On 9th August 2011, ACSian Theatre members, teachers and alumni took part in the Young NTUC National Day Celebrations, held at the Padang, in conjunction with NTUC’s 50th anniversary.

The first performance by ACSian Theatre, in collaboration with p.L.a.Y!, was a dance to a medley of songs, including We are Family and YMCA. The ACSian Theatre representatives performed to YMCA, whilst the p.L.a.Y! performers danced and sang live as well.
ACSian Theatre representatives were also involved in teaching a mass dance to the 13,000 guests who attended the celebrations. Indeed, despite the sweltering heat, the members of the public who came for the event were extremely enthusiastic as they danced to DJ Olsi’s Hey Baby.
This year, the 13,000 audience members also broke the National Record for the largest human Singapore Flag. Equipped with red and white umbrellas, the crowd of 13,000 formed an impressive formation as a tribute to the nation’s 46th birthday. In addition, a candle-lighting was held to mark NTUC’s 50th anniversary. The volunteers from ACSian Theatre assisted in ensuring every audience member held a lit candle, and by the time the ceremony was over, numerous tiny, yellow lights filled the Padang – a truly spectacular sight to behold. Needless to say, the ACSian Theatre had an exciting and enjoyable National Day.

Happy 46th Birthday, Singapore!

On 30th July 2011, ACSian Theatre, with the support of the SHINE Youth Festival and Young Changemakers Grant (YCM), hosted “Empower Yourself!”- a platform used to educate youths on how to use the Arts as a medium of self-expression. The various secondary school students who participated in this event were treated to a day of experiences, knowledge and fun as they discovered the secrets of using the Arts to empower oneself.

The event begun with a keynote address by five youth artistes. Aaron Maniam, Donna Ong, Mun Wai, Raeza Ibrahim and Yash Kanoi were invited to share their experiences with either managing a full-time career in the Arts or juggling a full-time job whilst pursuing the Arts on the side. The participants thus were able to gain some insight as to how to utilise the Arts to empower themselves and the people around them.

  

The highlight of this event was when the participants dispersed to participate in various workshops. The participants were spoiled for choice, with the array of workshops available, including Bhangra, Haiku, Origami and Public Speaking. Through each workshop, participants learnt how to use their emotions to create their very own works of art.

At the end of the event, participants left having gained further knowledge and insight to utilize the Arts to express and empower themselves.

The ACJC Physical Theatre Festival, otherwise known as “The Teller and the Tale” was held at the ACJC Faith Centre for Performing Arts.  The festival attracted diverse Physical Theatre performances from various schools including Nan Chiau High School, Raffles Girls’ Secondary School, NUS High School, Nanyang Girls’ High School, and ACJC.

  
Each performance focused on using the body as an integral element of the storytelling process. With every movement onstage being so precise and well-crafted, the performances were all truly a joy to watch. The audience members were left at the edge of their seats, waiting in anticipation to see what might happen next. The performers’ masterful ability to engage themselves in the art of Physical Theatre coupled with their intensive months of hard work and preparation produced a truly stellar show.

 
On behalf on all the participants of the ACJC Physical Theatre Festival, I would like to extend my gratitude to the audience of “The Teller and the Tale” for their support.

Saira Roop

130 secondary school students attended a drama workshop conducted by ACSian Theatre on the 31st of May. The workshop was intended to provide the students exposure and insight into creating theatre.

The workshop began with facilitators from ACSian Theatre and all the secondary school students engaging in a variety of drama games. These games proved to be extremely successful in getting the participants warmed up to and familiar with each other. Through these games, participants were taught the importance of building a community before creating theatre.

The bulk of the session focused on educating the entrants about the technique of producing theatre. Students were given instructions at the end of the session to consolidate all they had learnt from us and perform a short piece using the approach demonstrated. The participants’ willingness to learn and experiment made the performance an enjoyable one for everyone.

All in all, it was definitely a fruitful event. ACSian Theatre had a great time passing their knowledge to and cultivating relations with the secondary school students. We would like to thank everyone involved in this event for their support and participation and look forward to organizing more of such educational and invigorating sessions.

On the final night of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ACSian Theatre was happy to have in the audience, drama club members from SMK IJ Convent, Johor Bahru. These fervent lovers of theatre have been supporting our work since 2007 when the musical ‘West Side Story’ was staged. This time, the students were just as excited as they journeyed with Alice through Wonderland, enjoying an evening of song, dance and text.

After the performance, the cast and crew got a chance to speak with the Malaysian students to share experiences about being a part of a full-fledged theatre production. It was indeed heartening to meet with a highly passionate group of artistes who enjoyed our performance just as we enjoyed presenting it to them. It is a plan that ACSian Theatre will now get a chance to cross the Causeway for a day of Drama Exchange with the students.