First Act(s), Part 4

First Act(s) is a 4-part series featuring 8 plays-in-progress from a group of budding playwrights brought together by fate. These plays were born at the ‘Playwriting Workshop with Haresh Sharma’ (organised by the National Library Board, September – October 2018), and have now been taken to their next developmental step of rewrites and readings.

The plays will be publicly read to an invited audience for the first time, over 4 separate Guest Room sessions from March to July 2019:

Part 1, March 2019

• Twin Butterflies by Clara Mok
• We Cannot Bring Money When We Die by Christine Chia

Part 2, April 2019

• Touch Wood by Auderia Tan
• Untitled by XM Lim-Fang

Part 3, June 2019

• A Midsummer White Dream by Ivy Chen
• The House of Golden Chains by Larnce Alahendra

Part 4, July 2019

• If Tomorrow Comes Again by Ivan Choong
• First-World Problems by Alicia Kan

If Tomorrow Comes Again by Ivan Choong

Synopsis – If Tomorrow Comes Again is a play about everyday relationships that define who we were, we are and will become.

Playwright – Ivan has now attempted singing, acting, and writing in perhaps a desperate attempt to find meaning for his soul. He never thought he would act, let alone write – he is thankful and grateful.

Director – Oliver Chong

Actors – Karen Tan, Lian Sutton, Zee Wong, Rei Poh, Vignesh Singh

First-World Problems by Alicia Kan

Synopsis – Noise. In this world that we live in, silence is considered rare. People are often silenced, yet unaware that they are. People are often silencing others, yet unaware that they are, too. What do you consider people who are silenced? Would you say it is based on the comparison that you are at the forefront of this society and ‘privileged’? First-World Problems speaks silence in our everyday language and questions people’s notion of what being silenced means.

Playwright – Alicia majors in Acting and is a lover of sketching and painting in her leisure time. Though a strong introvert, she finds delight in hearing every individual’s story and meeting people from all walks of life, especially in her wanderlust journeys. Occasionally, just, occasionally, Alicia trips over her philosophical indulgence and goes missing.

Actors – Auderia Tan, Christine Chia, Damien Ng Wei Jie, Hilary Armstrong, Grace Kanai, Wayne Lim Wei Wen, Michaela Hay, Rochelle Edelweiss Boon, Su Paing Tun