Saga Seed Theatre is proud to present "Uncommon Heroes & Secret Identities", a showcase of dramatised readings of 4 exciting new plays from our Seed Incubator Programme.

Come join us at Centre 42 on 29 April, Sat, to witness some unconventional heroes in "Flower Hero" by Yang Ming (2pm), followed by "Bintang Temasek" by Eugene Koh (4pm), directed by Thong Pei Qin.

Or spend your Labour Day with us, on 1 May, exploring the hidden identities in "The Swing" by Tan Suet Lee (2pm) and "China Wine" by Jo Tan (4pm)*, directed by Tan Liting.

Saga Seed Theatre's Seed Incubator Programme is kindly supported by Centre 42 and the National Arts Council.

*Do note that tickets for the reading of China Wine are sold out, but you can register online to join our waitlist and we will contact you if spaces become available.

29th April 2017

2pm - 3:30pm: Flower Hero
3:30pm - 3:50pm: Talkback
3:50pm - 4pm: Break
4pm - 5:30pm: Bintang Temasek
5:30pm - 6pm: Talkback

1st May 2017

2pm - 3:30pm: The Swing
3:30pm - 3:50pm: Talkback
3:50pm - 4pm: Break
4pm - 5:30pm: China Wine
5:30pm - 6pm: Talkback

About The Plays

Flower Hero (29 April, 2pm)
When four-year-old Debbie Fong disappears at the popular People's Garden, the family helper, Amelia Reyes is accused of negligence and faces deportation. Enter Eunice Chan, a maid agency officer, who is tasked to take care of Amelia during the investigation period. An unlikely friendship is forged. However, as the plot thickens, the web of deceit and betrayal between Amelia and Eunice begins to tear them apart.

Bintang Temasek (29 April, 4pm)
A post-successful island nation goes to war with her neighbouring country. A tank crew rumbles into unfamiliar territory as they negotiate around their purpose of being equipped with an enormous death machine. As they face the prospect of their own deaths as well as others', one question weighs heavily on their conscience: what does it take to be a hero?

The Swing (1 May, 2pm)
The Swing explores the hopes and dreams of the Chinese diaspora through the eyes of Mei Sun, her mother, and her daughter Shirley. In 1972, after ten years in London, Mei Sun returns to Singapore with Shirley, so that her daughter can meet her grandmother. The trip helps Shirley to discover her roots, but for Mei Sun it is a reminder of the fractured ties she has left behind.

China Wine (1 May, 4pm)
Jeanette Peh - a highly westernised Singaporean JC valedictorian - decides to abandon her law school prospects to follow her dreams of studying acting in London, where she will also hopefully find her occidental soulmates. On arrival, however, she is dismayed to find that, not only are there other Asian students in the school, but that her teacher and classmates identify her as one of them, despite Jeanette's best efforts otherwise (which include adopting a British accent and well-meaningly correcting the British students' spelling, which doesn't make her popular for some reason). But at least she's doing well in school...until she tries to perform Shakespeare. Her hyper-RP isn't quite cutting it, and her acting teacher tries to get her to perform more honestly by speaking in her native language like the PRC students have begun to do. There's just one problem: Jeanette is beginning to realise she doesn't know what her native language is. In fact, she doesn't really know who she is at all.

About the Playwrights

Yang Ming (Flower Hero)
A theatre graduate from LASALLE College of the Arts, Yang Ming has written a few plays. Her writing credits include Fake It, It's Real (2016, Eats My Shorts), The Genie of Clarke Quay (2016, Tales of Pao: The Wormhole), Exorcism (2012, Typed & Casted). She was part of the National Arts Council's Mentor Access Project 2011, under the mentorship of award-winning playwright, Chong Tze Chien. Recently, her short story, Vacant was published in Balik Kampung 3A: Northern Shores under Math Paper Press. She is delighted to develop The Flower Hero with Saga Seed Theatre and is eternally grateful to Jean, Peiqin and Marcia for their guidance during this incubation programme.

Eugene Koh (Bintang Temasek)
Eugene Koh is a current Year 2 Undergraduate in NUS Theatre Studies Programme. He has participated in various playwriting programmes such as Pangdemonium's inaugural “Play Right!” programme in 2015, and SRT's Play Devising programme. He has also presented works such as “Project Understudy” with Thespis under Centre 42's the Vault programme, as well as “3 Rules of Whore” with Saga Seed Theatre under the Singapore Night Festival 2016. Eugene is humbled and excited to be presenting his first full-length play in public with Saga Seed Theatre.

Suet Lee Tan (The Swing)
Before becoming a playwright, Suet Lee practised as a chartered accountant. Since making the switch, she has written thirteen plays including: The Weight of Emptiness (2016), Assassins (2016), The Swing (2013), A Second Life (2012), Lies in Waiting (2011), Sperm (2008) by Magdalena (Singapore) at the OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival, A Beautiful Companion (2006) and Shopping with Ang (2004) by Yellow Earth Theatre (YET) at the Typhoon 3: International East Asian Playreading Festival.

With the support of the Singapore National Arts Council (NAC), Suet Lee attended the La MaMa International Playwright Retreat in Umbria, Italy in August 2013 where she developed The Swing. An extract of The Swing was presented at Theatre 503, London, November 2016 and La MaMa, New York in January 2014.

Suet Lee is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Swansea University. Suet Lee is grateful to Saga Seed Theatre for providing a platform to further develop The Swing

Jo Tan (China Wine)
Jo's a multi-lingual actor who's played characters of various backgrounds, genders and species on stages and screens of various sizes (small screen, big screen and computer screen) for projects that have travelled as far as New York, London, France and Korea. Learning new skills excites her, and as a recipient of a Singapore National Arts Council Residency and grant support, she spent over a year in Paris studying under Master Clown Philippe Gaulier and his trademark Panama hat. Some of her relatively new skills include writing; with article contributions to various magazines and broadsheets, script contributions to the Esplanade's Flipside Festival, Dream Academy's Happy Ever Laughter 2016, and this first full-length play, in development with Saga Seed Theatre. She is very grateful to Jean, Liting and Liansheng for the opportunity, patience and invaluable advice!

About the Directors

Thong Pei Qing (Flower Hero & Bintang Temasek)
Thong Pei Qin is an independent theatre director and educator with a passion for creating devised, physical and experimental works of social relevance. She holds two theatre degrees, namely from the University of Essex (M.A. Distinction in Theatre Directing), and the National University of Singapore (B.A. Honours in Theatre Studies). Some of her recent directing credits comprise “Bitten” (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017), Playground Entertainment's "State of Mind”, Saga Seed Theatre’s “Seedy Stories” (Singapore Night Festival 2016) and "POPup Plays" series, Centre 42’s “Understudy” (The Vault), TheatreWorks’ “Between Consciousness”, Natalie Hennedige’s “Nothing”, Esplanade The Studios: fifty’s “Family Relations in Singapore Theatre”, David Schneider’s London premiere of “Making Stalin Laugh”, Michelle Tan’s “A Fairytale Ending” and the devised site-specific “Re: Almost Left Behind” (Singapore Arts Festival 2011). She currently teaches drama courses and workshops in Singaporean varsities and other communities. She is contactable at (E: thongpeiqin@gmail.com) and (W: thongpeiqin.wix.com/livingtheatre).

Tan Liting (The Swing & China Wine)
Liting is a full-time theatre practitioner with an interest in devising performance from personal stories. Liting’s past works include Pretty Butch (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017), The Truth About Lying (The Finger Players), Taking The Subs (The Substation Director’s Lab), and Re: Almost Left Behind (Singapore Arts Festival 2011).Liting also likes guitars, sneakers and referring to Liting in the third person.