, Indonesia

(3) Vietnam: Video creation (short version)
Details: The Vietnamese artist team including video artist Nguyen Hai Yen together with Japanese dramaturg Maho Watanabe will conduct research in residence with a view to producing a short version of a new video work entitled “TERA Vietnam: The Tangerine Womb,” which blends documentary and fictional elements.
Participants stay in the northern region of Lang Son, Nguyen’s birthplace, interviewing local people, visiting temples and cemeteries, and conducting surveys on local customs. In addition, they will visit a cave temple which is a candidate venue for the summit, engaging in planning, rehearsal and filming.
Period: Monday, September 26 – Sunday, October 23, 2022
Venue: Chùa Tiên Cave Temple and other venues, Lang Son, Vietnam

(4) TERASIA Online Week 2022
Details: Artists from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan will hold an online mini-festival, “TERASIA Online Week 2022.” The program of interdisciplinary works spanning theater, art, video and music as well as various talks and reading material will be hosted sequentially on the website over a ten-day period. In principal the event will be free of charge except for some charged content. The event can be viewed in its entirety in both Japanese and English, and will include some recorded footage in Burmese and Vietnamese.
Period: Friday, November 4 – Sunday, November 13, 2022
Venue: Online

Second year
(1)Interviews -published online in Japanese/English 2
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA will be published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Delineating project members’ personal histories in interviews, an element not fully divulged before now, will allow project organizers to share the larger context behind the project with international readers. In addition to being an archive focusing on changes to the emotions and thoughts of TERASIA members from all over Asia as they continued to work on creating works amid changing social conditions, the interviews will play a PR role, broadening the audience base beyond that of art lovers.
Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online

(2) Vietnam: Video creation (long version)
Details: Based on the short version produced in the first year, the team will create, film and edit a long version of “TERA Vietnam: The Tangerine Womb.”
A storyboard will be constructed through online collaboration.
Performances and filming will take place in the cave temple in Lang Son and elsewhere.
Period: Saturday, July 1 – Monday, July31, 2023
Venue: Chùa Tiên Cave Temple and other venues, Lang Son, Vietnam

(3)Indonesia: Performance creation
Details: Creation of the outdoor production “TERA Indonesia; Back to Nature”
featuring around 15 performers from Teater Kubur. The performance, themed around the beliefs of the Sundanese people of western Java, will be staged at Gunung Padang Megalithic Site, which is estimated to have been constructed 24,000 years ago.
Period: Friday, October 6 – Sunday, October 8, 2023
Venue: Gunung Padang Megalithic Site, Cianjur, Indonesia

(4) TERASIA Summit in Indonesia
Details: The in-person international symposium “TERASIA Summit in Indonesia” will be held.
Over a three-day period, there will be keynote speeches, a symposium, and booth exhibits by representative members of each region. There will be a screening of the long version of the video work “TERA Vietnam: The Tangerine Womb” at the Vietnam booth.
In the evening, participants will relocate to Gunung Padang Megalithic Site to enjoy a performance of “TERA Indonesia: Back to Nature.”
Period: Friday, October 6 – Sunday, October 8, 2023
Venue: Jakarta Art Center, Jakarta, Indonesia and other venues

Third year
(1)Digital documentary book production
Details: A “TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” project compilation comprising an archive of works, talks, and articles, and a record of discussions and studies based on those materials.
The documentary book will be produced in both Japanese and English, and the digital version will be published on the website.
Period: Monday, July 1, 2024 – Monday, June 30, 2025
Venue: Online