Making a Scene Esplanade Offstage

What is the meaning or value of adapting an existing work rather than creating a new work? With so many great texts in the world, how does one decide which piece to revisit, and what are some considerations one should have in mind while doing so?

How do we understand and situate Chinese culture as well as Chinese language theatre in a multicultural society like Singapore?
In this episode of Making A Scene, three artistic directors of prominent theatre companies in Singapore reflect on both their companies’ and their own relationship with Chinese language theatre, with reference to their upcoming works at Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts 2024. Oliver Chong of The Finger Players (TFP), Koh Hui Ling of Drama Box (DB) and Nelson Chia of Nine Years Theatre (NYT) also sketch out the contours of future theatre pathways they are working on or hope for, in this wide-ranging podcast hosted by Chong Gua Khee, a Singapore director and dramaturg.

In this episode hosted by theatre-maker Edith Podesta, find out more about how opera is evolving with the times, through insights from Reuben Lai and Akiko Otao of L’Arietta Productions, Jeremy Chiew of New Opera Singapore, Jonathan Charles Tay and David Charles Tay of The Opera People, and Gena Ng of Singapore Lyric Opera. 

Narrated by performer and director Hossan Leong, this episode of Making a Scene features some key members of Singapore's a capella community. These artists talk about how the scene started, how it evolved, and what the future holds.

You’ll hear about how early a capella groups such as In-A-Chord and Budak Pantai found their groove, how platforms such as the AKA A Capella Festival and The A Capella Society energised the scene and inspired new blood, and how more recent groups such as 1023 and MICapella are exploring new frontiers in multiculturalism and technology.

Dance is not only a spectacle performed by trained professionals. It can be a form of expression, discipline, and memory for anyone. So what happens when the performance of dance is based on the habitual movements of everyday life, and when dance is embodied by untrained bodies in everyday spaces? In this episode, choreographer and educator Dapheny Chen, and Torsten Michaelsen of the German media and performance collective LIGNA, discuss their explorations of these ideas with multidisciplinary artist Alecia Neo.

Ballet is known for its long-held traditions that define its aesthetics and institutions. In some ways, these traditions have historically excluded and marginalised particular groups of people. In this episode hosted by multidisciplinary artist and educator Susan Sentler, Mohamed Noor Sarman, ballet master of Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT), and Georgina Pazcoguin, the first Asian-American female soloist of the New York City Ballet (NYCB) discuss how they view the issue of diversity and inclusion in ballet.