Nelson Chia
Nelson Chia is an actor, director and theatre educator. Trained in the Suzuki Method of Actor Training and Viewpoints, he has performed on the Singapore stage for over two decades in both English and Mandarin productions. Nelson holds an MA in Directing from Goldsmiths College and has directed over 25 major productions. He is best known for his translation, adaptation and direction of old and contemporary classics in Mandarin. Nelson previously headed the Department of Theatre at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and lectured at LASALLE College of the Arts and the Theatre Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore. In 2012, Nelson co-founded the award-winning Nine Years Theatre with his wife Mia Chee.

Nine Years Theatre
Nine Years Theatre is a local Mandarin theatre company founded by Nelson Chia and Mia Chee in 2012. Its aims are to reimagine classic plays in Chinese, as well as to create new work. The company has won multiple awards for its productions, such as its Mandarin adaptations of Yasmina Reza’s Art and Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men. In 2013, the Nine Years Theatre Ensemble (NYTE) was established so that a group of actors can train together on a regular basis via systematic methods. To date, the NYTE is the only actor ensemble of this nature in Singapore.

Nelson Chia, the artistic director of Nine Years Theatre, directed “No Parking on Odd Days” and “The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole”, monologues written by late theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun. In an exploration of cultural sentiments and grassroots sensibilities, Nelson had actors Hang Qian Chou and Tay Kong Hui perform the monologues in Chinese dialects — “No Parking” in Cantonese and “Coffin” in Teochew.

Centre 42 presented three showings of “The Vault: Dialects & Dialectics” on 5 and 6 May 2017, where director Nelson Chia revisited Kuo Pao Kun’s monologues “No Parking On Odd Days” and “The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole”. He worked with actors Hang Qian Chou 韩乾畴 and Tay Kong Hui to showcase these works in Cantonese and Teochew with the hope of bringing out the grassroots sentiments found in the plays. With support from 九年剧场 Nine Years Theatre. This edition of The Vault is Nelson’s reciprocal project for the grant he received from Centre 42’s Fellowship programme.

Source: Centre 42 Facebook 

Aidli ‘Alin’ Mosbit graduated with a degree in Drama from Queensland University of Technology. Aidli writes, directs, acts, teaches, and designs lighting and costume. She has worked with local theatre companies like The Necessary Stage, W!ld Rice, Teater Ekamatra, and Drama Box. Together with Noor Effendy Ibrahim and Alfian Sa’at, Aidli published an anthology of Malay plays in BISIK. Aidli is the Founder and Director of Panggung ARTS and she is the recipient of the Young Artist Award for Theatre in 2008. Aidli is currently working in Temasek Polytechnic while pursuing her Master of Education.

Nelson Chia is an actor, director and theatre educator. Trained in the Suzuki Method, he has performed on the Singapore stage for over two decades in both English and Mandarin productions. Nelson holds an MA in Directing from Goldsmiths College and has directed over 25 major productions. He is best known for his translation, adaptation and direction of old and contemporary classics in Mandarin. Nelson previously headed the Department of Theatre at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and lectured at LASALLE College of the Arts and the Theatre Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore. In 2012, Nelson co-founded Nine Years Theatre (NYT) with his wife Mia Chee. NYT strives to raise the profile of Mandarin theatre among Singapore audiences. In 2013, Nelson created the NYT Ensemble, a first of its kind in Singapore, to have a group of actors who train and create work together over an extended period of time.

Wong Chee Meng is an independent researcher and theatre reviewer with particular interest in intercultural theatre. He has previously worked as a translator, a bilingual journalist and an arts manager in the performing arts. Apart from a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and Chinese studies from the National University of Singapore, he holds a Masters and a PhD degree in heritage studies from the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus in Germany. His doctoral thesis was on performance and intercultural dialogue. He has lectured in Chinese film studies as a postdoctoral fellow in literary and cultural studies with the Nanyang Technological University.

Moderator:

Shawn Chua is a researcher at The Necessary Stage. He holds an MA in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and is a recipient of the National Arts Council’s Art Scholarship (Postgraduate).

On 5th April 2017, we held a Living Room session in conjunction with the Esplanade Presents: The Studios 2017 series. This Living Room conversation spotlights HARESH SHARMA’s “Fundamentally Happy”, both the original 2006 staging and the 2017 Mandarin adaptation by 九年剧场 Nine Years Theatre. Hosted by The Necessary Stage’s researcher Shawn Chua Ming Ren, the discussion on language and cultural contexts tapped into the memories and experiences of actress Aidli Mosbit (who played the character Habiba in 2006 and 2007), director Nelson Chia (who directed and translated the recent Mandarin production), independent theatre researcher Dr. Wong Chee Meng (who had watched both versions and wrote about the earlier staging).

Source: Centre 42 Facebook