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Created by Artistic Director Alvin Tan, The Orange Playground (TOP) is The Necessary Stage’s newest initiative in creative research and development. We seek to collaborate with artists in an exploratory environment where risks can be freely taken within and with the creative process. TOP will provide opportunities for free, ad-hoc collaborative “jamming” and play with emerging and established talents.

This Lab was focused on multimedia in theatre and visual arts, led by Brian Gothong Tan.

The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Seniors (TFS), in collaboration with NTUC ULive, presents a theatre workshop target at senior citizens. With a vigorous and comprehensive curriculum covering a wide range of topics and genres, graduates of the workshop will experience first-hand the process of creating and performing their own theatrical piece.

The theatre workshop features a curriculum grounded in performance training. With the inclusion of disciplines such as music and movement in the curriculum, graduates will also be well-rounded performers in the increasingly multidisciplinary live arts landscape.

30 participants will be able to try their hand at playwriting, and also learn the basics behind production management. They will have the opportunity to observe, interact with and learn from industry professionals and experts of various disciplines.

Graduates of the programme will be well-equipped to embark on their journey with theatre, accompanied with a strong grounding in the core elements which goes into creating a performance.

Created by Artistic Director Alvin Tan, The Orange Playground (TOP) is The Necessary Stage’s newest initiative in creative research and development. We seek to collaborate with artists in an exploratory environment where risks can be freely taken within and with the creative process. TOP will provide opportunities for free, ad-hoc collaborative “jamming” and play with emerging and established talents..

“I would give my life to be in your life…To be you.”

Kumon and Ema suffer from wanderlust. Struck by the quiet dissatisfaction which haunts the modern Singaporean despite their seemingly perfect lives, they escape on a destination holiday. However, Kumon and Ema discover that their resentments, regrets and insecurities are capable of haunting them beyond geographical boundaries.

Reviving the heroines from The Necessary Stage’s award-winning plays such as Rosnah (1995, 1996, 1997, 2006), Off Centre (1993, 1994, 2007) and Three Years in the Life and Death of Land (1993), Siti Khalijah Zainal and Alin Mosbit reimagine the heroines’ scripted realities in a fictional world where these women cross paths with Kumon and Ema. Supported by multimedia artist Yusri “Shaggy” Sapari and devised through a series of improvisational ‘circuit training’ directed by Alvin Tan, the complexities of Kumon and Ema surfaces in short vignettes which are side-splitting, yet at times heart-wrenching, raw and bittersweet.

Created by Artistic Director Alvin Tan, The Orange Playground (TOP) is The Necessary Stage’s newest initiative in creative research and development. We seek to collaborate with artists in an exploratory environment where risks can be freely taken within and with the creative process. TOP will provide opportunities for free, ad-hoc collaborative “jamming” and play with emerging and established talents.

As a ‘global nomad’, Sharon Frese is no stranger to making homes in foreign places. 
By deconstructing and reassembling traditional modes of storytelling, Sharon stitches together a brutally honest narrative marked by hostility, reductive stereotypes and a prevalent sense of homelessness- even in her birth country.  Sharon's story asks important questions about identity: what is it about when one is living in a borderless world?

In September 1992, Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage Alvin Tan established the Theatre for Youth Branch, which was later renamed in 2002 as Theatre for Youth and Community (TFYC) Branch.

Since our inception, TFYC has reached to more than 1,000,000 students through school assemblies, interactive Theatre-in-Education programmes, customised workshops and process-based drama programmes. TFYC has also been featured in Esplanade's Feed Your Imagination series as part of the National Arts Council's Arts Excursion Programme, offering high quality, thought-provoking productions that provide students an all-rounded educational theatre experience.

Under the TFYC Branch, we have also embarked on successful partnerships with corporations, non-governmental organisations, statutory boards and government ministries to present works dealing with specific issues to the public.

We believe that theatre must grow out of the community, and therefore pay close attention to issues that concern young people and education. Our programmes are developed from research, detailed planning and consultation because we believe that students can benefit fully through programmes that are relevant to their lives, and which involve theoretical and hands-on learning.