The crowds gather around spoken-word poets from destination: INK’s programme, “One-Mic Stand”, at Late-Night Texting in 2016.

On a busy night at Centre 42, we sometimes have up to four or five groups rehearsing under the same roof at the same time. But like we mentioned in our third anniversary story, the theatrical magic usually happens behind closed doors. Once a year, however, we throw open those doors for an after-hours shindig called Late-Night Texting, so that everyone can come and experience that magic for themselves.

Late-Night Texting made its debut last year, and the idea for it came about fairly organically – the Centre 42 team talked to some of the artists who regularly use our space, and asked if they would like to showcase some of their work in a casual one-off event. Several groups came on board, and we pulled together a line-up featuring performances of short plays, spoken-word poetry, and improv comedy.

The idea is for the event to be a playground for artists to try new things. It’s also a chance for the public to sample something a little different, meet some of the amazing artists we work with, and hopefully have lots of fun while they’re at it.

We weren’t sure what to expect for the inaugural edition, but our blue house ended up receiving over 3,000 visitors in one night. So this year, we’re bringing it back again as part of the Singapore Night Festival. Except now, there will be twice the texting, as it will be held on both Friday 25 and Saturday 26 August. As per last year, there will be a line-up of text-based performances, as well as snacks and drinks on sale from our friends at Coffee Bandits.

Here’s what visitors to Late-Night Texting 2017 can expect.

“Night Shift” by Proletariat Poetry Factory

The team of Servile Poets hard at work at Alt-Topia, Proletariat Poetry Factory’s event in 2015 at Centre 42.

It was arguably Proletariat Poetry Factory (PPF) who inspired a night of revelry in the blue house. Founded by Rachel Goh in 2006, the group comprises a team of Servile Poets. Their mission is to compose poems based on words submitted by visitors to whichever event they’re performing at. In 2015, PPF created Alt-Topia, a multi-faceted performance, as part of the Singapore Night Festival. Centre 42 was the venue programme partner.

The Servile Poets donned bright orange boiler suits and settled in front of their typewriters in our Black Box. Meanwhile, a team of actors dressed up in larger-than-life costumes roamed our blue house, greeting visitors and cracking the whip on the poets if anyone was caught slacking.

“To be frank, we didn’t know what to expect as it was just one big experiment,” Rachel recalls. “It was hands-down our most ambitious show ever, combining poetry production with organic theatre and self-exhibitionism. But it turned out to be two nights of random magic.”

The Centre 42 team really enjoyed the participatory nature of Alt-Topia, and we’re thrilled to be welcoming PPF back to our space for the 2017 edition. This time, they return under the programme name “Night Shift”, where they will once again be setting up a poetry production line. However, Rachel points out that the experience will be quite different from Alt-Topia.

“It will be a much more intimate show than before as we will be performing alongside other Late-Night Texters,” she says. “Also, this time the spotlight will be on our poetry customers, as there will be a more prominent stage for them to recite their freshly-made works – rendering our usually ephemeral poetry more tangible and public for a change.”

“One-Mic Stand” by destination: INK

Charlene Shepherdson performs at the 2016 edition of Late-Night Texting.

Also making a comeback at Late-Night Texting 2017 is “One-Mic Stand”, a series of spoken-word poetry performances organised by the same people behind the monthly open mic series, destination:INK. They, too, will have nine acts this year, all of whom are the event’s regular performers. They are: Ang Shuang, Harini Vee, Joses Ho, Laika Jumabhoy, Max Pasakon, Pranamika Subhalaxmi, Praval Visvanath, Will Beale and Charlene Shepherdson. Between them, they cover a wide spectrum of genres, from sci-fi poetry to poems that combine word and music.

“As a writer, it can get quite isolating because you tend to work on your own projects and your own communities,” explains Charlene Shepherdson, a spoken-word poet and one of the organisers of destination: INK. “So an event like Late-Night Texting is great because it reminds me that there are so many more people working in other forms of the arts, and it gives us an opportunity to get to know them.”

We’re also delighted when Charlene told us that they were able to introduce spoken-word to a new audience at last year’s event.

“It was amazing watching people casually strolling by Centre 42, pick up on the noise and decide to venture in,” she says. “I got a lot of comments afterwards that they weren’t even aware that there are regular spoken-word events in Singapore.”

“Eat My Shorts” by Dark Matter Theatrics

One of the short plays from Dark Matter Theatrics’ programme ‘Eat My Shorts’ at Late-Night Texting 2016.

Founded by playwright-director Christopher Fok, actor Lian Sutton, and playwright Marcia Vanderstraaten, Dark Matter Theatrics (DMT) is a theatre collective that’s about “bringing the extraordinary out of ordinary things”. Formed in 2015, and the team has worked in Centre 42 on various projects, including site-specific productions, workshops, and reads.

DMT was also one of the groups that took part in Late-Night Texting last year, presenting a series of ten-minute short plays titled “Eat My Shorts”.

“What I think ‘Eat My Shorts’ does really well is to bring out the magic of short, simple stories. Like all our work thus far, it is powerful in its compactness and endearing in its intimacy,” says Marcia.

“Eat My Shorts” will be making a return this year with 12 different plays by young playwrights mentored by Marcia and Faith Ng.

“It was really so lovely to see so many people at Late-Night Texting 2016, listening to spoken-word poetry, checking out books at the pop-up store, and lining up patiently to watch our ten-minute plays,” remembers Marcia. “DMT has developed a great working relationship with the good folks of Centre 42, and after seeing how well the first edition of ‘Eat My Shorts’ went, it made perfect sense to go for it a second time around.”

“ETA: 9MIN” by Main Tulis Group

The current members of playwright collective Main Tulis Group, who will each be writing a nine-minute short play for Late-Night Texting this year.

A new group that will also be presenting short plays this year is Main Tulis Group. The playwright collective was formed by Nabilah Said in 2016, and it now comprises nine members who write in both Malay and English. They are (from top left in the photo above): Ahmad Musta’ain Khamis, Farhanah Diyanah, Hazwan Norly, Zulfadli Rashid, Sabrina Dzulkifli, Nabilah, Adib Kosnan, Nessa Anwar, and Johnny Jon Jon.

“Main tulis” means “play write” in Malay, and the group chose it as a pun on “playwright”. But it can also mean “anyhow write” – a sign that members are encouraged to experiment and not take things too seriously.

The group has been meeting at Centre 42 since its inception, and Nabliah is excited to be part of Late-Night Texting for the first time this year. Main Tulis Group’s programme is titled “ETA: 9MIN”, and it is a showcase of nine-minute plays written by each member specially for the occasion.

“It’s like going to a buffet where you get to sample many things,” says Nabilah. “We each have very different styles – there’s comedy, tragedy, social commentary, absurdism, English plays, Malay plays, [etc.] We want to give the audience a good story.”

“#nofilter” by Telling Stories Live

Petrina Kow (front left) and Shireen Abdullah (front centre), who founded Telling Stories Live, pose with some of the group’s members.

Telling Stories Live (TSL) essentially began as a dare. When working together on Dream Academy’s 2013 production of Crazy Christmas, Petrina Kow and Shireen Abdullah discovered their mutual love for The Moth, a podcast that features different storytellers in each episode. The two of them dared each other to start something similar in Singapore, and TSL was born nine months later as a labour of love.

“There’s something quite special about listening to other people’s stories in person,” says Petrina. “It takes a lot of courage for the storyteller to be vulnerable in front of a live audience. In this fast-paced digital world we live in, it’s even more crucial to create spaces for us to connect in this deeper way.”

Six of TSL’s members will be taking part in Late-Night Texting for the first time this year, and they will be sharing a series of strange but true stories in a programmed called “#nofilter”. As the name suggests, this will be an intimate, no-holds-barred event.

“We have got an exciting line-up of storytellers. All I can say is… it might get a little dark!” teases Petrina. She adds that the team will be creating “a safe, warm space that is conducive for connecting with the audience, because at the end of the day, it’s about having fun and getting [the storytellers’] stories out there”.

“Text with Me” by The Latecomers

Locally-based improv comedy troupe The Latecomers goofing around after a recent gig they did.

This rambunctious gang of improv comedians first banded together in 2014. They started off as an interest group at SCAPE, where they provided free workshops for the public. Nowadays, they rehearse about three times a month (often at Centre 42), and perform regionally. Their brand of humour is, shall we say, not exactly politically correct. But it sure sounds fun.

“A recent musical game we tried in rehearsal ended up with every member of the UN Security Council in a diss rap battle,” Darren Foong, one of The Latecomers, tells us.

He wouldn’t divulge too much about what to expect for “Text with Me”, the skit that they will be performing at Late-Night Texting. “Now, now, spoilers!” tuts Darren. But he does say that audience suggestions and participation is key. And the more the audience gives, the more they will get out of it.

“We think texting should be a two-way thing,” he explains. “If an audience is willing to share, we could help them with a confession, or write a serenade for someone, or even stage an improvised play… but you’ll have to come by to find out!”

“Between the Lines” by BooksActually

BooksActually will be returning with a pop-up store at Late-Night Texting 2017 where you can go to #buysinglit.

The beloved independent bookshop had a pop-up store at Late-Night Texting last year, and have decided to up their game this time around. On top of once again setting up a booth for visitors to #buysinglit, co-founder Kenny Leck and his team will also be organising a programme called “Between the Lines” at this edition. Here, authors Tania de Rozario and Daryl Yam will be reading excerpts from their work, and have a sharing session with the audience afterwards.

Tania is well known for her collection of poems and short prose, titled Tender Delirium, and a literary memoir called And the Walls Come Crumbling Down. Daryl is an up-and-coming writer whose debut novel, Kappa Quartet, was long-listed for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize.

“I love the tenderness, and the sense of vulnerability that is dosed out in measured moments that resonates in both Tania’s and Daryl’s writing,” says Kenny. “Both writers are what I termed ‘shy writers’. They don’t rely on the ‘ra ra’ feel that some other writers present in their writing. Instead, both Tania and Daryl rely on their text to do the slow work. Every word, every phrase, every turn affords the reader a sense of completeness in due time.”

He continues: “As the event name goes, we hope the audience will come away from the event held during Late-Night Texting to be able to literally read ‘between the lines’.”

By Gwen Pew
Published on 14 July 2017

Find out more about Late-Night Texting here, and join us at Centre 42 on 25 & 26 August 2017.

This article was published in Blueprint Issue #2.

Following the success of Alt-topia – an event conceived by the Poletariat Poetry Factory and hosted by Centre 42 at last year’s Night Festival – we’ve decided to build on that by presenting Late-Night Texting this time. Held for one night only, it is a celebration of text-based works across different genres, from theatre to spoken word, and features performances by four local companies. In this series of blog posts, we’ll be speaking with each of them to find out what they’ll be getting up to on the night.

One of the groups that will be performing that night is Saga Seed Theatre, a new company founded by local playwright Jean Tay. At Late-Night Texting, they’ll be performing a series of plays – collectively called Seedy Stories – staged in the nooks and crannies of Centre 42. Hear more from the company’s associate director – and director of Seedy Stories – Thong Pei Qin!

Saga Seed is a new theatre company – can you give us a quick intro to the group, and what you hope it will bring to the local performing arts scene?
We want to bring a diversity of people together through theatre to spark off meaningful conversations, and to provide a platform for new and original voices in our local theatre scene. I am interested in exploring the ties that bind people together and in understanding the human condition. As such, we hope to create common lived experiences through truthful stories told in a shared space. We hope that through our efforts, our audience members and community will be encouraged to listen to what these artists and playwrights have to say, and engage with their concerns.

How did you decide on the line-up of playwrights for Seedy Stories at Late-Night Texting, and have these stories been performed before?
These six playwrights are relatively new, budding voices in our theatre scene. We keep our ears to the ground, to be in tune with writers who are either venturing into play-writing for the first time, or who have a couple of  plays under their belt already, either through having taken part in play-writing competitions, writing mentorship programmes, experimental laboratories or play-writing classes. Some of these writers may not have had many opportunities to hear their new plays being read by actors, much less have them performed or staged as full productions. Thus, we make it a point to invite our playwrights into our rehearsal process, so they can hear their works being workshopped and gain some fresh insights.  A couple of these short plays (namely, Kittens and G.F.E.) have been staged on experimental non-profit platforms or to small groups of audience members.

The stories seem to be living up to their names – they’re all sound quite seedy! How did they come about? Were there any criteria in how you picked them?
We responded rather organically to Centre 42’s playful theme of “Late-Night Texting” during the Night Festival. I’m rather fond of making silly puns on the name of our company “Saga Seed Theatre”, and have in fact joked about staging “seedy” plays. So this naughty idea was the first thing that sprung to mind when the Centre 42 team invited us to propose programmes for the festival. I distinctly remember when I first casually uttered “Seedy Stories”, there was a collective gasp in the Centre 42 office. The rest, as they say, is history.

We chose the works based on the themes the plays dealt with, and what the playwrights and our team understood “seedy” to be. We got creative with this word and the images it conjures. In fact, we veered quite far from ostensibly sexual content, to delve deeper into what lies beneath potentially dodgy material.

We discovered “seedy” could mean being pregnant with seeds, and one of our chosen plays, The Dragon, The Phoenix and The Mother by Gabrielle Goh Khoon Hui, examines how a mother’s expectations of her children is affected by a palm reader’s questionable superstitions. Kittens by Joanne Tay is a deliciously devious tale about cats attempting a prison break, but also explores the oppressed individual’s desire for freedom. There is also a dubious criminal story CON! by Dan Koh, and a hilarious tale of conspiracies – Operation Misty Mountain – by Luke Vijay Somasundram thrown in the mix. Three Rules of Whore by Eugene Koh invites us to take a good hard look at the objectification of women. And although G.F.E. by Chong Woon Yong is ostensibly based on two men’s experiences in sleazy Geylang, it really explores broken relationships between people, and ultimately loneliness. Hence our team of actors, director, dramaturg and playwrights have unearthed some very rich and affecting material in these six chosen plays and are excited to share them with our audience!

The plays at Seedy Stories will be played out around Centre 42 – what do you think this will bring to the experience for the audience?
With these scripts, we are given the license to freely play and respond to the forgotten, liminal spaces within Centre 42. The audience will be invited to follow us down (quite literally) shady alleyways to the different stations of each dramatised reading.  Hopefully, they will enjoy the same spine-tingling sensation we ourselves experienced while creating this roving adventure in the nooks and crannies of Centre 42, outside of its usual performance spaces. Our outdoor rehearsals thus far have a guerrilla streak to them, and have attracted curious stares from many passers-by.

We hope to bring a sense of rough and ready street theatre to our audience members, who have to be prepared to crowd around to catch our performances. We hope that through presenting these plays in a fun and informal way, and having them read up and close and personal with the audience, we will all feel bonded as a community for one magical evening.

What are some of the plays at Seedy Stories that you’re looking forward to watching, and why?
Everything! There is something for everyone, really. But out of my own love for cats, I do have a soft spot for Kittens, and also because our actors playing the kittens have been very touched by the subject matter and can identify with it. Hopefully, this will also translate into a heartfelt and memorable encounter for our audience.

Our opening act, The Dragon, the Phoenix and the Mother, involves all four of our actors, and it is humorous and moving at the same time. Our actors have a lot of fun working creatively as an ensemble, and they have come up with some brilliant improvisations!  Our process truly feels like an actors’ playground, and I cannot wait to see what they get up to during the actual performance.

Operation Misty Mountain is a riot! We all loved riffing with the script, as it gives us so much scope to expand our imaginations. The writing, characters, main premise and scenarios are  absurdly good. Again, I have a sneaking suspicion that the actors will surprise us (and even themselves) during the actual reading.

Our final piece for the night, G.F.E., is written in a mix of Mandarin and Singlish. It’s raw, honest, confessional and poetic – and wouldn’t be out of place in a Wong Kar Wai film screenplay.  Although its main setting is in Geylang, it overturns the usual expectations of what we might consider a “seedy” play.  We also took some creative liberties in turning it from a monologue (as originally written), into a two-hander performed by two men.

Interview by Gwen Pew

Following the success of Alt-topia – an event conceived by the Poletariat Poetry Factory and hosted by Centre 42 at last year’s Night Festival – we’ve decided to build on that by presenting Late-Night Texting this time. Held for one night only, it is a celebration of text-based works across different genres, from theatre to spoken word, and features performances by four local companies. In this series of blog posts, we’ll be speaking with each of them to find out what they’ll be getting up to on the night.

Here, we have The Improv Company, which was founded by a bunch of school friends from the National University of Singapore, tell us about how improv can be trained, and what we can expect to see from one of their teams – Les Musicables – at a programme called A Little Night Music at Late-Night Texting.

How did The Improv Company come about?
The Improv Company was founded in 2013 by the alumni of the now-defunct NUS Improvables as a vehicle to establish, nurture and promote improvised theatre in Singapore. We wanted to continue improvising after graduation and the best way was to start a new troupe, but we also didn’t want it to go the way of previous improv troupes in Singapore and see it die out after a short while – and establishing a self-sustaining improv theatre scene in Singapore seemed like the best way to do that.

How often do you guys meet and hold events, and how can people join?
The Company trains new improvisers and supports several improv teams. Our ‘house teams’ – the short-form improv comedy troupe, Part II, and the improvised musical team, Les Musicables, receive the most support and meet one or two times a week. These teams recruit a couple of times a year and anyone who’s interested can register for auditions by emailing us at contact@improv.sg. We also provide three other teams with subsidised rehearsal space rentals. We love seeing new teams start as well, so if you’re starting a team, email us! We’d love to help.

Do you think that improv be trained? And if so, how?
Improv can absolutely be trained. It’s largely a way of looking at things and so can be unlocked by understanding a few fundamental principles and through deliberate practice of those principles, e.g. active listening, making your partner look good, and seeing mistakes as opportunities. Through these principles, the improviser is adept at dealing with change, the unexpected, and making the best of what they’re given.

What do you think about the improv scene in Singapore right now?
It’s a lot bigger than it was when we started out! At last count there are now around ten active teams with more on the way. It’s not quite as vibrant as we’d like yet, but we’re well on the way. While the numbers are encouraging, what we’d like to see is the maturation of the art form – to see improvisers explore newer, more untried areas of improvisation, and seeing it used in other ways aside from comedy and theatre. Improv here is still a bit niche and self-contained. Our end goal is for improv to be accepted in Singapore as a mainstream art form and for its principles to be assimilated and adopted as part of the Singaporean psyche.

Tell us a bit about what Les Musicables is all about.
Imagine your favourite musical. Then imagine it completely unscripted with songs created on the spot. Using music as an emotional weapon, we’ll turn happy moments into ones that make your heart burst with unbridled rainbows-and-unicorn joy, and we’ll morph sad scenes to heart-wrenching ones that slam your tear-stained face into the pavement repeatedly until there’s nothing left of your broken soul. Through our shows, we hope to entertain the crowd with awesome improvised musical numbers, but at the same time also touch our audiences with the emotional depth that can be achieved through song.

What can we expect to see by the team at Late-Night Texting?
Expect a half-hour-long fully improvised musical with a ton of singing inspired by texts from the audience. We’re most excited about involving the use of text messages for our ‘ask-fors’ as we usually just get our audience to shout out random words. Then we create our musical using that word. Having to base our musical on a text message that may or may not be taken out of context when read to us is a challenge that we’re really excited to take on.

Interview by Gwen Pew