The Actors’ Studio is perhaps one of the most recognizable names in the performing arts industry of Malaysia. Set up in April 1989, it has underwent several stages of hardships and setbacks and today remains as one of the major players of the arts scene not only within Malaysia but abroad as well.
The Actors’ Studio operates at the rooftop of the Lot 10 Shopping Centre where it brings some of the most interesting stage plays and related events to the art loving crowd of Malaysia.
The Actors’ Studio was established by Joe Hasham and his wife Dato’ Faridah Merican
They are the most popular performing artists in Malaysia with a vision to nurture the performing arts among the younger generation, to stage meaningful theatre shows and events and to provide the platform to train and bring out new talents in this art form.
The Actors’ Studio was also developed so that there would be an appropriate space for talents and artists to fully realize their skills in the areas of singing and production, creative writing and other related offerings.
It remained as the main project for both Joe and Faridah who after having set up The Actors’ Studio below Dataran Merdeka continued on to build The Actors’ Studio Theatre, which was then the first privately owned theatre space in the country.
Using their own personal funds to build the proscenium space, they would then set up The Actors Studio Academy which was to nurture and discover new talents. At the premises then were 4 studios called Leslie Dawson, Mustapha Noor, Bosco D’Cruz and Lim Beng Choon and it went on to firmly establish itself as one of the prime movers of this art form ever since.
After that, The Actors’ Studio was expand further when an experimental space that could accommodate 100 people called The Actors Studio Box was set up while The Actors Studio Book Shoppe cum Resource Centre followed suit that provided reading material and resources on the performing arts. Later on, The Actors’ Studio would form another theatre at the Bangsar Shopping Complex.
The Actors’ Studio would then continue to grow and became one of the most prominent spaces for the performing arts in Malaysia but in 2003, tragedy struck when floods destroyed the premises of the company. Despite that, Faridah never gave up and together with YTL Corporation Berhad and the Yayasan Penyayang Malaysia formed the klpac (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre) in 2005.
In 2008, the Actors’ Studio @ BSC had to be closed down to make way for new developments. That year also saw a new milestone for The Actors’ Studio where they opened its doors to a new 250-seater theatre at the Lot 10 Shopping Centre where it is safely protected from floods at the rooftop of the building with the kick off show entitled Birth of a Theatre by Rosheen Fatima.
Apart from that, the Actors Studio Academy is run at klpac to continue its previous efforts from Plaza Putra where it has also worked with organisations like the TTDI Kiwanis Club, the Pusat Majudiri for the Deaf and The Spastic Centre, among many others.
The Actors Studio @ Lot 10
Address
Roof Top, Level 8, Lot 10 Shopping Centre
50 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel + 603 2144 2009
