On 18 December 2021, Centre 42, ArtsEquator and Channel NewsTheatre (in collaboration with Artwave Studio) jointly presented Year in Review 2021: JENG JENG JENG - a series of on-air conversations about Singapore theatre broadcast ‘live’ on Channel NewsTheatre’s Telegram channel. While Year in Review continued its tradition of reflecting on productions put up by the Singapore theatre community in the past year, time was also specially dedicated to discussing some issues that affect arts workers across discip
Historians may locate the earliest sign of modern Tamil settlement in Singapore in the 1827 establishment of Sri Mariamman Temple for such a feat is premised on a sense of community driving collective action in raising capital and labour resources as well as support from the colonial state. As a community site where the Tamil people could gather for extended periods, Sri Mariamman Temple provided the first platform for Tamil Theatre in Singapore as traveling drama troupes—Nadaga Sabhas—from India set up sta
About a year ago, 19 of us came together under the loose name of the ‘Care & Intimacy working group’. We had a rough proposal to spend the 12 months of the residency convening in smaller sub-groups, and we thought we might do some or all of these: mapping out the ‘care landscape’ in the local arts scene, organising practice sessions, and engaging with other individuals and organisations in the arts to advocate for broader and deeper adoption of care practices.
Fast forward to now (March 2022),
Created and produced by Fezhah Maznan with the support from the National Arts Council, Tunjuk Arah/ இயக்குனர், is a developmental programme for young and experienced directors to reflect on their practice and grow and be groomed by various local and regional directors in a structured learning environment.
Under the mentorship of Edith Podesta and masterclasses by Theatre practitioners in the industry, the programme hoped to develop a group of directors who are able to direct engaging and affective works
About a year ago, 19 of us came together under the loose name of the ‘Care & Intimacy working group’. We had a rough proposal to spend the 12 months of the residency convening in smaller sub-groups, and we thought we might do some or all of these: mapping out the ‘care landscape’ in the local arts scene, organising practice sessions, and engaging with other individuals and organisations in the arts to advocate for broader and deeper adoption of care practices.
Fast forward to now (March 2022),
Created and produced by Fezhah Maznan with the support from the National Arts Council, Tunjuk Arah/ இயக்குனர், is a developmental programme for young and experienced directors to reflect on their practice and grow and be groomed by various local and regional directors in a structured learning environment.
Under the mentorship of Edith Podesta and masterclasses by Theatre practitioners in the industry, the programme hoped to develop a group of directors who are able to direct engaging and affective works
Brown Voices was formed in 2019 as a collective of Indian theatre practitioners, comprising playwrights, directors and performers. Since then, its members have gone on to stage 7 different works, ranging from dramatized readings, audio tours, installations and even a digital museum. Follow their journey as a collective below!
As an introductory reading list, we’ve listed some of the fellow ‘brown voices’ outside of Singapore, from whom the Brown Voices draw inspiration. This is thus an incomplete list of contemporary South Asian playwrights, prepared partly in consultation with this listing from UC Berkeley.
Under the Co-Lab Residency, Vithya Subramaniam and Hemang Yadav facilitated several workshops between August and October 2021, based on their own research and writing interests. Vithya ran More Than a Red Dot as a two-session in-person workshop on unpacking ‘Singaporean Indianness’ through objects. Hemang ran Nation and Writing: Using the National Allegory in Playwriting as well as Making the Myth Mine as distinct online workshops for playwrights to explore the national allegory and myths as inspiration and
In this Q&A segment, the team got to ask (and answer) a set of 2 questions from their fellow members. The first round of questions were more casual, with the follow up questions a bit more specific and conceptual.
Dance dramaturg and writer Nia Agustina glances around the room behind her, saying: “It’s hard to find something here because it’s not my home!” Nia is not in her usual spot at home in the cultural hub of Yogyakarta – she’s in Lampung, a province on the southernmost tip of Sumatra, on a performance tour with choreographer and long-time collaborator Ayu Permatasari. The remaining 11 of us, packed into our Zoom room in tiny adjacent squares, wait with bated breath. Nia finally offers up a small bowl, holding
As part of a mapping exercise in April 2021, the Critical Ecologies working group listed out the various critics, writers and/or practitioners who mentored them and influenced their growth, as well as those whose work they had read extensively and were inspired by. This piece is a condensed and edited version of the exercise, which sought to explore and reflect on the personal lineages and histories of the working group’s varied practices of criticism.