KOH BOON PIN
Award-winning journalist Koh Boon Pin has worked front- and back-end in newspapers, magazines, television and radio. He has, over 20 years, interviewed a broad spectrum of movers and shakers in the arts, sciences, as well as business, military and political spheres.

Audiences, both local and international, have also noted another side of him as thespian in productions such as Metamorphosis (TheatreWorks, 1989), The Dance and The Railroad (TheatreWorks, 1990), Private Parts (TheatreWorks, 1992), Six of the Best (TheatreWorks, 1996), The First Emperor’s Last Days (TheatreWorks, 1998), The Magic Fundoshi (Wild Rice, 2006), Diaspora (TheatreWorks, 2006 and 2009).

DESMOND SIM
“I enjoy people doing my pieces because I read somewhere that theatre and storytelling are like little smoke signals that you let up there. And anyone who sees it, who recognises it, who loves it; they send smoke signals back. And somehow you feel less lonely for being here, and I’ve always felt like that’s my way of connecting with people.”
~ Desmond Sim, extracted from interview for Postcards from Rosa (Source: The Backstage Life Ep 35: Postcards from Rosa, 2 July 2013)

A veteran in the local theatre scene, Desmond was TheatreWork’s first playwright-in-residence (1991) and had helped set up the company’s Writer’s Laboratory (1990). He then went on to become the associate artistic director of Action Theatre (since 2004) and ran its incubator programme for new and existing Singaporean playwrights, Theatre Oasis. Beyond writing for the stage and film, Desmond is also an accomplished painter and has held more than a dozen painting exhibitions on Peranakan figurative themes. He currently owns and runs a consultant company Desmond Sim & Co. Pte Ltd.

Desmond has, to date, written over 30 plays, almost all of which have been performed in professional theatres in Singapore and abroad. An extract of the text from one of his plays Autumn Tomyam: “I had a dream also – of flying out somewhere else and having the choice to live the life I truly wanted. But I was trapped… by fear, I was too afraid.”

Autumn Tomyam is one of three plays in the dramatised reading “Gender and Sexuality – selected works” directed by Jeremiah Choy and presented by Esplanade’s The Studios: fifty.

Part 1: How to Win at Writing

The conversation opens with Desmond talking about the multiple scholarships and writing competitions he had won in his youth, and sharing important tips on how to write for the stage. Desmond also shares his experience being the first Writer-in-Residence at TheatreWork’s Writer’s Lab. The works discussed in this video are Old Woman’s Dying, Old Woman’s Dead (1989), Red Man, Green Man (1990), Storyteller (1990), Places Where I’ve Been (1993), and Drunken Prawns(1993).

Part 2: Writing About Love and Life

In this jam-packed second part, Boon Pin and Desmond discuss some of the playwright’s most popular works. To Desmond, his plays often attempt to explore the universal theme of love and/or to show a different perspective on life, even if these aims may sometimes be couched in frivolity. Desmond shares the stories behind the plays Elizabeth by Night (1993), Corporate Animals (1995), Who’s Afraid of Choy Yuen Fatt? (1996), Shrimps in Space (1999), The Swimming Instructor (1999), and Autumn Tomyam (2001), as well as the award-winning film Beautiful Boxer (2003).

Part 3: Creating from Memories

In Part 3, Desmond shares with Boon Pin and the Living Room audience some of the works which drew heavily from memories of his childhood and family. Desmond wrote the monologue Teochew Porridge (1995) as a way of coming to terms with the relationship he had with his late father. In Postcards from Rosa (2007), he drew from stories his Nonya grandmother would tell him as child. Desmond also found inspiration in his family life for his Peranakan-themed paintings. Other works Desmond and Boon Pin discuss in this third part include Jack and the Beansprout (2006), The Wedding Game (2009), the recent stagings in Malaysia, and an upcoming new play called Pintu Pagar. Desmond also comments on the selection of Autumn Tomyam for the Esplanade’s The Studios: fifty dramatized readings on 25 April 2015.

Veteran journalist and actor Koh Boon Pin invites into the Living Room playwright, poet and artist Desmond Sim for an evening of conversations and revelations behind his journey of playwriting.

Source: Centre 42 Facebook

KOH BOON PIN
Award-winning journalist Koh Boon Pin has worked front- and back-end in newspapers, magazines, television and radio. He has, over 20 years, interviewed a broad spectrum of movers and shakers in the arts, sciences, as well as business, military and political spheres.

Audiences, both local and international, have also noted another side of him as thespian in productions such as Metamorphosis (TheatreWorks, 1989), The Dance and The Railroad (TheatreWorks, 1990), Private Parts (TheatreWorks, 1992), Six of the Best (TheatreWorks, 1996), The First Emperor’s Last Days (TheatreWorks, 1998), The Magic Fundoshi (Wild Rice, 2006), Diaspora (TheatreWorks, 2006 and 2009).

RUSSELL HENG
“That I have been part of larger movement to rejuvenate civil society in Singapore. That whatever little we have done may make it easier for coming generations of Singaporeans who are or want to be different FROM the majority.”
~ Russell Heng, on what achievement he is most proud of. (Source: Fridae.asia, 16 August 2005)

Russell Heng had received a scholarship bond in the civil service in the early 80s to become a journalist in the Straits Times – Sunday Times Feature Editor and left in 1991 to pursue another career. He joined the university of southeast Asian studies as a fellow before pursuing a doctorate at the Australian National University (thesis in political science). In 2000 he returned to the university as a senior fellow.

In 2003, Russell Heng founded Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a non-profit organisation in Singapore which was dedicated to improve conditions for low wage migrant workers in Singapore. He is currently the president heading this cause, and has been active in the events which pertain to the migrant workers, i.e. Little India Riot, improvement of workers quarters, etc. In TWC2, they create a better environment which researches into social worker assistance, food programmes, and even a care fund for these migrant workers.

Since 1990, he has written 3 plays, all of which have themes deemed controversial then. Even though they have been flagged for their first initial production, all have been eventually produced by TheatreWorks.

An extract of the text from one of his plays Lest The Demons Get To Me: “…deep down, you know that you are no more honest than any one of us. … we lead lives of secrecy because we fear the consequences of others knowing about our secret.”

Lest The Demons Get To Me is one of three plays in the dramatised reading “Gender and Sexuality – selected works” directed by Jeremiah Choy and presented by Esplanade’s The Studios: fifty.

Part 1: The Formative Years

Koh Boon Pin begins his conversation with Russell Heng by getting him to talk about the early years of his life. Russell shares memories of his formative years, from his childhood to his university years to his first jobs as a civil servant and a journalist. These were the experiences which later shaped his play-writing.

Part 2: Lest the Demons Get

The chat continues with Russell discussing his first play, Lest the Demons Get to Me (written in 1987) and the controversy it stirred when it was first staged by TheatreWorks in 1992. Boon Pin, who performed in the play’s first reading (1991), also shares his memories of playing the lead character K.C. The conversation then turned to Russell’s years in gay advocacy group P.L.U. (People Like Us).

Part 3: Half Century & Comrade Mayor

This segment focused on Russell’s more recent plays — Half Century (written in 1994) and Comrade Mayor (written in 2002). Russell shares with Boon Pin the difficulties faced in getting his contentious plays from page to stage. To end off the conversation, Russell shares a clip from his favourite Teochew opera which inspires him to write courageously about social injustices.

Veteran journalist and actor Koh Boon Pin invites into the Living Room activist, controversial playwright and scholar Russell Heng for an evening of conversations and revelations behind his works.

Source: Centre 42 Facebook