SMU Associate Professor of Theatre/Performance Studies (Practice) Margaret Chan is one of the lead actors in the $1.3-million Malay opera production Raden Mas, which will be staged next year. Raden Mas is based on the legend of Radin Mas Ayu, a 16th-century Javanese princess living in Temasek who sacrificed her life to save her father. Singapore-born and Malaysia-based actress Norish Karman plays the villain Tengku Halijah, stepmother to Raden Mas, while Associate Prof Chan plays the physical embodiment of Tengku Halijah's evil conscience.