In the Living Room: William Teo’s Asia-in-Theatre Research Circus

Elizabeth de Roza is an artist-researcher/educator, performance maker, theatre director, a multi-disciplinary performance artist, collaborator and theatre academic based in Singapore. She worked with ATRC from 1996 till the passing of William Teo’s and credits her first influence on intercultural theatre to William Teo. She is currently pursuing her PhD at Goldsmiths University on the embodied cultural memory and the contemporary body in cross-cultural performance practices. She is also a full-time lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, School of Dance and Theatre, and in and a co-convenor of the Embodied Research Working Group at IFTR. 

Jeremiah Choy left the law for the arts in 1997. He founded Orangedot Productions which provides creative consultancy, curatorial and production services in the arts and entertainment industry. Since 1988, he has performed and toured extensively in many critically acclaimed productions with TheatreWorks. Jeremiah first worked with William Teo in the production of The Sword Has Two Edges (1990), and subsequently assisted directed Listen To The Dolor of Dolores (1991). He then performed The Conference of the Birds (1991) at the disused warehouse where SRT now stands, and the groundbreaking monologue Lest The Demons Get To Me (1992). He was a musician in The Tragedy of Macbeth (1993), and played the leads in The Dragon King (1994) and The Painted House (2000).

Lok Meng Chue has been a stage actress for more than 30 years. She was most recently on stage as Habiba in Nine Years Theatre’s production of Fundamentally Happy for the 2017 season of Esplanade’s The Studios. Meng Chue also acted on television and in films. She first worked with ATRC on its very first production, The House of Bernarda Alba, in 1987, as well as the groundbreaking productions Medea (1988) and Mother Courage and Her Children (1989) which were staged outdoors in Fort Canning Park.

Neo Kim Seng is a cross-disciplinary practitioner and has been involved in independent and large-scale projects in Singapore and overseas in different capacities. He has programmed for Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay, Singapore International Film Festival, Singapore Arts Festival and managed productions for major theatre companies and independent artists. He has produced and toured independent dance works to Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Canada. Recently, he has begun creating his own work. Kim Seng used the work with ATRC in the capacity of a stage manager. He also designed some of the company’s programmes booklets.

Asia-in-Theatre Research Circus (ATRC) was founded by the late William Teo in 1987. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the theatre company’s establishment, we invited past ATRC collaborators Elizabeth De Roza, Jeremiah Choy, Lok Meng Chue, and Neo Kim Seng to share their experiences with Robin Loon in this edition of the Living Room. Held on 29th July 2017, the event was also attended by many theatre practitioners who knew and were inspired by William. Photo credit: Daniel Teo & Gwen Pew.

Source: Centre 42 Facebook