ACTive Encounter 2024

This panel seeks to survey the practice of dramaturgy both within the context of China and in relation to the immediate history of the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network (est. 2016). The invited practitioners and respondents from China, Hong Kong and Singapore will offer summaries and reflections of the contemporary past and present of dramaturgical doing in the region, and identify both resonances and divergences in theory and practice.

Moderator:

• Kok Heng Leun (Artist/Founder, Drama Box, Singapore)

Speakers:

• Lim How Ngean (Founding Director, Asian Dramaturgs' Network, Malaysia/Australia)
• Janice Poon (Senior Lecturer, Dramaturgy and Playwrighting, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts)
• Zhao Zhiyong (Professor of Theatre Studies, Yunnan University of Arts)

Respondents:

• Dr. Shi Ke (Deputy Professor, Global Humanities, Nanjing University)
• Guo Chengzi (Deputy Professor, Shanghai Theatre Academy)

In this panel, How Ngean shared about the Asian Dramaturgs' Network's work in mapping dramaturgical experience and knowledge in the region, and Janice and Zhiyong shared about their experiences with dramaturgy through the lens of the macro-perspective (the development of dramaturgy in China, for Zhiyong, and Hong Kong, for Janice) and micro-perspective (both speakers' personal artistic practices). 

Key takeaways from this panel include:

• The vocabularies to describe and discuss dramaturgy in China are extensive and non-standardised. This is exemplified by the lack of a singular Chinese term for 'dramaturgy' - many different words and phrases are used to describe the dramaturgical construct, each with its own linguistic implications. These terms remain highly associated with drama and theatre, and are less frequently applied to dance or other performing arts forms. 
• The role of the dramaturg and the concept of dramaturgy have not yet become widely used or popularised in China due to a number of factors:
  • The current dominance of director-centric theatrical processes, which resists the intervention of the dramaturg within existing hierarchies of working. Respondent Shi Ke notes that this stands in opposition to the independence and individuality of the dramaturgy, qualities which feel inherently important to the role. 
  • Lack of understanding about dramaturgy, and accompanying uncertainty about the effectiveness of dramaturgy and its output in the context of a work 

• How Ngean, Zhiyong, and moderator Heng Leun also note that cultivating dramaturgy is not limited to cultivating a single role, but an entire community. Dramaturgy looks at context - where a work is situated, the time period in which it exists, and the various sociopolitical layers that shape it - and therefore, the wider dramaturgical consciousness is important to play the role effectively. The dramaturg must also be able to coexist within others involved in the creation process of the work. 

What - and how - do dramaturgs remember? This dialogue on the dramaturg-as-archive will explore the embodied histories, cultural memory, and thick relationships that emerge from long-term dramaturg-artist collaborations across Southeast Asia, and how these relationalities are shaped over time by the artist’s evolving body of work, as well as their personal histories and positionalities.

Speakers: 

• Kok Heng Leun (Artist/Founder, Drama Box, Singapore)
• Nia Agustina (Artistic Director, Paradance Platform, Indonesia)
• Lim How Ngean (Founding Director, Asian Dramaturgs' Network, Malaysia/Australia)

Moderator: 

• Corrie Tan (Director, Asian Dramaturgs' Network, Singapore)

In this panel, speakers How Ngean, Nia, and Heng Leun focused on their long-term approaches to dramaturgy, specifically with artists with whom they had forged deep and durational relationships. 

How Ngean discussed his relationship with Thai choreographer Pichet Klunchun and looked at what it means to sustain a relationship with an artist as they evolve throughout their life. He framed the dramaturg as an archive - an individual who intentionally remembers and documents how the artist has developed their craft and practice.

Nia discussed her relationship with fellow Indonesian choreographers and dancers, Ayu Permata Sari, Megatruh Banyu Mili, and Muhamed Safrizal. She explored the idea of the dramaturg embarking on processes of 'laku' (a Javanese term for a conscious and grounded 'walking beside'), whose work continues even after a project ends.

Heng Leun discussed his relationships with musician Margaret Leng Tan, visual artist Sim Chi Yin, and with the minority Orang Seletar community while working on Drama Box's Air. He spoke about how these relationships have taken his work across disciplines, as well as his expertise in directing and devising having informed his dramaturgical processes. 

Key takeaways from this panel include:

• The importance of navigating between the personal and the professional - establishing both critical intimacy and critical distance by building mutual trust with the individuals working on a project while also being able to pose difficult questions about said project. How Ngean and Nia noted the importance of establishing personal connections with artists, in order to better understand the layers that influence their work and their specific ways of working. This goes hand in hand with having emotional sensitivity and respecting the process - working alongside artists, instead of being detached from them. 
• The importance of reciprocity, acknowledging the ethics of labour and care, and remaining aware of the wider sociopolitical contexts in which a work exists. Moderator Corrie discussed the ways in which works and projects are impacted and shaped by the severe economic inequalities that persist across many Southeast Asian countries, which can lead to lack of fair remuneration and lack of recognition for the labour of the dramaturg.

This dialogue and sharing session invites emerging artists and practitioners with an interest in dramaturgy to discuss their collaborative practices and relationships, and how they might begin to cultivate their own dramaturgical thinking and toolkits based on their specific contexts. Following an introduction to the work of the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network, we will think together and exchange knowledge about how dramaturgy might be practised in different ways, and with different methodologies and vocabularies.

Co-facilitators:

• Corrie Tan (Director, Asian Dramaturgs' Network, Singapore)
• Nia Agustina (Artistic Director, Paradance Platform, Indonesia)

This dialogue session saw participants sharing about their creative practices, how they experience receiving feedback, and the ideal conditions allowing for trust and comfort in receiving said feedback. Participants were tasked to reflect on one project they were working on, and given dramaturgical prompts to consider in the context of the project. Co-facilitators Corrie and Nia responded to the participants' reflections with follow-up questions and further discussion on their creative processes. 

The participants discussed various points regarding the dramaturgical process, including the concept of feedback as a constructive way of communication, a mutual commitment to intentionality on the part of the dramaturg as well as the artist, and the importance of asking and offering questions over simply attempting to provide answers.

The participants also engaged in a small group activity, where they were divided into groups of 3 to 4 to practice the same exercise with one another, in order to deepen the interrogation of their creative processes. Group members took turns to share challenges that they were facing in their work, following which their fellow groupmates would respond and ask questions, allowing all participants to practice dramaturgical thinking with each other.

At the end of the session, participants reflected on the experience of the workshop. Participants shared that they became more curious about dramaturgical thinking; they were inspired by the realisations that they could play roles of curator and organiser beyond the creative process; they recognised the importance of mutual connection and collaboration; and they acquired new ways to work in their practices. 

What have we come to expect of festivals, and what elements of festival-building do we take for granted? Beyond the conventional boundaries of the festival as a live performance event, how does the curation of community-building and place-making enter these conversations? This panel explores the often invisible dramaturgy of festival-making and communal creative gatherings, and how approaches to artistic directorship of these platforms, whether national or niche, large or small, shape the festival’s final form and role.

Opening Speaker: 

• Chiaki Soma (Founder & Artistic Director, Theatre Commons Tokyo; Program Director of Theatre der Welt 2021-2023)

Moderators: 

• Ophelia Huang (Programme Director, ACT Shanghai, China)
• Corrie Tan (Director, Asian Dramaturgs' Network, Singapore)

This roundtable was focused on the processes of festival-making - what they look like presently, as well as processes of the past and potential future processes. Keynote speaker Chiaki shared about her work across festivals and contexts. This included her work on transdisciplinary festival Theatre Commons Tokyo, which she founded independently, as well as triennial international theatre festival Theater der Welt, where she was appointed Programme Director for the 2023 edition. Moderators Corrie and Ophelia also posed questions to the delegates present at the roundtable, who shared answers, opinions, and perspectives on festival-making.

Key takeaways from this roundtable include:

• Physical infrastructure and its relationship with space and operating systems. Chiaki discussed how the infrastructure of the Commons could operate as a mode of shared knowledge and spaces - when sourcing venues and sites for Theatre Commons Tokyo, she specifically searched for underused or vacant non-theatrical sites with the intention of prompting audiences to rethink and reimagine these spaces when they attended a show staged within them. 
• The positioning of the festival director as dramaturg. Corrie highlighted that the transformations of space and repurposing of knowledge, in the context of organising a festival, was very much like revealing its operating system and how it might be sustained - a core part of dramaturgical thinking. 
• The various considerations that festival-makers are required to think about in the creation process, such as the balance between the disciplines of institutionality and independence, an understanding of the specificity of the festival's audience, and the importance of legacy planning and succession, all of which are crucial not only in creating a successful festival but ensuring its impact is sustained and it continues to flourish over time.