Help Riw Remain Home

Hi, my name is Paul Rink, and I am raising money on behalf of my good friend Riw (pronounced ree-you) Rakkulchon. Riw and I met while we were both attending Yale as graduate students.

Riw is a talented set designer who has crafted gorgeous sets for plays such as William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Arthur Miller's All My Sons, and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. In these and other productions, Riw has remained committed to expanding accessibility to the theater by reducing economic and geographic barriers as well as by creatively reimagining narrative content. Riw has designed stages for The Public Theater's Mobile Unit, an organization that develops free professional stage productions and programs in local neighborhood venues such as parks, correctional facilities, and community centers across New York City. Riw also led the set creation for Mexodus, a play centered on the lives of enslaved people in the U.S. South who fled into Mexico in their bid for freedom rather than following the Underground Railroad northward. Riw has been nominated twice for Best Set Design by the Connecticut Critics Circle, winning the award in 2023 for the set design inThe Mousetrap (pictured below along with the sets for All My Sons and Mexodus).

Riw is from Bangkok, Thailand. While we were both attending grad school, Riw was studying under an international student visa. Following our graduation, Riw applied for an O-1 artist visa to remain in the United States based on extraordinary skills and abilities, filing the initial application in early 2020 right before Covid-19 lockdown. Much potential work dried up in that period, and although Riw took as many virtual theater jobs as possible, they did not pay well. In 2023, Riw had to apply for an O-1 visa extension, incurring significant additional fees. Just this year, Riw hit an enormous visa application roadblock as national immigration policy has shifted under the Trump Administration. Riw remains in limbo while looking for the best way to proceed through the immigration process legally with the ultimate goal of remaining at home in the United States.

In Riw's own words, "I’ve always worked hard and remained hopeful that one day I would be able to build a better life here. This setback has been incredibly tough, and I never would have thought that I would even dare ask for a go fund me. Your generosity would mean the world to me, and it will make a real difference in helping me move past this obstacle and start a new chapter in my life."

Riw is looking to recover $17,000 in legal fees associated with the convoluted immigration process of the last five years. The debt Riw has accumulated in pursuing a legal pathway to remain in the United States on a permanent basis has become crippling and is impeding efforts to continue the visa application process.

Any contribution you can make to help get Riw's life and visa application back on track will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time, consideration, and generosity.