President's Message
Alvin Tan

Changes are taking place at The Necessary Stage. In June last year, the group employed its first full-time administrator. In September, we were allocated a room at the Telok Ayer Performing Arts Centre (TAPAC). Later in the year, the Theatre-In-Residence status was granted to us. This year, Apple Computer has agreed to be our Corporate Sponsor. All these changes have helped tremendously, in terms of supporting The Necessary Stage, and enabling us to further our vision of nurturing new indigenous talents.

A Note from the President
Alvin Tan

We have been dreaming of realising a vision ever since our inception in 1986... However what we wanted suffered from the vagueness of a "Beginning". What exactly is it do we want? [...]

What we want, what we dream for indigenous theatre, we have to earn it. To earn it, we have to learn. These years have been dedicated to learning, to application of principles we have picked up along the way, to the evaluation we have made of our triumphs and failures, and these have begun to shape our future plans and, more importantly, our direction in years to come.

President's Message
Alvin Tan

But to form a group on the mere premise of interest in theatre is insufficient for long term survival. Two points were clear to me then. Firstly, I wanted to explore the approach to drama through Literature and secondly, I wanted to do local plays. So the teething problems began for us. We recognised the resource of talent around but impoverished by the lack of a vision, we had to postpone our yearning to register ourselves as a society. Anxiety propelled us to discuss matters with other drama practitioners and enthusiasts. One such person was Dr Max Le Blond. The other was Mr William Teo.

The Necessary Stage

The Necessary Stage aims to support local drama by staging local plays so that local playwrights may have the opportunity to see their plays produced in order to re-work them. Essentially they hope to be a writer's drama group. Besides doing unpublished local plays, they will also be staging established works and hope to learn from these plays the principles they need to apply to their local production.

The Making of Sing Song

In June we had two very special sessions with a total of about 30 guests from the neighbourhood who came into our rehearsal room and shared their musical memories in person, and we go the actors to spontaneously capture these memories in song and drama. Several of these stories have fed directly into the show you are watching today.

Boxing Day: The Tsunami Project

Rather than impart a single narrative, this production will comprise voices of people affected by the Tsunami. [...] The Verbatim Theatre method—using voices of people involved in the tragedy—will bring, word for word, thoughts and experiences direct from them onto stage. Interviews conducted in Aceh, Phuket, Phang Nga and Penang will be used in the script.

Respecting Diversity in Singapore
Tan Chong Kee

As long as we choose to live in fear we will be too afraid to make things better for ourselves. Have we become a people that dares to dream of possessing ever greater wealth, but dare not dream of living with dignity? Are we a people who long for creativity, as long as it is within safe OB markers? Are we a people who are so proud of calling Singapore home that we have forgotten what home can really mean?

The Making Of...

Along with the South East CDC we had agreed that we wanted as much community involvement as possible, and that in a new season of considering our racial-cultural ties and conflicts to question what kind of relations we have with each other, and what prejudices and tensions still lie between us.

Don't Say I Say: A Message from Central Singapore Community Development Council

Many residents of areas such as Kreta Ayer, Little India, Kampong Glam and Toa Payoh would have interesting stories to relate about their families and the neighbourhoods that they stay in. All these can help us trace untold aspects of our rich history.

Festival Director's Message
Yap Ching Wi

FamFest 2001 is about individuals and community groups initiating a future. It is a collaboration of the arts and community social work. FamFest asks the questions: how do we build and sustain forms of ground-up interdisciplinary work? How can individuals empower ourselves... and our communities?