My Love Affair with Theatre

Before I became a storyteller, I was very passionate (and still am) about theatre.

It was very exciting to start out in Singapore theatre during the late eighties and early nineties when the contemporary theatre scene began to bloom. I learnt much of my craft as a performer/director/playwright on the job and through taking part in numerous workshops. I began creating solo performances while working with The Necessary Stage as an actor-facilitator (1996 – 1998) and found that it was an ideal mode for me to express the themes and issues I felt compelled to explore through theatre. Since 1997, I’ve been steadily experimenting with the form, mostly self-directed and produced.

Some of My Performance Projects

  • Bumiputra Cina (collaboration with Noor Effendy Ibrahim, Shahril Wahid & Rizman Putra; The Substation Theatre, 14-16 May 2009)
  • Between Woman and Man: The Erasure of Verena Tay; 1) Male Instincts, 2) Women Wise (The Substation/The Little Red Shop, 20 & 21 Apr 2007)
  • 3 Women (comprising three short monologues: Good Girls Don’t Wait; Jiving on Java, The Perfect Shoe)
    • Union College, Schenectady, NY, USA (22 Aug 2007); beGallery, High Falls, NY, USA (18 Aug 2007); The Republic Cultural Centre, Republic Polytechnic (2 Aug 2007)
    • Magdalena USA, International Festival of Women in Contemporary Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island, USA (2 Aug 2005)
    • The Substation (30 Jun – 1 Jul 2005)
    • Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (22 April 2005)
  • Medea: One on One
    • Magdalena Australia’s International Festival of Women in Contemporary Theatre-Theme: ‘Theatre-Women-Travelling’-Brisbane, Australia (9 & 10 April 2003)
    • The Substation (11 – 14 Jul 2002)
  • Cotton & Jade
    • Odin Teatret, Holstebro, Denmark (28 Jan 2001), as part of 'Transit III: Theatre, Women, Generation: International Theatre Festival & Meeting' (18-28 Jan 2001); organised by Odin Teatret and the Magdalena Project
    • Grenland Friteater, Porsgrunn, Norway (15 Nov 2000)
    • The Guinness Theatre, The Substation (21-24 Sep 2000) as part of Septfest 2000

[Production photo credits from top to bottom: a) Bumiputra Cina ~ Irfan Kasban; b) 3 Women ~ Jori Ketten, courtesy of Magdalena USA; c) Medea: One on One ~ Sherman Ong]

Please click the following if you wish to find out more:
What critics have said about some of the above productions
My full theatrical resume