Dunman High School
Director: Chio Su Ping
Teachers-in-charge: Daryl Yap Chang Xin and Sng Jianming Joshua
Tanjong Katong Girls' School
Devised and performed by: Tanjong Katong Girls’ School
Writing in collaboration with: Aswani Aswath
Director: Nur Sahirrah Safit
Teachers-in-charge: Mdm Meenatchi Shanmugam and Ms Ili Sofia Bte Shahrin
Republic Polytechnic School of Technology for the Arts
Diploma in Arts and Theatre Management
Diploma in Media Production and Design
Operation Theatre Interest Group
Devised and created by: Gloria Tan and Samantha Bounaparte
Teachers-in-charge: Samantha Bounaparte, Rachel Tan, Ng Hui Ling and Hayashida Ken
Presenter
The work of ArtsWok Collaborative focuses on arts connecting communities by harnessing the power of the arts to create dialogue, invite social participation and build bridges across difference.
ArtsWok Collaborative works with multidisciplinary teams to design and implement innovative community-based arts programmes such as Both Sides, Now, an immersive arts experience that invites conversations about end-of-life issues, as well as IPS Prism, a civic-engagement piece which looked at governance in Singapore. In 2015, it launched the inaugural annual youth theatre festival Peer Pleasure, a platform for creative and open exchanges with young people through drama and dialogue. It developed and continues to facilitate The Greenhouse Sessions, a field-building initiative that catalyses learning through a community of practice as well as The Greenhouse Lab, an action-learning programme revolving around arts-based community development. It also conducts and shares research that builds legitimacy for the arts-based community development field. Our case studies and articles can be found on our website.
Artistic Director
Jean graduated from the Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris, France. As a professional theatre actress, director and educator, she has collaborated with many of Singapore's leading theatre companies including The Necessary Stage, Theatreworks, The Theatre Practice, The Finger Players and Cake Theatrical Productions.
Jean was one of the pioneer teachers at the Theatre Training and Research Programme (now Intercultural Theatre Institute), a professional actor-training course founded by the late Kuo Pao Kun. She is passionately involved in youth and community theatre and has worked with the Down Syndrome Association (Singapore) for the past 17 years. Jean has also previously served on the Executive Committee of the Singapore Drama Educators Association.
Production Stage Manager & Mentor
Clarisse Ng was the Production/Technical Manager of The Necessary Stage (TNS), where she worked on landmark productions such as Still Building, Off Centre and Rosnah. Through her work with members of its Theatre For Youth Ensemble, she discovered a capacity for working with young people. She went on to teach at a neighbourhood school for fifteen years, serving variously as Head of Department (English Language) and Level Head (Pupil Development). Having returned to the arts scene in 2016, Clarisse sees her life's work as facilitating the art-making process, encouraging and supporting independent and emerging art-makers, and enabling conversations about the arts. She is currently working on a project basis with Noor Effendy Ibrahim as Production Manager and GroundZ-0 as Associate Production Manager.
Dr Justin Lee is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. He is interested in issues related to disability, community development and social services. He has created a wiki platform that allows mass participation in the mapping of social needs (wiki.socialcollab.sg) and currently co-leading the design of a gamified volunteer matching platform (serve.sg). He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Esther Kwan has been an educator at Grace Orchard School for more years than you can count with your fingers. She is currently on what she calls her mid-life adventure, pursuing her master's in special education at Vanderbilt University. She believes that the arts can bring people together and give voice to those that are often unheard. Seeing the sparkle in her students' eyes and witnessing their determination to succeed is her fuel that drives her to push for an inclusive Singapore, one where those with special needs are seen as No Different. She is privileged to have an amazing brother who has taught her much about life because of his special needs.
Ian Leo is Founder and Partner at Insight N Access Pte Ltd, a philanthropy advisory and diversity training consultancy that aims to provide personal philanthropic advice, guidance and support to individuals, corporations and foundations looking to engage in the next generation of philanthropy, community engagement and impact investing. Ian was the Executive Director of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Fund, and has spent more than a decade in the charity sector, being the former president of the Disabled People's Association, and championing disability issues in the Asian region through his work in both international as well as local NGOs. He is a fervent kayaker, a scuba diver as well as a sailor, and represented Singapore in the 2004 Athens Paralympics. Before joining the charity sector, he spent five years in academia specialising in the life sciences (Molecular Developmental Biology). He is a Biological Sciences graduate from the National University of Singapore.
Linda Prebhash is a Principal Trainer & Consultant with Rainbow Centre Training and Consultancy (RCTC). She has been in the special education sector since 1988 and her experience in various capacities enables her to provide a holistic perspective . She has done extensive training in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region. She is trained in the Treatment and Education of Autistic and other Related Communication handicapped Children (TEACCH), and a trainer / facilitator in MBTI.
Linda serves as a volunteer on the Board of Special Olympics (Singapore) and has been actively involved over the last 30 years. She believes that through sports, persons with special needs acquire life skills beyond the achievement of athletic abilities.
Tan Beng Tian is an independent Theatre Practitioner. In 1994, she left for Fujian, China, to undertake an intensive course on traditional hand puppetry from renowned late puppet master Li Bofen. She is a recipient of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Singapore Foundation Culture Award 2005 for her excellent work in promoting puppetry in Singapore. In 2018, she won the Straits Times Life Theatre Awards for Best Supporting Actress. As a designer, builder, performer, director and coach, she collaborates actively with companies both locally and overseas.
Alvin Tan is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage and a leading proponent of devising theatre in Singapore, having directed more than 80 plays which have been staged locally and at international festivals. Alvin also served as the Artistic Director of Peer Pleasure from 2015 - 2017. In 2010, Alvin was conferred the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, in recognition of his significant contribution to the arts. He was on the board of the National Arts Council from 2013 to 2015 and was invited by the Ministry of Education to design a drama syllabus at ‘O' level for implementation in schools. In 2014, Alvin was conferred the Cultural Medallion for his artistic excellence and contribution to Singapore's arts and cultural landscape.
Dr Charlene Rajendran is a Malaysian theatre educator, researcher and practitioner, currently based at the National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She researches issues of identity and culture in urban multicultural contexts, where questions of difference pertain. Her work also involves developing arts-based dialogic pedagogies that draw on contextually-based knowledges to deepen critical and aesthetic thinking. This includes examining pedagogies of play in arts education, and developing conversational approaches to teaching theatre as an integration of theory and practice. She has been involved as director, performer, writer and dramaturg in a range of performance projects.
Kok Heng Leun is a prominent figure in the Singapore arts scene, having built his artistic career over many decades as a theatre director, playwright, dramaturg and educator. Heng Leun is known for his ability to engage the community on various issues through the arts, championing civil discourse across different segments of society. His explorations with multi-disciplinary engaged arts have produced works like Project Mending Sky, a series on environmental issues, Both Sides, Now, a project that seeks to normalise end-of-life conversations and It Won't Be Too Long, which touched on the dynamics of space in Singapore. His most recent work Tanah•Air 水•土：A Play In Two Parts was about the dispossession of the indigenous Malays and Orang Seletar of Singapore. Heng Leun's contributions to the arts have landed him awards from the Singapore National Arts Council – the Young Artist Award in 2000 and Cultural Fellowship in 2014. He also served as a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2016 to 2018, representing the arts sector.
