In the Press

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Q: Protagonists at the Edge was previewed on Channel 8.

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Keep Singapore theatre fresh by embracing risk and failure

'By [the mid-2000s], the impact of training and mentorship programmes set up from the late 1990s could be felt. These included The Necessary Stage's Playwright's Cove, where [Natalie] Hennedige and Chong [Tze Chien] cut their teeth; and the Intercultural Theatre Institute, which gives actors a grounding in Asian and Western performance traditions. Peter Sau, who was in [Hennedige's] Nothing and is up for a Best Actor nomination this year for the Nine Years Theatre comedy Art, is a graduate of the programme.'

- The Straits Times

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Review: Invisibility

'Invisibility, directed by Koh Heng Leun, promises a dissection of society to reveal urban alienation and our despairing search for validation as individuals. The human condition, endless suffering and characterized by solitude, is the crux of Quah Sy Ren’s play written almost two decades ago. Initially in Mandarin, the script has been revised using various classic texts and writings from the cast themselves. The revitalized script, that includes modern references to technological conveniences like Whatsapp and current global affairs like the Ebola pandemic, proves how the human endeavor for connection is an ageless struggle.

As part of their final performance showcase, the graduating cohort from the Intercultural Theatre Institute followed the multicultural spirit of the institution.'

- The Review Room

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Time Out Singapore: 30 Things We Love About Singapore Theatre

'T. Sasitharan also contributed to the [local theatre] scene substantially – he was the theatre critic and then arts editor of the Life! section of The Straits Times until 1996, and later co-founded the Intercultural Theatre Institute with Kuo Pao Kun.'

- Time Out Singapore 

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Cloud Messenger

'Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) invites you to celebrate this National Day with an original, devised-in-Singapore play, Cloud Messenger. Helmed by guest director Alvin Tan and playwright Haresh Sharma from The Necessary Stage. Cloud Messenger is a multilingual, inter-disciplinary collaboration with some of Singapore’s leading artists such as Bani Haykal, Brian Gothong Tan, Jaclyn Tan, Steve Kwek and design collective Neon Tights.

Cloud Messenger is inspired by Megha Duta, a Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa and is devised with ITI’s 2014 graduating cohort, featuring students from countries as diverse as India, Italy, Bolivia, the Philippines and Singapore.'

- The Independent

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Experiencing poetry in action

'In Kalidasa's original lyric poem Meghaduta, a yaksa (nature spirit) pining for his wife persuades a passing cloud to help him send her a love message. The cloud agrees to do so, only after the yaksa describes in detail all the astonishing sights and wonders the cloud would see on its way to his wife's home.

This 1500-year-old story has, in the hands of Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan, transformed into a contemporary play about the experiences of seven graduating students of the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI).'

- The Business Times

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Intercultural Theatre Institute: Une école de Théâtre fondée sur le mélange des cultures

'Some people have the good fortune to live several lives in one. [ITI Director] T. Sasitharan is one of those people. Journalist, philosophy teacher, actor and director, he was the Artistic Director of the Substation before founding the Intercultural Theatre Institute with his friend Kuo Pao Kun. Meet a key person in Singapore's arts scene, and discover the heart of a school which makes cultural hybridisation the basis of its theatre training.'

- Le Petit Journal

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$200 million fund to match cultural donations launched

'Ms Josephine Tan, Director of Development, Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI), said: "Donors now have a new and substantive incentive to increase their support for the arts. The Cultural Matching Fund will help plug a critical gap as there are few funders for direct operational costs. For arts institutions like the ITI, this means we can accelerate plans to develop new programmes and establish an endowment. It will be interesting to see if the matching will also attract new philanthropists for arts and culture. That would be great!"'

- AsiaOne

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Guillermo Angelelli: "En escena y en la vida, el único clown fue Batato Barea"

'An internationally recognised figure, [Guillermo] Angelelli is now in Singapore, where he teaches physical and vocal training and clowning at the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI). "In clowning, what transcends is not what is said; there is something behind that, which is the goal of training: to find that transparent body to connect with a type of presence which is already eloquent in itself."'

- Clarín

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Creating a manifesto on the arts

'Some members of the Singapore arts community are mooting an Arts Manifesto to set out the broad principles and values that they consider are important to the arts.

The manifesto is currently still in its early stage but there are several key statements that have been put forward for consideration, such as: Do not attempt to define art; Art unifies and divides; Art is about possibilities; Art can be challenged but not censored; Art is political.

The key people behind the manifesto include theatre practitioners Alvin Tan, Kok Heng Leun, Kuo Jian Hong, Tay Tong and [ITI Director] T. Sasitharan, playwright [and ITI Board Member] Tan Tarn How, academic Terence Chong, Arts Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Janice Koh, film-maker Jasmine Ng, arts lecturer Audrey Wong and poet Alvin Pang. They met twice last month to come up with a framework for the manifesto.

They are all members of ArtsEngage, a group of artists, arts managers and observers interested in cultural policy issues. The group presented the Government's censorship review committee with a paper pushing for a more impartial and open advisory and rating system in 2010, and held a discussion on street art, vandalism and the limits of artistic licence last year after the arrest of graffiti artist Samantha Lo.

The group intends to present the manifesto to the public and the Government at a press conference next month, and members of the public and the arts community who agree with the manifesto will be asked to sign an online petition in support of it.

Playwright Tan Tarn How, 52, says: "This is an extension of the work we've done as ArtsEngage. At no time do we claim to represent all artists - we represent whoever wants to be represented. Other artists may not care about it or disagree, but we are just making the claim to say that this is what it is." He adds that while the manifesto is not enforceable, the group hopes that it will give the public pause as it reflects on why the arts and culture are important. "What we've noticed from discourse and policies in general, and with the National Conversation in particular, is that people tend to focus on the very material and everyday things rather than on what we think is of fundamental importance - about love for family and friends, the freedom to do what we want to do, and affirming ourselves as human beings through arts and culture.

"(Arts and culture) have always been peripheral. That's a fundamental problem in perception that I think policy-makers have pushed in their economy-centric planning and policy-making."

Last Sunday, about 30 arts lovers and practitioners gathered at the arts centre Emily Hill to discuss the first draft of the manifesto and offer suggestions and opinions.'

- AsiaOne

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