Tell us a little about your background in the theatre industry.
Actually, the first show that I worked on is the first show that I ever watched! Somehow, I was never exposed to theatre in school. But I always thought that, if there’s a front-of-stage, there’s a backstage. I asked around and got the opportunity to be the assistant stage manager for a production. That’s how I started.
It evolved a lot over the last ten years. I was very fortunate because, after about two years of stage management, I got the opportunity to tour. I worked on a Broadway production – West Side Story – that came to Singapore, and even though I had never done props before, they engaged me as their props mistress, because the original props mistress couldn’t make it for the next two legs of the tour. Thereafter, I became their production coordinator. For the next couple of years, I did mainly touring shows in Asia and Europe, instead of local productions.
Were you based overseas?
I was always based in Singapore, just leaving the country to do shows when necessary. When I decided to focus more locally and find a more permanent position, I joined the Esplanade as its production coordinator. But I got restless, and went to China to help set up and build a small theatre in Beijing. When that was done, I came back and worked as venue manager with SOTA.
So how did you come to work with W!LD RICE?
This is actually my first experience of working with W!LD RICE. Even when I was freelancing, I’d never worked with the company, though I’d worked with some of its staff. After I helped build the theatres and set up the systems at SOTA, I got fidgety, and felt I needed to do things.
After about seven years in venue management, I wanted to be more involved in the actual process of making theatre. I wanted to try something that allowed me to get more involved in the production side of things. I wanted to work with W!LD RICE because that would give me the opportunity to work on larger-scale shows, at least in Singapore terms.
What is your role in W!LD RICE?
I’m the company’s production manager. The production department is basically the first and last to deal with each new show. We’re the first people to get in touch with the creative team. We deal with casting, hiring and then work on translating the ideas into reality. We coordinate the administrative part of the creative process all the way to the end of the production, when we close the accounts.
To me, a production manager has two key responsibilities. One: to pre-empt and solve problems. Two: to ensure that everything is at its most ideal where the creative team is concerned, but keeping everything within the budget.
What appeals to you most about working in the theatre?
When I started out, I worked with this theatre company that was on the opposite end of the spectrum from W!LD RICE – it worked on very small budgets! But, because it was very experimental, I used to spend a lot of time in their store-room, which became our workshop. We worked with water bottles, for instance, to figure out a way to make water drip from the ceiling. I grew quickly and learned a lot from that experience!
That experimental part of theatre is one thing I really like about it: trying to figure out how to make things work. I used to change jobs every other month until I worked in theatre! I like the process of creation: I like seeing a show go from nothing to something. That’s why SOTA was so interesting for me: we were literally on a construction site! From nothing, we made it into something. And after it was completed, I got bored. But that’s what I like about production: you build something from scratch, from nothing, until you create the full show. Then, you move on to the next one! And being involved with a group of people coming together to do that – that’s what I like about theatre.
