Expertise  

I conceptualise, write and direct commissioned plays, musicals and multidisciplinary performances for private and government organizations. Most of the time, the purpose of these pieces is for audiences to understand a particular group or situation better. I've worked with corporates, heart landers, people with special needs, senior citizens, hospice patients, ex-offenders, prison officers, inmates and ethnic communities like the Peranakans. Their pieces include plays, musicals, short films and even radio plays. Some of these have been featured at the Singapore International Festival of Arts, Singapore’s Silver Arts Festival, Japan’s World Gold Theatre Festival and Malaysia’s George Town Festival.

My experience in arts education spans more than 30 years. I moved from teaching drama as an art form and gradually moved into arts integration. I became one of the first teaching artists with the National Arts Council (Singapore) where I used drama to improve the understanding of Maths and Science topics. My knowledge on arts integration has been further extended with  training from the Kennedy Centre and Lincoln Centre. My experience has been shared through workshops at the Academy of Singapore Teachers, as a lecturer at Singapore's National Institute of Education's master’s module Teaching in and Through the Arts and currently, at the National University of Singapore's general education module on Theatre and Community Engagement. 

I have been working with inmates since 2006 and best known for pioneering the Theatre Arts Programme (TAP) for the Singapore Prison Service in 2010. This programme offers drama, movement, body percussion and stage management skills to provide opportunities for each participant to excel despite having different learning needs and life experiences. With these inmates, I devise original performance pieces and in the process, incorporate problem-solving skills, thinking structures and new patterns of behaviour to offer opportunities for change. TAP also incorporates a system where experienced TAP inmates guide and share skills with those new to the programme. I find great satisfaction running the programme till today and have adapted the methodology to reach violent crime inmates, female inmates and young offenders.