Artists

 

• Kok Heng Leun, Artistic Director
• Koh Hui Ling, Artistic Director - NeNeMas & ARTivate
• Lee Shyh Jih, Associate Artist
• Li Xie, Associate Artist
• Koh Wan Ching, Associate Artist
• Rei Poh, Associate Artist
• Ng How Wee, Associate Artist
• Patricia Toh, Associate Artist

 

 

Kok Heng Leun, Artistic Director

 

One of few effectively bilingual theatre practitioners, Heng Leun has extensive years of experience both in English and Mandarin productions, directing close to 40 plays.

He has been named by theatre critics to be the promising director "to power Singapore Theatre in the years to come" and the one to "convince ordinary folks that theatre is not intimidating". Under his helm, Drama Box has become known for its exciting theatrical works that are staged at major theatre venues and community housing estates. These works often address social issues that are relevant to Singapore society.

He was the Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage’s Theatre For Youth Branch from 1994-1998 which reached out to over 180,000 students each year. This made the company the most important theatre group in Singapore in the area of audience development. He was also in charge of M1 Youth Connection 1998, a theatre festival for youth and has organised massive community cultural events such as Tampines Cultural Day.

As a set and lighting designer, his creations have been seen in Vienna, Taiwan, Australia, London and Glasgow. In 1997, The Arts Magazine recognised him as one of the promising designers in Singapore.

Heng Leun is actively involved in several acclaimed arts organisations/ institutions:

• a panel member/ artistic advisor at NAC’s Resource Panel for Theatre, one of the evaluators and mentors for Practice Performing Arts School’s Theatre Training and Research Programme (TTRP)
• a part-time lecturer/ tutor at National Institute of Education and Singapore Polytechnic
• a curriculum advisor for the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)
• has conducted workshops/ lectures at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA) and New Era College in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• has also given papers and attended conferences in Brazil, Greece, Budapest, Hong Kong and South Korea

To date, he has directed Drift (2007, 2008, 2009), A Stranger at Home (2006), HAPPY (2005), Liao Zhai (2004), Freedom From Toil (Bangalore, India 2003); Cloud Nine; Fugitives; White Songs (2002 & 2001); Have You Beaten?; Have You Eaten?; News Theatre; Mr Beng (2000 & 1999); Sang Nila (International Puppet Festival, Vienna 1999); Sour Relationship; Leng-Geh-Mng; Hazy Love ‘97; Invisibility (The Necessary Stage, Taipei 1997 & Singapore 1996); and Galileo -I Feel the Earth Move (The Necessary Stage). Apart from his earlier works, Heng Leun has also collaborated with other playwrights to co-write Drift; Trick or Threat; Soil and Tomorrow. Plays he has adapted include: A Stranger at Home; HAPPY; Liao Zhai; MoMo. He has also translated MoMo and Cloud Nine and has been dramaturgy for the Full Frontal series by the Singapore Arts Festival since 2007 and for Invisible Room, a collaboration with The Observatory and Ho Tzu Nyen (2009).

Heng Leun was the recipient of the Young Artist Award 2000 from the National Arts Council (NAC), Culture Award 2003 from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award 2006.

Apart from his earlier works, Heng Leun has also collaborated with other playwrights to co-write Drift, Trick or Threat! and Soil and Tomorrow. Plays that he has adapted include: A Stranger at Home, HAPPY, Liao Zhai and MoMo. He also translated MoMo and Cloud Nine.

 

 

Koh Hui Ling, Artistic Director - NeNeMas & ARTivate

 

Hui Ling was trained in Speech & Drama at the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Arts & Cultural Troupe from 1988, before venturing into professional theatre in 2001.

One of Singapore’s most versatile actresses, Hui Ling has explored a wide range of theatre genres to critical acclaim. She has acted in many of the company’s community plays and main season productions since 2002. Hui Ling is also notably known as one of the devisors and cast of the popular devised News Theatre play, News Busters! (Dua Dai Ji). She was also seen in Liao Zhai – Of Man, Ghost & Others (Esplanade’s Huayi Festival 2004), Shithole (2004), Thrash (Esplanade Studios Season 2004), Happy (Singapore & Shanghai 2005) and A Stranger at Home (Singapore Arts Festival 2006).

Besides acting, Hui Ling has been a Speech & Drama teacher since 1999, working in schools as well as educational institutions. Together with Kok Heng Leun and Evelyn Chia, they founded NeNeMas – the education arm of Drama Box in 2004. Since then, Hui Ling has overseen the curriculum planning of NeNeMas and has developed a set of Drama-in-Education and Theatre-in-Education programmes. With many years of teaching and facilitating experience in educational institutions, Hui Ling continues to believe in the humanistic value of education and aspires to touch people with her work.

She made her directorial debut in 2007 in MOMO, the first youth play presented by NeNeMas. In 2008, she directed and co-scripted What Matters? – A Forum Theatre Play presented as part of the Esplanade Feed Your Imagination series.

Hui Ling has attended international conferences and workshops on theatre and drama education in London, Greece and Hong Kong. She is currently the Artistic Director of NeNeMas – the Education arm of Drama Box and heads ARTivate – the youth wing of Drama Box, overseeing the programme calendar for the youths.

 

Lee Shyh Jih, Associate Artist

 

A multi-faced artist, Shyh Jih has assumed the roles of actor, director, playwright and sound designer in his involvement in theatre that began more than ten years ago in 1991. In that year, he acted in a Mandarin production, Yi Xin, with Drama Box. Since then, he has been involved in various capacities in more than 15 productions.

Shyh Jih’s most recent directorial credit is Constant Constipation in March 2004. Other productions he co-directed include Fugitives (co-directed with Kok Heng Leun) Hazy Love 97 and Have You Eaten?, a piece of forum theatre which toured community venues. The Rape, a production that he co-directed in 2000 and which portrayed the lifestyle of youth and pub culture earned positive comments from the media.

His capability as a playwright has received recognition and affirmation. Banana Blues, a play that was staged by Drama Box in 1999 at its studio theatre, was praised by The Flying Inkpot, a web-zine dedicated to the arts.

Beautiful Day, another of his creations that was staged in 2002, was described by The Arts Magazine as "a good play dealing with the issues of friendship, second chances, personal history and memories".

 

 

Li Xie, Associate Artist

 

Li Xie is an associate artist of Drama Box and also a freelance theatre practitioner and mask-maker. Li Xie performs, writes, directs and has taught acting and movement in LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

The actor-creator has undergone training from Odin Teatret, “Biomechanics” by Bodganov Gennadi (Russia), “Alexander Technique” by Niamh Dowling (UK), “Commedia Dell’arte” by Antonio Fava (Italy) and “Theatre of the Oppressed” workshops by Headlines Theatre (Canada) and has learnt mask making from Donato Sartori (Italy). Li Xie has directed and facilitated forum theatre pieces, working with youth and inmates from Singapore Selarang Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

Her recent acting works include The Madwomen’s Diaries (Peter Sau, Esplanade’s The Studios Season 2009) Temple (Cake Theatre, Singapore Arts Fest 2008), House of Sins (Drama Box, 2008), Little White Sailing Boat (Singapore Arts Festival 2007), A STRANGER AT HOME (Singapore Arts Festival 2006), SHITHOLE (nominated for 2004 Life! Theatre awards – Best Script, and Best ensemble), original solo mask work, Hell (Hong Kong International SARS Festival, International Magdalene Project 2003 (Singapore) ), HAPPY (awarded 6th Life! Theatre Awards Best Supporting Actress), an anti-war solo performance Ah Hua’s Paradise in conjunction with the International Lysistrata Project, and the re-staging of the critically acclaimed one woman performance The vaginaLOGUE, which was voted the best play of the year (2000). Her directorial and playwriting works include House of Sins (won Best Director at Life! Theatre Awards 2009 and nominated for Best Script), Trash (2006) and SHITHOLE (2005).

In 2004, she created the first mockumentary theatre in Singapore - Dua Da Ji/News Busters!, with Tay Kong Hui, Evelyn Chia and Koh Hui Ling.

Li Xie was awarded the Young Artist Award by National Arts Council (Singapore) in 2005.

 

Koh Wan Ching, Associate Artist

 

Koh Wan Ching is a freelance theatre performer and speech and drama trainer. She graduated from the National University of Singapore Theatre Studies program.

Besides touring outreach performances for schools, she has also been involved in main season and community theatre productions of various scales and languages. These productions include: Laojiu the Musical (2005) and Immortal X (2007) by the Theatre Practice, Forum Theatre 168 (2006), Trash (2006) and Momo（2007) by Drama Box, Big Fool Lee (2007) by Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble, Enchanted Tales (2007) by The Finger Players, In the Name of Dance (2008) by ECNAD, as well as Death of a Hero (2008) by Puppet.

Wan Ching was last seen in LIV (Full Frontal, Singapore Arts Festival 2009), The Queen (The Theatre Practice, OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival 2008), First Light (Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble 2008) etc and had co-directed the movement performance Seven Deadly Sins: I Killed Mother Earth with Kok Heng Leun in Project Mending Sky: ME (Drama Box’s Community Performance 2008). She made her directorial debut in Drama Box’s community performance - ignorLAND of its Desires in 2009.

 

Rei Poh, Associate Artist

 

REI POH was demoted from the Express to the Normal stream during his secondary school days. Barely scraping his O Levels, he enrolled into NYP’s Manufacturing programme and flopped his way to the second year but became a school dropout later on. Rei decided to sign on with the Singapore Police Force in 2000 but refused to continue on with the application as there were too many interviews. It was then that he got in touch with theatre. Rei eventually graduated from LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, with a Diploma with Distinction in Theatre Arts had received the Best Actor Award in Short & Sweet Singapore 2007 with his performance in The Complaint.

He has performed overseas in ANTIGONE in Greece and Romania with UNESCO. He was also involved in many of Drama Box’s productions as well as Faithwork Theatre, panggung ARTS, Toy Factory etc. His recent involvements with Drama Box include acting in angel-ism, which was presented by the OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival 2008 (panggung ARTS and Drama Box), Forum Theatre - Trick or Threat, Community Performance Ignorland of its Name and their main stage production House of Sins. He was also last seen in Puppet Square’s Death of the Hero, Journey to the West, panggung ARTS’ Mama’ Yong and Toy Factory’s First Light. Besides acting, Rei is also an avid and experienced educator in the drama and theatre industry. The workshops he had conducted include - acting workshops, speech and drama workshops and so on.

Rei had also co-scripted and co-directed the forum theatre play What Matters? with Koh Hui Ling (Artistic Director of NeNeMas), which was presented by ARTivate – the youth wing of Drama Box, as part of the Esplanade’s Feed Your Imagination series. He started directing independently (though with constant scrutiny under Heng Leun) in the Forum Theatre play Let Me Off!, presented by Migrant Voices.

Rei is currently involved in the Blanc Space Playwright Series 2, learning the ropes to be a playwright and is also a proud Associate Artist of Drama Box.

 

 

Ng How Wee, Associate Artist

 

Ng How Wee is a radio deejay of Radio1003 and hosts a weekly night program, featuring local theatre and film. His participation as the narrator in a radio play 《2530的幸福》has received positive comments from listeners and the media.

A graduate from Peking University in Chinese Language and Literature, How Wee is a prolific writer who was nominated twice for the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards (Best Original Script) (《欲望岛屿》and a co-directed multilingual play 《逃亡》 with Alfian Bin Sa’at in 2001)

In 2004, he wrote a piece 《禁事（不可考)》for Theatre Practice biannual Arts Festival. The book, If on an Island, a Wanderer, which he co-authored with Quah Sy Ren, was adapted for a play by Drama Box during the Singapore Arts Festival 2006. His second book, a collection of prose, No Such City was published in 2007 and he is currently conceiving his poetry collection, The Glacial Equator

How Wee has just completed his Masters Degree research on the community theatre of Drama Box and was awarded a double-distinction for his thesis. He is currently one of the mentors for the Drama Box’s Blanc Space (Playwriting) Programme.

 

 

Patricia Toh, Associate Artist

 

Patricia attained the Shell-NAC Arts Scholarship and completed a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting) at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Sydney, Australia. Her curiosity in puppetry has resulted in a show SHH at Sydney Opera House Studio. She had also collaborated with artists from different mediums creating Impetus and Interference at Theatreworks upon her return.

Patricia has toured internationally: to Japan, Korea and Hong Kong in the dance piece Noalibi (Metabolic Theatre Laboratory), to China on Titoudao (Toy Factory) and around Southeast Asia on the show Prism (Toy Factory). She was also part of the cast in Drama Box’s Drift, a collaboration with the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre.