Drama Box calls aspiring playwrights for Two-year Chinese Language Theatre Playwright Incubation Programme
Registration Deadline: 25 June 2010

The BLANC SPACE PLAYWRIGHT SERIES, which has successfully produced close to 15 original Chinese language plays since its inception in 2007, is back to recruit its third cohort of playwright-wannabes.

BLANC SPACE PLAYWRIGHT SERIES III

Presented by Drama Box, in partnership with National Arts Council, BLANC SPACE PLAYWRIGHT SERIES III is a two-year programme comprising of four major components: Mentorship; Residency; Playreading and Performance.

8 playwrights with the most promising entries will be selected for the programme. Each participant will be partnered with an established local playwright, who will assume the role of mentoring the aspiring playwrights throughout the two-year process. The playwright-mentors this time are QUAH SY REN, CHONG TZE CHIEN, NG HOW WEE and LEE SHYH JIH.

 PLAYWRIGHT RESIDENCY

Within the two-year process of coaching, one of the highlights of the Playwright Series III is the Playwright Residency Programme. Held over 6 days in October, the mentors and the playwrights-to-be will be housed together throughout. Joining the team of mentors is special guest – WEI-JAN CHI, acclaimed playwright from Taiwan. During the residency, the mentors will engage the participants in intensive writing exercises, with the aim of imparting tips on playwrighting.

 NEW PLAY SEASON 2011

The bi-annual “Blanc Space: New Play Season” will take place in 2011, staging the two of the best plays selected from the completed scripts of the 3^rd cohort.  The new playwrights will then work with directors in the process of realising their new, original Chinese language plays from page to stage. 

ELIGIBILITY & REGISTRATION

The mentorship is open to both new writers as well as those who have had some writing experience and are looking to continue developing their playwrighting skills. Interested parties are to submit a 500-word script excerpt, synopsis or summary of an original story and a 1 page write-up of themselves. There is no set theme and the applicants are free to write on any subject. Participants will be required to write in Chinese.

Entries are to be submitted together with personal particulars (including contact details) via email or snail mail to Drama Box:

Email: blancspace@dramabox.org

Address: 14A-14C Trengganu Street Singapore 058468

Tel: (65) 6324 5434

Registration deadline: 25 June 2010.

 ABOUT BLANC SPACE PLAYWRIGHT SERIES

The Blanc Space Playwright Series presented by Drama Box in partnership with National Arts Council (Singapore), is a 2-year programme where aspiring young writers are partnered with established local playwright-mentors, and through regular mentoring and interactions between the new and experienced playwrights, we hope to harvest a new wave of original Chinese theatre scripts. The 2010 to 2011 cohort is the third batch of playwright-wannabes recruited under the programme.

Launched in 2007 by Drama Box, The Playwright Series is a playwright incubation programme that is committed to producing new scripts and playwrights for the local Chinese language theatre. In light of the lack of new creative talents in the scene, the company hopes to do its part by providing such platforms to inject new blood into the industry.

Since 2007, the Blanc Space Playwright Series has successfully produced close to 15 original Chinese language plays, reiterating the programme’s commitment to producing new scripts and playwrights for the Singapore Chinese language theatre scene. In 2009, Drama Box put up the inaugural “Blanc Space New Play Season 2009” to critical acclaim, staging new plays such as “Bondage”, “Lot No. 8” and “Inter|v!ew”, creating a buzz amongst theatre-goers and the public alike.

ABOUT WEI-JAN CHI

An English Major at Fu Jen Catholic University, Wei-jan Chi obtained his masters degree in Theatre Studies at the University of Kansas, followed by his doctorate in English Literature from the University of Iowa. Currently Professor of Department of Drama and Theatre, National Taiwan University; he is the author of theatre plays such as “Once Upon a Rainy Night”, “The Mahjong Game”, “The Surprise Party”, “No Comment”, “Long Time No See”, “Reel Murders”, “Countdown”, and, most recently, “Mad in Taiwan”.

About Lee Shyh Jih

A multi-faceted artist, Shyh Jih has assumed the roles of various capacities as actor, director, playwright and sound designer in more than 15 productions since his involvement in theatre from 1991. 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". Shyh Jih is also one of the associate artists of Drama Box.

About Quah Sy Ren

Sy Ren is an academic and playwright. He is also Associate Professor at the Division of Chinese, Nanyang Technological University. Plays written by Sy Ren include Boner (2002), Invisibility (2000, 1997, 1996), The Assassin, the Medium and the Masseuse (1991, co-written with Tan Ing How) and Ample Blues (1989, co-written with Tan Ing How). As a published essayist, he has four collections of essays under his name, including If on an Island, a Wanderer, co-written with Ng How Wee. Sy Ren is also Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese edition of Images at the Margins: Plays by Kuo Pao Kun, General Editor of The Complete Works by Kuo Pao Kun (10 volumes), and Board Director of Practice Performing Arts Centre and The Finger Players. Educated in National Taiwan University and Cambridge University, Sy Ren is currently Associate Professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University. His teaching and research interests are in modern literature and culture, and theatre and performance. A specialist of the Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian, Sy Ren has published a critically acclaimed monograph Gao Xingjian and Transcultural Chinese Theater.

About Chong Tze Chien

Chong Tze Chien is an award-winning and published playwright/director in Singapore. Some of the awards he has won include the Singapore Dramatist Award, The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards: Best Director and Production of the Year. He also writes frequently for local television channels, such as Channel 5, Arts Central and Vasantham Central. His works had been read and dramatised by Royal Court’s (UK) Exposure: Young Writers Dramatised Readings in 2000 and Singapore Playhouse London’s adaptation of PIE and SPOILT in 2005 respectively. In August 2006, his work Furthest North, Deepest South made its international premier in Budapest, Hungary.   Some of his notable works include, Pan Island Expressway (TheatreWorks), SPOILT (The Necessary Stage), Cravings (Action Theatre), Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Poop (The Finger Players). He is currently the Company Director of The Finger Players. He was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2006.

About Ng How Wee

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 for Best Original Script, for Fugitives, a multilingual play on which he collaborated with Alfian Sa’at and Pulau – An Island Tale. If on an Island, a Wanderer, a book 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.

Besides the workshops for theatre directors and actors, Blanc Space Masterclass Series is also organising free public talks by experimental art pioneer and founder cum co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron Danny Yung and renowned theatre director from Hong Kong Tang Shu-wing. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear and engage in dialogues with these acclaimed theatre doyens!

CHINA IS A BIG GARDEN, BEING TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY
A dialogue on traditional Chinese performing arts with Danny Yung and renowned Kun opera artist Shi Xiaomei

Date: 29 June 2010 (Tue)
Time: 8.00 - 10.00pm
Venue: TTRP Studio 1, 11 Upper Wilkie Road, S’pore 228120
Registration deadline: 25 June 2010

THE GROWTH OF AN ARTIST
A sharing by Tang Shu-wing on the key stages in the development of an artist, the global perspective and its influence on individual style, and the balance between professionalism and creativity.

Date: 3 July 2010 (Sat)
Time: 8.00 - 10.00pm
Venue: TTRP Studio 1, 11 Upper Wilkie Road, S’pore 228120
Registration deadline: 29 June 2010

Both talks are conducted in Mandarin.

Admission is free, but due to limited seating capacity, please RSVP at blancspace@dramabox.org to avoid disappointment.

The Blanc Space Masterclass Series is organised by Drama Box, in partnership with the National Arts Council (Singapore), to provide a training platform for Singapore Chinese language theatre practitioners to learn and work closely with theatre masters from the region as well as explore the language of contemporary Chinese language theatre.

The Body as Container of Human Impulses II
A Chinese Language Theatre Workshop with
Tang Shu-wing, Renowned Hong Kong Director

Date:                        4 July (Sun) to 10 July (Sat) 2010
Time:                       12.00pm to 6.00pm daily
Language:               Conducted in Mandarin
Venue:                  TTRP Studio 1

Following The Body as Container of Human Impulses, the prelude workshop held in December 2009, Tang Shu-wing will work with the participants to explore his unique method of approach acting. While the prelude workshop focused on an actor’s work and himself (including monologues), this workshop will focus on working with other actors on stage, using dialogues, interactions, etc.

Workshop Outline
Every day, the workshop will start with intensive physical training followed by these areas of work:

·       Exploration with different elements of human expression:

Voice, Respiration, Facial Expression, Gesture and Displacement;

·       Improvisation with these elements;

·       Imagination and Impulse through a physical task;

·       Formation of movement choreography; and

·       Improvisation with dialogues taken from texts of Shakespeare  

Fees
S$300 per person (original value S$800)
Pay Only S$250 for registration by 21 May 2010!

Registration

The workshop is targeted at theatre actors and/or directors who have vast stage experience and are conversant in Mandarin. Due to the nature of the workshop, participants are also required to possess a certain level of physical agility. E-mail your name, CV and contact to blancspace@dramabox.org or call: 6324 5434. Applicants will go through a stringent selection process based on experience and the materials submitted. We regret that only successful applicants will be notified. Registration closes 18 June 2010.

About Tang Shu-wing
Described by Parole Magazine of l’Alliance Francaise as “one of the most talented theatre directors of Hong Kong”, Tang Shu-wing is the Dean of Drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA).  Trained as a lawyer, Tang turned to the theatre arts and had graduated with a Maitrise Certificat in theatre studies from the Universite de la Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, in 1990. He founded and has been the Artistic Director of No Man’s Land (Hong Kong) since 1997.

During his stay in France, he was greatly attracted to the ideas of “theatre of the convention” of Meyerhold and “poor theatre” of Grotowski. For him, theatre is a way to experience life through self-discovery. He has been constantly pursuing a theatre which can trigger the maximum imagination through minimalist aesthetics. His works, ranging from solo to large scale classics and from multi-media productions to cross-cultural collaborations, have been presented in many different cities, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Macau, San Francisco and Sydney etc. As a director, Tang has directed over 35 productions of drama and dance. Most recently, he was invited by the School of Drama of Carnegie Mellon University to direct The Other Shore by Gao Xingjian in 2008.

His major awards include consecutive wins as The Best Director at the Hong Kong Drama Awards (2006 & 2007); the l’Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres bestowed by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (2007); and the Award for Arts Achievement (Drama) granted by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council for his achievement and contribution in dramatic arts in 2008.

The Blanc Space Masterclass Series is organised by Drama Box, in partnership with the National Arts Council (Singapore), to provide a training platform for Singapore Chinese language theatre practitioners to learn and work closely with theatre masters from the region as well as explore the language of contemporary Chinese language theatre.

IN SEARCH: IDENTITY & JOURNEY
A Workshop for Theatre Directors with
Danny Yung, experimental art pioneer and founder cum Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron

Date: 26 June (Sat) to 1 July (Thur) 2010
Time: 12.00m to 6.00pm daily
Language: Conducted in Mandarin
Venue: TTRP Studio 1

In Search: Identity & Journey is a workshop which will kick start a series of training, under the guidance of Danny Yung, an eminent figure in the Hong Kong arts and culture industry who has also gained international recognition. Participants of the workshop will get to be involved in a project which Danny Yung has already embarked on in Rotterdam. This is a wonderful opportunity for participants to not only learn on a workshop basis but to be able to work closely with the master on a project, ensuring a well-rounded and engaging process involving learning and praxis.

Project Outline

In Search: Identity & Journey is a process-oriented project which will be carried out in five phases, during which participants will undergo workshop training, research, cultural exchange and exploration, involving travels to Rotterdam and Hong Kong, leading to the culmination of a final presentation in Singapore.

Beginning with the workshop in Singapore, under the supervision of Danny Yung, participants will work closely with Shi Xiaomei and Hu Jinfang, two renowned opera artists from Nanjing, focusing on artistic conception, collaboration and creative dialogue, based on the topics of Identity and Journey.

Fees: S$500 per person (original value S$1,000)
Pay Only S$450 for registration by 21 May 2010!

Registration

The workshop is targeted at theatre actors and/or directors who have vast stage experience and are conversant in Mandarin. E-mail your name, CV and contact to blancspace@dramabox.org or call: 6324 5434. Applicants will go through a stringent selection process based on experience and the materials submitted. We regret that only successful applicants will be notified. Registration closes 18 June 2010.

About Danny Yung
Danny Yung is an experimental art pioneer, the founder cum Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron and Chairperson of the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture. In the past 30 years he has deeply involved in multifarious fields of the arts, mainly, theatre, cartoon, film and video, visual art and installation and is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists in Hong Kong and the neighbouring regions. He is a keen advocate of experimental arts and new art forms, and has been involved in over 100 theatrical productions as director, scriptwriter, producer and stage designer through the years. He has also contributed significantly to the provision of a platform for both acclaimed and budding artist to explore and practise theatre art in Hong Kong, as well as across Europe, Asia and the United State and more than 30 cities winning high acclamation.

In 2008, he was honoured by UNSECO’ the International Theatre Institute with the Music Theatre NOW award for his Tears of Barren Hill. He also received the Merit Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany in 2009 in recognition of his contributions towards the arts and cultural exchange between Germany and Hong Kong.

Danny is always paying attention to the arts and cultural development in Hong Kong as well as in the Asia Pacific regions and also dedicated to promoting international cultural exchange and arts education. He is currently an International Consultant of the UN Consultant System (UNCS) of UNESCO, Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Alliance of World Cultural Forum, Chairperson of the Hong Kong–Taipei–Shenzhen–Shanghai City-to-City Cultural Exchange Conference, Vice President of the Asia Pacific Performing Arts Network. and Board Member of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and Board Member of the Lee Shau Kee Hong Kong School of Creativity.

The Blanc Space Masterclass Series is organised by Drama Box, in partnership with the National Arts Council (Singapore), to provide a training platform for Singapore Chinese language theatre practitioners to learn and work closely with theatre masters from the region as well as explore the language of contemporary Chinese language theatre.  

• Exploration with different elements of human expression: Voice, Respiration, Facial Expression, Gesture and Displacement;
• Improvisation with these elements;
• Imagination and Impulse through a physical task;
• Formation of movement choreography; and
• Improvisation with a text: Antigone by Sophocles