|
Kee Thuan Chye has been wearing many hats as an actor, playwright, director and journalist. As a playwright, he is best known for 1984 Here and Now and We Could **** You, Mr Birch. 1984 Here and Now is included in the international anthology Postcolonial Plays published by Routledge UK. We Could **** You, Mr Birch is a text studied in Malaysian universities. Another play, The Big Purge, was featured in Typhoon 4, a playreading festival in London held in 2005. All the three plays are published by Marshall Cavendish. The Swordfish, Then the Concubine came out among the top 5 in the International Playwriting Festival 2006, organised by Warehouse Theatre in the UK. He has been a judge and regional chairperson of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and been invited to numerous international writers’ festivals. His acting credits over the last 30 years have been on stage and in film and TV. The one stage role he is proudest of is that of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Ng Yi-Sheng is a full-time writer in multiple genres. Last year, two of his plays were presented to sold-out audiences at the Esplanade: Toy Factory's 251, based on the life of porn star Annabel Chong, and Musical Theatre Ltd's Georgette, based on the life of painter Georgette Chen. He has published a poetry collection, last boy, the best-selling SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century, named by The Straits Times as the best non-fiction book of 2006, and Eating Air, a novelisation of the motorcycle gangster movie of the same name. A two-time winner of the TheatreWorks 24-Hour Playwriting Competition, he is now a member of the interdisciplinary artists' collective V.I.S.T.A Lab, and also spends his time doing copywriting, journalism, arts criticism, slam poetry and nude modelling for life drawing classes. From 28-30 August 2008, TheatreWorks will stage his next play, Reservoir, inspired by ruins from the Japanese Occupation.
Ken Kwek is a freelance journalist. From 2003 to 2005, he worked as a film cameraman in the United Kingdom. He shot and produced The Ballad of Vicki and Jake, an award-winning documentary about a community of drug addicts living in Bristol. He was also a cameraman for Gypo, Britain’s first Dogme film, which premiered at the 2006 Edinburgh Film Festival. In 2005, Ken joined The Straits Times as a political reporter and, a year later, won a Special Award for Excellence for his coverage of the 2006 General Election and IMF-World Bank Meetings. His ten-minute farce, I’ll Have The Special, won four awards at the 2008 Singapore Short + Sweet Theatre Festival including Best Play and Best Playwright. Apocalypse: LIVE! is his first full-length stage play.
Paul Rae is a Singapore-based theatre-maker and academic from England. In 1997, he co-founded spell#7 with Kaylene Tan. He has directed almost all their shows, and acted in the ones he couldn’t get out of. His most recent performance with spell#7 is National Language Class, which played to full houses and critical acclaim at the Esplanade in April. Tree Duet is the latest in a series of Duets: pseudo-autobiogaphical performances by Paul and Kaylene that explore the power of two in a world of many. Paul also teaches and researches on the Theatre Studies programme at the National University of Singapore. His most recent project is a short book called Theatre & Human Rights, due out in 2009.
Ho Tzu Nyen’s first project was Utama - Every Name in History is I (2003), a film, installation and performance shown in art exhibitions and film festivals such as the 26th Sao Paulo Biennale (2004); the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2005), and KunstenFestivaldesArts (2006). In 2005, he scripted and directed 4 x 4 €“ Episodes of Singapore Art, a hybrid of the art documentary, video essay and drama broadcasted over 4 weeks on a public television channel in Singapore. It was last shown at ZKM, Germany (2007). In 2006, he was commissioned by the inaugural Singapore Biennale to produce The Bohemian Rhapsody Project, which has since been shown in exhibitions and film festivals such as the 53rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the 30th Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. In 2007, he completed a short film called Reflections, based on a 19th Century parable by Lafcadio Hearn, which was exhibited in Zendai Shanghai Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Poznan, and film festivals like the 54th edition of Oberhausen and the 9th Jeonju International Film Festival. He conceptualized and wrote The King Lear Project in 2007, which will be presented at KunstenFestivaldesArts in Brussels and at the Singapore Arts Festival, between May and June 2008. He is now in the postproduction stages of his first feature film, Here.
BIG is an arts and language educator, theatre practitioner, freelance writer and translator. As a playwright, he has represented Singapore in the 2005 MABBIM playwriting convention held in Indonesia. He was also a featured writer/poet in the 2005 Singapore Writers’ Festival where his poetry has received accolades from the public. Recently, his short story, Zan Mysterio was selected as one of the winners for a Malay short story competition organised by the television channel, Suria, and was adapted into a television drama.
Danny started hosting for radio in 1991 and also ventured into television variety programmes. He has won title of €œMost Creative DJ € in Golden Mike Awards 2000, €œTop 20 Male Artistes € in Star Awards 2000 and Friday Weekly’s €œMost Popular DJs € numerous times. One of UFM1003’s pioneers as its Creative & Music Director, Danny is now a lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, winning €œAcademic Award for Excellence in Teaching € in 2006. He also serves as Creative Consultant at FM Pop Music School. Besides writing regular columns and movie reviews for Chinese periodicals, his published works also include: book on youth expressions My Voice, collection of artiste interviews Speaking in Volume, My Voice Vol 2 €“ Breaking Free, and literary works www.WeiWardWords.com. Having started his stage experience with Drama Box starring in Otto Fong’s Cetacea back in 1994, Danny remained faithful in his theatre acting and training days with the same company, under the mentorship of director Kok Heng Leun since 1998, playing leading roles in Little White Boat, Happy (Shanghai & Singapore), Liao Zhai, Cloud Nine, Fugitives, Newspaper Theatre, Mr Beng the Musical, I Remember ’99, Hazy Love as well as other Forum Theatre productions. Danny acts as facilitator for some of Drama Box’s community plays and also sits on the Board of Directors.
Quah Sy Ren is Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University by profession and teaches Chinese literature and theatre. His critically acclaimed book Gao Xingjian and Transcultural Chinese Theater (2004) is the first comprehensive study of the Nobel Laureate’s theatrical works. He is also General Editor of The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun. As a published playwright, five of his plays have been staged. His recent works include Invisibility (1996, 1997 and 2000), Boner (2002) and A Stranger at Home (2006, Singapore Arts Festival). Sy Ren is an active member in the arts and civil society. He is board director of Practice Performing Arts Centre and The Finger Players, and founding member of The Tangent. He is also a mentor for Drama Box’s Blanc Space Playwriting Programme. Sy Ren was awarded the Singapore Youth Award in 1995 for his contribution to the arts and culture.
China-born Xiaoyi is currently studying in the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, and was the Resident Actor of The Theatre Practice for three years. He has acted in numerous productions for the company including the hit musical If There're Seasons, and is also known for playing the title role in Lao Jiu: The Musical. In recent years, Xiaoyi has began moving in the direction of script-writing and directing. His has written 2105 Planet O, which was staged in celebration of the Practice Performing Arts School's 40th Anniversary. He was the playwright and performer for Catman which premiered in Singapore in 2006 as part of The Theatre Practice’s Poor Theatre Series, and later toured to Shanghai in 2007 for the Asia Contemporary Theatre Festival. Xiaoyi is also a speech and drama teacher, and a talented writer and orator, with many awards under his belt from home and abroad.
Laremy only started writing actively in 2006, but a mixture of dogged determination and sheer luck has helped him tremendously along the way. He credits his development as a playwright to Huzir Sulaiman, who taught him two playwriting modules offered by the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The Duty, Radio Silence and Full Tank! mark Laremy's first foray into professional theatre. Prior to this production, The Duty was staged at Short + Sweet Singapore 2007 as a Wildcard, and was placed second for the night. Laremy recently graduated from the NUS with an Honours degree in English Literature, and is an alum of the University Scholars Programme. He is currently at the National Institute of Education doing a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education.
Julian has worked on Chang and Eng, Medicares, Peculiar Remedies in Concert, The Angina Monologues, ChildAid 06, Beauty World, Shanghai Blues, The Soldier and His Virtuous Wife, The Hypochondriac, Moonbird, Singin' A Different Tune with Darius Tan, Just Judee, NDP 2008 and Superhero Diaries, amongst others. Upcoming projects include The Wizard of Oz and It's My Life. Botak Boys (previously Singapore Boys) was first performed as part of Musical Theatre Limited's Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals 2008, directed by Christina Sergeant. Julian has worked with Singapore Dance Theatre, Classical Greek Dance Association (UK), Culinary Adventures and the Joyful Strings. He was awarded the Young Musician of the Year at the South Shropshire and Church Stretton Arts Festival 2003 and his college's Frank Bell Prize for outstanding studentship in 2005.
Ng Swee San’s first full-length play, Marriage of Inconvenience, was staged by TheatreWorks in 2004. She was awarded second prize in TheatreWorks’ 24-hour Playwriting Competition in 2001. She has written numerous plays for school productions and touring assembly performances, including plays for the Singapore Discovery Centre, St Joseph’s Institution and Methodist Girls’ School. Her TV credits include children’s programmes Sketch and 3 seasons of Kids United; docu-drama True Courage, infotainment shows Travelling Palette and Art of Health as well as sitcom 80s Rewind. Her first film screenplay Funeral Ties was awarded second prize at the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition 2003 (Feature Film category). She has also been awarded three script writing grants by the Singapore Film Commission to write three feature film scripts.
Dora has a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in English Literature. Her background is in advertising where she has won several international and local copywriting awards. Her play, 41 Hours, was produced by ACTION Theatre in 2006. In 2007, her play, Out of Control, was short listed in the Short and Sweet Festival both in Singapore and Melbourne. In the same year, Just Late, was directed by the Christina Sergeant and staged at the Drama Centre. Shortly after, her first full length play, An Excuse to Party, was directed by Samantha Scott Blackhall and performed at the Play Den, Arts House. In addition to writing plays, Dora also writes short stories. Her short story, Selling your daughter for a pig and a carton of cigarettes, won the 2nd prize in NAC’s Golden Point Award 2007.
Suet Lee began writing plays when she was seven years old. Despite this promising beginning, she grew up to become a Chartered Accountant. She has now traded her debits and credits for her first love, and since her first playwriting workshop in 2001 has written six plays, one of which Shopping with Ang was performed by Yellow Earth Theatre (YET) as part of their Typhoon festival, in Soho Theatre, London and again at the Pearl Awards, London in 2004. Her most recent play A Beautiful Companion was performed by TheatreWorks at the Arts House April 2006.
An Associate Artist with The Substation since 2002, Verena Tay has spent more than two decades acting, directing and writing for local English-language theatre working at various times with The Necessary Stage, ACTION Theatre, TheatreWorks and Practice Theatre. Since 1997, she has been concentrating on solo performances, mostly featured at The Substation with its support. Her first book, In the Company of Women: Selected Plays, was published by SNP Editions (2004). Her play, The Car, won Action Theatre’s Theatre Idols 2005; it was fully staged at The Esplanade Theatre Studio by Action Theatre during late July 2006. In 2007, Verena participated in the renowned International Writing Program conducted by the University of Iowa, USA, gaining much insight on the craft of writing from her peers around the world. Verena has also been associated with the Magdalena Project since 1999. Since Magdalena (Singapore) was established as a registered society in 2005, she has been its President.
|
