Short and Sweet

My short ten-minute play "Frostbite" is going up this Wednesday as part of Short and Sweet Singapore, a festival of 10-minute plays. Andrew Lua's directing - he was one of the actors for the staged reading of "The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles".

Week 2
25 April to 29 April 2007, 8pm
Studio Theatre, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
$25
Tickets here.

251

So it's finally the last day of our run for 251, the play I wrote for Toy Factory Theatrical Productions on the life of Annabel Chong that ran for 14 performances from 5 to 15 April at the Esplanade Theatre Studio. I've experienced the ups and downs of theatre and witnessed both the absurdity of commercial theatre hype (we sold out even before the first show!!!!) as well as the thick-headedness of censorship authorities in Singapore (sigh... click here).

Am I proud? Yes, I'm proud. It's a play with 101 flaws, but it's worked for a good proportion of the audience, many of whom are newcomers to theatre. And it's got me a name in the local scene and beyond which I'll be able to milk for a while (sigh... eventually you start thinking like the marketing people).

But for now, I'm skedaddling off to NYC for two weeks! From Sun 15 to Mon 30 April, DO NOT try to call my handphone. I'll be busy trying to peddle my books to the New York public. Wish me luck.

Five Foot Broadway Unplugged

Musical Theatre Singapore will presenting excerpts of my musical Georgette for free general viewing at the Esplanade Concourse tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) at 8:30pm.

Stop by to give us a clap, can?

A production of the full musical will occur during the Arts Fest, on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 June. Tickets are already on sale.

For a full schedule of the excerpts of local musicals presented, click here.

Georgette: the Trial by Fire

Forgot to deliver my report on what happened on the morning of Saturday March 10th, at the Esplanade. The incubationees of Musical Theatre Singapore marketed our work as 30-min presentations to the judges.

My cast did a superb 25-min presentation of my musical, Georgette, based on the life of Singapore pioneer artist Georgette Chen. This success was in spite of the fact that my really talented, ordinarily really responsible leading lady had overslept, and I had had to take over her place... yeah, I know, shit happens. I had to stand there, singing badly, trying very hard to give off neither incongruously masculine nor campily feminine signifiers while the others sang marvellously and talked about my being a "daughter" and a "woman artist" as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The love song was particularly weird.

Anyway, we performed in front of a panel of nine very finicky luminaries of the theatre world... and this was what they said.

KK SEET said the musical displayed a sure grasp of the genre, and appreciated that the songs were spliced to admit an intervening voice [wtf???]. However, he wished that the piece could be less chronological, possibly beginning in medias res, and that it might explore the inner demons of Georgette.

FELINA KHONG said that while dismissive of biographical plays/musicals in general, she was surprisingly entertained by the work. It was cheeky but polished.

TAN KHENG HUA said that she was on the verge of tears during the lovesong, and found the romance very touching. She appreciated the detail in the dialogue and lyrics, and wished the musical could describe more about Georgette's life story.

IVAN HENG asked whether Georgette Chen was truly as extraordinary as I'd made her out to be. He noted that her character appeared very passive, and that the context of her life appeared very privileged. What made this woman paint?, he asked. He wanted a musical to reflect more on Singapore in the period of the 50s and 60s, and suggested that I concentrate on the why and the who of her story. He was unsure about the ending, with the ambiguous circumstances of her move to Malaya. He did say he loved how the story moved, though.

JOBINA TAN saw potential in the script, but agreed that the ending was disappointing. She wanted to see Georgette finding her voice in Singapore, and felt that the final scene was anticlimactic.

GAURAV KRIPALANI noted that he looks out for musicals with a universal appeal, and Georgette qualified. He found the period and setting, in Europe and China in the 20s and 30s, to be especially interesting. However, he felt there was no dramatic tension. He also stated he did not like the music.

DICK LEE, however, said he did like the music, and also said, "I think you're first real lyricist I've come across." He felt the romance needed to be played up, as this work really came into its own as a love story. He also felt I should not feel compelled to bring the story on to Singapore. He felt, however, the story needed to be developed.

The final judgment placed "Georgette" as the most highly recommended piece for a production. "Esther" and "Believe" tied in second place, whereas it was advised that "O Krystal Ball" and "Tuesdays with Joe" be put aside. Felina actually approached me later to tell me she'd be interested in doing an independent staging of the piece.

We'll be doing a series of "Unplugged" performances of the musicals from April 2 to 5 at the Esplanade - I'll be in contact with all of you about this soon.

Theatre Idols + Tempestuous Beasts

I'm finally having my biographical-surrealist play, "The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles", performed next Wednesday 21 March, 8pm at Action Theatre's 42 Waterloo St theatre. It's just a staged reading, but I've got a solid cast - Gerald Chew, Lim Yu Beng, Janice Koh, Wendy Kweh and Jeremy Lee (the only experienced actor in the current production of the Swimming Instructor, whom I noted has a nose that French desserts should be named after).

I'm going back to back with Tze Chien, and only one of us "upstarts" makes it to the finals the following week. I definitely won't beat him - aside from the fact that TC is a great writer, he's doing a comic drama and I'm doing a weird experimental half-finished piece that's way too long for a 45-min slot. But I'd appreciate it if you guys came - and hell, it's free!

E-mail Action Theatre for comps - 2 to a person.

UPDATE: Damn, that was pretty amazing... we had a resolutely madcap readthrough with Andrew Lua and Claude [insert Italian name?] replacing Jeremy - worked far better than I ever thought it would. Tze Chien's play won in the end (even though so many of my friends came to support me), but who cares? It HAPPENED. (And I made Janice Koh speak Tamil!).

Also! The night after, on Thursday 22 March at 8pm, I'm reading at Tempestuous Beasts, an evening of poetry at the University Cultural Centre lobby. It's part of the NUS Arts Festival this year.

Don't like poetry readings in general? Well, check this out: the other readers are Cyril Wong, Alfian Sa’at and slam poet Pooja Nansi - all of us strong performers, and tempestuous indeed. It'll be a good show, I promise - and I'll try to avoid reading the stuff I've read billions of times before. More info here.

Hraka.

Dear Yi Sheng,

Thank you for coming down to talk to us last Friday, and for the pleasure of reading your application material and becoming better acquainted with recent developments in your literary career. The panel shortlisted and interviewed a number of strong candidates, which is encouraging, but which gave us an unenviably difficult final decision.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that we are unable to award you the Fellowship at this time; however, we would like to make you the (only) reserve candidate, as acknowledgement of the strong potential we saw in you. We had a protracted debate over the relative merits of two final candidates, of which you were one. It really was difficult coming to a final decision, and the second-guessing did not stop even after we made that decision. We certainly feel that you'd be able to add much to this Fellowship, and thus even though in the final analysis we felt it fair to award it elsewhere, we also feel that you should rightly be the reserve candidate. Should the awardee for any reason be unable to accept the Fellowship, the judges will re-confer with the view of awarding it to you.

The judges also impressed on me to communicate, on their behalf, our very favourable impression of your existing work and artistic development, and to strongly encourage you to consider applying for this Fellowship again in the near future (should the present Fellowship go to the awardee instead of to you as reserve candidate). I'm stressing this to try to indicate to you the close nature of our final decision, and the panel's really strong affirmation of what you are doing. Your achievements are particularly impressive given your age and the prospect of your future development.

We expect the awardee to respond to our offer within a week or two, and if for any reason the awardee declines the Fellowship, rest assured that I will be in touch with you immediately.

Best wishes,

Robbie Goh

Residency

In eight hours' time, I'm being interviewed for the Arts House/NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Writer's Residency position. Wish me luck, guys.

YAWP!

I've been invited to perform and judge a competition at Young Adult Writers Perform! 2007, a performance poetry competition, organised by Hwa Chong's English Literature, Drama, Debate and Film Society (ELDDFS).

Friday 2 March
7:30pm
Hwa Chong Institution

According to the Ms Karen Lee, guest performers will include Cyril Wong, Michael Corbridge, Yong Shu Hoong, Marc Nair and Angeline Yap.

Asia Magazine

Hey! Bryan Choong of Oogachaga just sent me scans of the coverage we got in Asia Magazine.

The magazine can be found in all Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlets, ComicMarts, as well as at the Images of Singapore Bookshop on Sentosa, the National Library, the Gallery Hotel, the Pan Pacific Hotel, The Ascott Apartments, SPCA, HiltonHotel KL, Shangri-la Beijing, The Kerry Centre Hotel Beijing, ThePortman Ritz Carlton Shanghai, The Pines Shanghai, The American ClubTaiwan and onboard airlines SIA, SilkAir, Sri Lankan Airlines.

Woot! Pan-Asian outreach! Rock never die, babe.



In other news, I saw a copy of the book selling in the branch of Popular bookstore near my home. How Heartland!

UPDATE: Hold on a gosh-darned minute! My dad did NOT stand up with tears in his eyes at a launch at Borders! It was at the launch at Mox, and he didn't cry either - all he did was wave clownishly to say "yeah, yeah, I'm the one who sired this crazy brat". But I do still appreciate the gesture. :)

Guess what? I can write prose!

Or at least a six-word long short story. I've just found out I won Culturepush's Very Short Story Competition.

This was my winning entry:

“Thanks, Singapore – the experiment ends now.”

Others that I sent in include:

Singapore colonises Britain. Speak good Singlish.
LKY Clones himself. Global domination!
Actually, Soon Juan, you’re the Messiah.
Fuzzy logic air-conditioners take revenge!
“I loved you, Kuan Yew. Goodbye.” [my favourite!]
Bomoh creates zombie army: no NS!
Haw flake ingredient: soylent green
They said I was gifted, once.
Huh? You mean I’m a robot?
Astronomy’s a hoax: green cheese, anyone?
“Guess whose cock you sucked, Papa!”
Don’t be silly, pontianaks don’t exi-
Lesbian pontianak! Quick, throw your tampons!
Sentosa’s independent! (Led by waxwork LKY)

I know, it really was a case of data-bombing. So sue me. Actually, sue them. It's been almost two weeks since they uploaded the results and they still haven't e-mailed me - nor did they print my name in the report. (shrug)

UPDATE: They've made the updates and sent me my $50 Books Actually voucher. Hooray! (Apparently they wrote and dated the article about a week before uploading it, so their sin of forgetfulness is not quite so grievous.)

Beating a Retreat

On Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 February, 2007, our director Loretta Chen dug into her own pockets and booked a chalet at Changi Sailing Club.

This was where we held a retreat-cum-workshop for 251 - photos here.



Lemme introduce the cast:
From left to right: Cheryl Miles, Lee Weng Kee and Paul Lucas...


The irrepressible Amy Cheng:


And playing Annabel herself, Cynthia Lee Macquarrie:

And of course, our beloved director Loretta Chen:


Our ever-responsible stage manager Stanley:

And moi. You can see why I'm not in the cast. I'm just too campy.

"last boy" and other autopornographies

Happy CNY! These are slides from the presentation I did last week at Rojak, discussing my career both as a writer and an exhibitionist.

1. last boy, my first book of poetry, drawing on my sexual history in New York, coupled with some extremely passionate poetry readings.



2. My experimental drag in university.


3. Which I also engaged in at the opening of the Singapore Biennale Opening Party for the sake of celebrating the carnivalesque. Components: Japanese oni demon mask and green vintage dress found in an old closet in Columbia.


4. Coverage: A wearable art intervention performed Friday, 10 November at Encounters 34: Beginning Belief, LaSalle-SIA School of the Arts. Materials: Singapore Biennale badges (X 92), Singapore Biennale tote bag, black tights, blazer and marker pen inscriptions of local contemporary artists not included in the Biennale. Reprised Saturday 11 November at the official closing party for the Biennale. Amanda Heng said she liked it. :)


5. And more recently, a grumpy protest against the proposed retention of section 377A, the Penal Code article against gay male sex, at the SQ21 blog.


There are other slides, but I'll curb my sluttiness for now. :)

Rojak!

I'm doing a presentation this Friday night on my work at the next Rojak. It's an evening of talks by artists and designers, held quarterly at a cool new location every time. This time it's at Pearl Bank Apartments, near Outram MRT, where I was born and grew up.

My talk's entitled "last boy and other autopornographies". Below is the proper invite:

09.02.2007 Fri 08.00pm till 09.02.2007

Welcome to ROJAK 07. This time, it is held in Pearlbank Apartments, part of the "Save the Modern Buildings" series. The Pearlbank Apartments, like our previous Golden Mile Complex venue, is in the midst of en bloc and possibly sold away. These architectural pieces contains many unique spaces and it will be a shame if they disappear from our local landscape. We hope that ROJAK can bring our local creatives from different disciplinaries to experience these spaces and hopefully, works can be inspired from them.

The presentation will also start earlier this time at 8pm and do come rest casually and comfortably :)

Due to the nature of our venue, there are a few things to note this time:

1. Please bring drinks to share for the ROJAK dingy. Previously, FARM always try our best to refill the drinks during ROJAK. But as this venue is far from any possible replenishment, we requested that all audience to bring something to share with the rest. It's the least you can do with all the sharing going around on ROJAK night.

2. The owner has requested that there is absolutely no smoking within the space, no sitting on the balcony ledge (which is 37th floor! yikes!!) and please do not touch the antique mirrors hung in the kitchen as they are quite reactive to water and stains (but yes, stare into yourself with them)

3. This is a private event. Please subscribe to FARM FEED for the invites and instructions on how to get to the venue (through the security).

See you soon.

See Website

251.3

Yep. Have just finished 251 Draft 3. We'll see how the reading goes on Friday. (Shudder).

It's good stuff, I'm just naturally paranoid.

MUSICAL THEATRE SOCIETY AUDITIONS
27-28 Jan 2007 1-4 pm

This is for the dry presentation of my musical, "Georgette", plus other members' projects.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artscommunity/message/15308
You are invited to audition for a number of Exciting Original Musicals
for a presentation on the 10 March 2007 at the Esplanade Rehearsal
Room.

Interested parties may walk in for an audition. If you would like to
confirm your schedule, please contact Frederick at 81618031 (Between 9
AM to 6 PM) or email : Musical Theatre Club
<singaporemusicals@gmail.com>

DATE : 27 January 2007, Saturday
28 January 2007, Sunday
TIME : 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
PLACE : 65 Sing Avenue (Off Rangoon Road)
MRT : Farrer Park

Please prepare TWO BROADWAY SONGS (One slow/ One Fast) that will show
your RANGE and EXPRESSION. These songs are to be sung acapella or
accompanied by your own minus one. Bring along a photograph (any photo
will do) and your bio-data/resume if possible.

Benvenuto a la blog 251!

I've started a blog for my upcoming play, 251 at http://251play.blogspot.com.


In other news, the reading at Kino was a nightmare. I designed my reading as a sit-down event, and everyone milling all over the place just didn't go together with the mix of voices I'd created. Was also kinda tired. Thanks to those of you who came, though.

B).

Reading @ Kinokuniya

I'll be doing a promotional reading of my poetry book, "last boy" at Kino this Saturday! Don't forget this:

Saturday 20 January
2pm-3pm
Kinokuniya Bookstore
Takashimaya SC.

kami/kaze: a correspondence

Virgo

MeTube

Brian Gothong Tan's finally uploaded the videos he made of my poems on YouTube. :)

The videos are for kami/kaze: correspondence and Virgo (warning: contains nudity). Both are published in my poetry collection last boy.