Armanzaki (Zak) is a theatre production manager, designer, and co-founder of sans collective, an interdisciplinary art and design collective. A regular collaborator with Five Arts, Zak is stage managing our latest performance Fragments of Tuah, which will premiere at The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre on 28 August 2025.
Zak is a graduate of SEGi College with a Diploma in the Performing Arts. Since 2010, he has worked as a production stage manager with various production houses within Malaysia and internationally. Notable creative works include A Day in Kuala Lumpur in **2080 supported by Five Arts, The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town: 2068 at the 2018 George Town Festival, and Anatomylytical in collaboration with What About Kuching (2022). Zak was also installation designer for Lorong Orang Hantu, held in conjunction with the 2024 KL Chinatown Festival.
Zak shares about how he got started in theatre, the work of sans collective, and what to consider when managing touring projects and cultural exchanges.
1. Over the years, you've worked with many different groups and projects as a production and stage manager. What drew you to the performing arts? And why did you choose to focus on production and backstage work? Most people typically prefer to be in the spotlight.
Upon graduating and throwing myself onto the performing arts landscape within the Klang Valley, stage management and production management came naturally to me. I have always been a fan of stories and storytelling - in any form it takes. I tend to really immerse myself in a story – it can be a borderline obsession at some point! Taking in everything about a certain work of art… how was that frame shot in the film? What was the motivation of that writer? How am I feeling a certain way after viewing it?
I wanted to experience the craft and everything behind the scenes. When I manage a production, I always say I have the best seat in the theatre - from inception to wrap up. I am ultimately just a fan of storytelling, and if this role or skill can offer me all that, I will always take it on. For me, there is a real joy in witnessing artists, performers and comrades crafting or just making. Being part of that process is incredible. Supporting that process is fulfilling.
2. Could you share a bit about the genesis of sans collective? You guys were creating performance with no performers, blurring the lines between disciplines as well as the stage and backstage in projects such as A Day in Kuala Lumpur in **2080 and Dari Pinggiran. Was there some frustration with the larger theatre scene, of technical theatre and backstage people wanting to redefine the typical roles a bit?
sans collective was planned but also at the same time very much unplanned. It was as if a band was formed after a random jamming session in the studio. We were just a bunch of designers starting out (formed by amongst Zak, Bryan Chang, Syamsul Azhar and Ali Alasri, amongst others).
We did experience some frustration working with directors and producers that had a specific way of dictating the show. We wanted a landscape that offered more chances to collaborate with each other - a less hierarchical structure, a more equal creative venture. There was an urge to change, develop and explore on what we could make. None of us from the collective wanted to be boxed in as just one role or one discipline. sans collective gave us that space to experiment and share how to develop our tools, as well as to challenge each other and our very own craft.
With A Day in Kuala Lumpur in **2080 we challenged ourselves to make a performance without any
performers. Dari Pinggiran was a show outside a typical venue - it was done at an abandoned school
compound. We generated a language and a style of our own making. After 2022, sans collective has explored
and experimented with many other collaborators and at various unconventional spaces: under a highway bridge by
the Klang River,
the whole of a studio house in the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and even at a small waterfall along the
Gombak river. Most of the time we are always on the lookout to jam at spaces that challenge our evolving
status quo. We have yet to actually perform physically ‘onstage’ in front of an audience and it is something
that we are developing for the coming year ahead.
3. In recent years, you've been touring with A Notional History (Bangkok, Seoul, Munich, Adelaide), and you were the production stage manager for the Straddle platform earlier this year. What have you discovered or learned from these experiences of cultural exchange, touring, and presenting international work in Malaysia?
Travelling and touring internationally with a production is not an easy task and is as well very demanding. There are many blocks to look at. It is not only a homebase production anymore - instead it is a production with two different bases or even more when touring to multiple countries at the same time. Accommodation. Commuting. Exchanges. Travelling. Weather. Documents. All these blocks and more are added upon the already existing blocks of the production.
Communication is key. How to communicate with different cultural backgrounds is where the challenge may lie. Making sure that the other parties understand what the production needs are and making sure that these needs are met with assurance and empathy are what I have discovered. There will be many unpredictable circumstances, even the small things - for example not having plastic bottles because the country we are touring to only distributes glass bottles. Having the ability to compromise at that moment and the ability to convey different understandings helps. Adapting with different work ethics helps. Quick action to troubleshoot helps. Personally, the way I approach it is to prioritise the needs of the creative work, while having the ability to adapt and compromise with mutual understanding.
Zak before the start of
Straddle at Five Arts Centre (2025).
More info and tickets for Fragments of Tuah: www.cloudjoi.com.
