WE ARE TEN!

Ten years ago, on 21 April 2014, Centre 42 first opened its doors to the public. Over the past decade, we've run programmes and residencies that have brought hundreds of practitioners through our doors. We've supported many artists and collectives, and built a community that believes in our mission to support the creation, documentation and promotion of Singapore theatre. 

2024 marks our 10th Anniversary, and we're celebrating it throughout the year with a series of programmes and events that celebrate our past works, spotlight theatre practitioners, and bring our community together. Scroll down to find out more about these programmes and events - we hope to see you there!

As we celebrate our achievements so far, Centre 42 is also looking towards the next ten years - and more! We are seeking the support of donors who believe in our work of celebrating Singapore theatre and making all stories possible. Join us as a Champion of C42, and support us in our future endeavours. Make a donation at https://www.centre42.sg/donation/!

On 21 April, Centre 42 kicked off our 10th Anniversary celebrations with a Sunday brunch, providing our Champions of C42 with an afternoon of connection and catching up! We welcomed a mix of old and new friends, brought together by their generous support for our work. 

One of our board members, Andy Tan, gave a short speech detailing Centre 42's eventful journey so far - from our inception, to our uncertain future after 42 Waterloo Street was returned to the National Arts Council, and moving forward after the tumultuous pandemic years. 

Our Executive Director, Casey Lim, briefly reminisced about Centre 42's origins. Casey was one of our co-founders, who worked alongside Robin Loon, Chiu Chien Seen, and Michele Lim to create Centre 42 in 2014. He shared about their motivations for founding the company, the challenges they faced in getting others to believe in their vision, and their eventual hard-fought success. 

Our General Manager, Ma Yanling, shared more about Centre 42's much-anticipated programming for the rest of the year. That includes our upcoming presentations at the Singapore International Festival of Arts, our second collaboration with the Waterloo Street Kakis at the Singapore Night Festival, and this year's new writing residencies! 

Our Champions enjoyed a free and easy brunch, filled with conversations among fellow donors. They also had the opportunity to speak to invited artists who shared about their past and current work with Centre 42. 

A heartfelt thank you to all our Champions who joined us for the welcome brunch, and we can't wait to see everyone at our upcoming events too! 

Over the course of two weekends in May, Centre 42 presented six new works written by independent playwrights at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA). This marked the second year in a row that Centre 42 has partnered with SIFA to amplify the voices of independent playwrights and spotlight their works on a large-scale presenting platform. 

This year's offerings included two works-in-progress written by Centre 42's previous Writers in Residence - The Radicalisation of Mrs Mary Lim-Rodrigues by Michelle Tan, and Social Distancing Ambassadors by Zulfadli Rashid. Centre 42 also ran Headline Acts: Tomorrow's News, a fun, informal showcase of four short plays written by playwrights of diverse experience levels, in response to a prompt inspired by this year's SIFA theme. 

The Radicalisation of Mrs Mary-Lim Rodrigues was staged on 18 and 19 May at the Stamford Arts Centre. It focused on two characters - Mary, a veteran teacher-turned-principal; and Shan, one of her young students - and explored their respective struggles, how their journeys intersect, and how their relationship evolves over time. A condensed version of the full script was performed, with the main aim being to gather feedback from audience members which would allow playwright Michelle to continue developing and improving the work. 

Social Distancing Ambassadors was staged on 31 May and 1 June at the Stamford Arts Centre, and comprised of the first act of a full script. It featured three characters - Norah, a Social Distancing Ambassador; her father Haji Razali; and her colleague Brayden - dealing with the various political and personal challenges present during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both performances were accompanied by a post-show discussion, where audience members could share their feedback with the playwright, director and cast. 

Headline Acts: Tomorrow's News was staged on 1 June at the Stamford Arts Centre. It was the third edition of Centre 42's Headline Acts series, a fun and informal reading series where writers of all experience levels have the opportunity to present short dramatic pieces that respond to recent news headlines. Inspired by the SIFA 2024 theme 'Tomorrow and Tomorrow', Tomorrow's News prompted writers to imagine a news headline from the future and write a piece responding to their imagined headline. Three writers - sorin.scapes, Yu Xuan Tan, and Siobhan Covey - were selected from an Open Call, and presented works alongside guest writer Nessa Anwar. 

On 30 June, Centre 42 staged a special 'fun-raiser' performance of The Vault: Desert Blooms at the Wild Rice Theatre! First staged in 2019, Desert Blooms was a lecture-performance that traced the history of queer and queer-allied voices in Singapore theatre during the tumultuous decade of 1985 - 1995, and showcased the works of well-known queer playwrights such as Eleanor Wong, Russell Heng, and many more. Praised by audiences past and present for being informative, inspiring and insightful, Desert Blooms emphasised the importance of the active documentation and archival of Singapore's rich theatre heritage and minority stories. 

Over 150 people joined us for the performance, which was accompanied by a post-show reception where attendees could mingle with the cast and creative team. Centre 42 would like to thank everyone who donated to attend Desert Blooms, and we hope to continue meeting more supporters, old and new, at our future events! 

For more information about Desert Blooms, click below!

Centre 42 is very much about supporting the journeys of our artistic community, and we are committed to investing in and playing a significant role in nurturing theatre-makers through our training and residency programmes.

In July, we published editorials charting the growth of 10 noteworthy practitioners who have worked with us in the past decade, tracing their personal and artistic development, and Centre 42's role in their journeys so far.

Read all the editorials in the Artist Features series below! 

In conjunction with Singapore Night Festival 2024, Centre 42 presented Cor Machina (Heart of the Machine) with the Proletariat Poetry Factory. Cor Machina was part of a neighbourhood arts-led event called Waterloo Street Stories: Interplay, a collaborative project by the #WaterlooStKakis, a loose collective of arts groups based on Waterloo Street, comprising Centre 42, Objectifs, P7:1SMA, SMU-Arts and Culture Management, and The Theatre Practice. 2024 marks the second year Centre 42 has partnered with other arts groups in the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct to champion local stories embedded and layered in our surrounding communities who have lived and worked in and around Waterloo Street.

Cor Machina ran for three hours on 7 September, the last day of Singapore Night Festival 2024, at 42 Waterloo Street. It was an immersive and interactive experience combining poetry, sound, and light. It was inspired by the stories and experiences shared by real residents and stakeholders of Waterloo Street, and celebrated the street's rich heritage in a contemporary context. 

Audiences entered Cor Machina through the Rehearsal Studio at 42 Waterloo Street, where they were greeted by an installation featuring over 300 one-word prompts, which were inspired by stories shared by residents and stakeholders of Waterloo Street. These stories had been gathered at the previous edition of Waterloo Street Stories. Audiences were encouraged to take inspiration from these prompts and craft a prompt of their own.  

The audiences' prompts were brought upstairs to the Black Box, where twelve poets would create poetry on the spot based on the prompts that they received. Presented alongside the poets at work was a running stream of projections, music compositions, and lighting design inspired by the stories of Waterloo Street. Audiences were invited to enjoy the projections, sounds and lights, and watch the poets at work, before eventually heading back down to the Rehearsal Studio to pick up their completed poems.

Over 1000 audience members joined us for Cor Machina. Centre 42 sends our thanks to everyone who attended, and we look forward to further collaborations with our friends and partners on the street that allow us to continue spotlighting and celebrating the stories of Waterloo Street!

To close off a year of celebration, Centre 42 hosted our annual Year End Party on 18 December. This gathering brought together the donors, collaborators, and friends who've been part of our journey since we opened our doors in 2014. 

The party was held potluck-style, with our generous guests contributing a variety of delicious food and drinks.

We brought in a mobile bar serving cocktails and mocktails, which were specially selected to match Centre 42's company colours! Highlights from the menu included "The Blue 42" cocktail and "The Waterloo" mocktail. These bright blue drinks were named after Centre 42 and Waterloo Street, which we've called home since 2014.

Another highlight from the evening: our "Singapore Theatre in 2017 - 2024" mini-exhibition, which shared interesting observations, trends, and statistics from the past 8 years of Singapore theatre-making, watching, and criticism. This mini-exhibition consolidated data we've collected through our ongoing Year in Review project for party guests to enjoy!

Centre 42 would like to thank the 100+ guests who joined us for Year End Party, and who have worked with and supported us over the past ten years. We'd also like to give a shoutout to the hundreds more people who weren't able to attend this year’s gathering, but have been part of our journey and supported us in spirit!

Centre 42 looks forward to many more years of creating, documenting, and promoting Singapore theatre with our communities of artists, supporters, and partners - here's to more anniversary celebrations to come!