WHAT'S THE
CONCEPT
Directors x Discipline is a ground-up initiative that brings together several emerging theatre directors in Singapore for mutual learning workshops. It hopes to become a space for mutual sharing and learning for early career theatre directors in Singapore.
The name of the project plays on 'x' as shorthand for collaborations between two people, as well as shorthand for 'cross' as in 'cross-discipline'.
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The project aims to create a point of convergence for participants to learn from each other's experiences and expertise and walk away with new tools in their artistic arsenal as well as a new network for potential future collaborations.
Emerging directors end up having to self-produce, if at all, in order to create work. This inadvertently doubles the work they put into a project, which may give them less room for risk taking and venturing outside their area of expertise. Further, there is a limited number of training courses and spaces for theatre directors in Singapore to explore their craft.
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Directors x Discipline is meant to hold space for these emerging theatre directors to take a pause and make time for themselves to gain new knowledge and exposure to various disciplines in performance. We believe that in this programme, learning can happen without the pressures of mounting and selling a full-scale production.
METHODOLOGY
Mutual teaching workshops
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Specialist workshops
Each director will be allocated a dedicated time and space to teach something from their area of expertise to the rest of the group. The content they cover should be something unique and different that the rest of the directors may not be familiar with or well-versed in, While teaching, each director will also learn new disciplines from the other directors. This space will allow for the growth of the director through exposure to the breadth of disciplines that they may otherwise not encounter. Through the mutual teaching and learning process, participants will also have a deeper understanding of each other's processes and journeys.
BREADTH
DEPTH
There will also specialised workshops with seasoned performance makers from different artistic backgrounds. It is hoped that this will give participants even more breadth to learn from.
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Instead of growing the depth of the director's craft (which they may do so through their own practice), Directors x Discipline nurtures the director in terms of breadth, where by the end of the programme, they would have encounered several new disciplines that will give them fresh approaches and novel tools which they can each apply when practising their craft.
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The network created through this programme also aims to be a seeding ground for potential collaboration among these directors for their future work.
PARTICIPANTS (2021)
CHERILYN WOO / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Cherilyn is a freelance Theatre Director and Writer, and currently is Associate at Nine Years Theatre (NYT).
Director Credits: People (Lasalle), The Sound Inside (SRT), Oedipus (NYT), Note For Note (Arts House), Fantastic Mr Fox (SRT, Associate Director), Faust/Us (NYT), Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Corinda (YST), L​a Boheme​ (Singapore Symphony Orchestra), ​Nightingale​ (SRT, Associate Director), ​The Woman Before​, The Bus Stop,​ A​bstraction​, The Chairs.​
Her interest lies in incorporating technology with experiences. Most recently, under the collaborative duo Issy x Cher, she helped to co-create an interactive immersive experience in Serangoon Gardens using Telegram called A Collection of Things, which was commissioned by the National Arts Council. She is also part of the NAC’s Arts x Tech Lab 2021 where she is exploring an innovative intersection between virtual reality and performance.
From 2014 – 2016, she was a part of the Directing Residency at Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT). Occasionally, she moonlights as a rapper.
For more information, please visit www.cherilynwoo.com or @cherilynwoo
KRISH NATARAJAN / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Krish Natarajan is an theatre practitioner and actor for both screen and stage and co-founder of theatre collective Patch and Punnet. Upon graduating from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2019 with first-class honours in BA Acting, he has performed in The Disappearing number (2019), La Mariposa Borracha (2019), Being Mrs Ghandi (2019), Note for Note (2020) and SRT’s The Sound Inside (2021) and appeared as Sean Kumar on Mediacorp’s Teenage Textbook (2021). He also directed and co-wrote Patch and Punnet’s Stupid Cupid (2018), The Adventures of Abhijeet (2019) and Fika and Fishy (2020). He wrote and is currently directing Patch and Punnet’s The Secret Life of Haw Par Villa a theatrical walking tour set in Haw Par Villa set to open on 7th January 2022.
SIM YAN YING "YY" / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Sim Yan Ying “YY” (she/her) is a theatre artist based in Singapore and New York. She creates as a director, performer, writer, and deviser, and strives to make works that are experimental and accessible, physical in nature, and reflective of a diversity of lived experiences. YY is primarily guided by curiosity and compassion in her art-making.
Her original works include: (un)becoming (T:>Works N.O.W. 2021), a digital production about the complex dynamics of mother-daughter relationships in Singapore today; Where Are You? (Wild Rice/ Mabou Mines), a series of productions about how we experience grief and confront death across cultures and individuals; Who’s There? (New Ohio Theatre), an international collaboration between artists from Singapore, Malaysia, and the U.S. about the political events and racial unrests of 2020; I LOVE WHITE MEN (Caveat NYC/ Ars Nova/ Dixon Place), a one-woman show excavating white worship and postcolonial baggage from an immigrant’s perspective in New York; and Without Reason (ArtsWok Collaborative/ Esplanade) about the struggles of an interracial relationship in Singapore.
YY is presently a Directing Resident at Singapore Repertory Theatre, an artist in the Mabou Mines SUITE/Space program, and a playwright as part of Emergency Stairs’ Writing with AI experimentation. She is also working with artists across the Sinosphere on a new digital project examining the notions of Chinese-ness (working title Bloodlines) under New York-based Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in the Fire series. Training: BFA NYU Tisch, 2021 The Necessary Stage Devising Platform, 2018 Williamstown Theatre Festival, 2017 SITI Company Summer Intensive. simyanying.com.
IG: @simyanying
CHERYL TAN YUN XIN / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Cheryl Tan Yun Xin is a bilingual actor, host and theatre maker based in Singapore. She is a part of two collectives, ATTEMPTS, a participatory theatre collective and Impromptu Meetings. As a theatre maker, her interests lie in experimenting with various different forms as well as bringing as many people into her world no matter if it's playing together or just watching the show.
Her acting and directing credits include Impromptu Meetings's The Staff Room & The Lobby, ATTEMPTS's Dating Sim Beta (Ver Zoom) & Hey I Moved, Lasalle's The Insiders.
She wishes to mash theatre, games and Disney into the ultimate ice cream sundae.
IG: @pinkcesscheryl
KHAIRUL KAMSANI / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Khairul Kamsani is a theatre director, researcher and acting teacher on PhD scholarship at De Montfort University conducting practice-based research on Actor Training with Virtual Reality (2021-2024). A graduate from the MA Actor Training & Coaching at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama (2018) after an Assistant Director Residency at Singapore Repertory Theatre (2016-2017). His work as a director, playwright, producer, designer, dramaturg and teacher over the past decade has been across Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. His current thesis Cybernetic Psychophysical Actor Training has been presented at Borderlines VIII: Rejecting, Tracing, Embracing Performance Legacies (2021) by De Montfort University, Leicester, and will be at the upcoming Harnessing a 21st Century approach to Performing Arts: Technology, Practice, Education and Research (2022) by Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Khairul is a research team member of Architects of Realities (2021-2022), supported by the National Arts Council Arts x Tech initiative; a collective of practitioners conducting practice-based research into the potentialities that Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality technologies can support, supplement or lead theatre making processes.
Upcoming productions include directing Constellations (2022) at the Arts House Playden and Sita of Troy (2022) at Aliwal Arts Centre. Sita of Troy is supported by the National Arts Council SEP Grant and will be the debut production for a new theatre company, Bold Moment that he is co-artistic director with Kristina Pakhomova. Khairul will be principal instructor in the Meisner, Viewpoints and Michael Chekhov techniques as well as developing a new acting program, Acting in the Metaverse.
TERRANCE TAN / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Terrance Tan is a director, filmmaker and actor. He is a graduate of Lasalle College of the Arts with a degree in Musical Theatre and an alumni the Directing Residency at Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT). He is the co-founder of Bitesize Theatre Collective which aims to bring theatre to underprivileged communities in Singapore.
He has written and directed "The Monster in the Mirror" a one-shot digi-theatrical film. With SRT, he has directed "TLC Christmas Classics" starring Julie Wee, as well as "TLC Classics from Around the World". He has also assistant directed "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)", "The Commission", "Lungs", "Tuesdays with Morrie", "Fly High", "Upstairs in the Sky (Mandarin)", "Little Red Riding Hood (Mandarin)". He has also directed the "Baby Shark Musical Tour", that was staged at the Singapore Bird Park and Brunei.
He is also a film maker, most recently directing the "Star Awards Opening Musical - You are the Brightest Star" and "The Commission" video on demand. As an editor, he has worked for many corporate and commercial projects, most notably for "BOBO Fishball 'Bobo’s 3 Wishes'" commercial web series with over 4 million views on social media, and "BOBO Fishball 'To Moments worth celebrating'" with over 20 million views on social media. He was also the editor for "The Sam Willows - For Love" music video.
VICTORIA CHEN / DIRECTORIAL PARTICIPANT 2021
Vic (@vhickes) is a performance-maker based in Singapore. Her work focuses on enriching the heart and mind through entertainment. As part of the W!ld Rice Directing Residency in January 2021, she made her professional directorial debut with the Singapore premiere of Bull by Mike Bartlett. She also recently concluded her residency at Gateway Theatre under the mentorship of Edith Podesta and Samantha Scott-Blackhall.
Vic was an Associate Artist with transnational company Bhumi Collective, with whom she won Melbourne Fringe's Best Emerging Artist Award for her interactive solo project, Charlie. Under their Mekar Program in early 2020, she developed a directorial concept that explores the environmental crisis through the metaphor of an estranged relationship.
As an actor, Vic's recent works include The Amazing Celestial Race (W!ld Rice), The Art of Facing Fear (Os Satyros), A Dream Under The Southern Bough (Toy Factory) and as understudy for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Singapore Repertory Theatre.
DOCUMENTER (2021)
LIM SHIEN HIAN / PROGRAMME DOCUMENTER
Shien is a freelance theatre practitioner who is mainly an actor, writer and director. He first caught the acting bug in secondary school, taking Theatre Studies and Drama ‘A’ Levels and going on to receive actor training in the 2019 class of Young & Wild. He was also involved in The Necessary Stage’s Devising for Actors and Playwrights workshop in 2021. He credits his early development to his time with Couch Theatre, a company he set up with school alumni, producing and performing in Pillowman (2014) and Melancholy Play (2013); as well as Yellow Chair Productions, appearing in Those Who Can’t Teach (2014) and The Tempest (2013).
Along the way, he fell in love with other aspects of theatre, dabbling in creative and production work to complement his previous experiences. Most prominently, he staged 2 original plays during his time in NUS University Scholars Programme (USP): Less Than Three (2015) and Frank (2017), expanding his creative repertoire beyond just acting to encompass directing, writing and designing as well.
His most recent project was as an Assistant Director for Session Zero (Checkpoint Theatre). Recent acting credits include The Singapore Trilogy (The Second Breakfast Company) and Mr. Dong Guo (Paper Monkey Theatre), with his forays into playwriting producing The Time Machine (Toy Factory Productions). He enjoys exercising these different theatrical muscles wearing these different hats, and is hopefully looking forward to a greater momentum for Singapore theatre in the year ahead.
DIRECTORS x DISCIPLINE 2021 REPORT
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