≡ The Writers
Bios of the Writers:
Wesley Leon Aroozoo (Singapore) graduated from Nanyang Technological University and is now pursuing his Master of Fine Arts at NYU Tisch Asia. In 2010, he was selected as one of Tokyo Filmex’s Next Masters. His short films have screened in over 80 festivals such as the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Film Festival of Experimental and Different Cinemas of Paris. He is part of 13 Little Pictures, a film collective in Singapore and as well as Studio Thirteen, a collective of visual artists, filmmakers, writers, curators and educators based at the Goodman Arts Centre.
Richard Chang (New York City) is a Malaysian-born playwright-performer based in New York. An Urban Artist Initiative fellow, he is a long-time collaborator with Chinese Theater Works where he has served as co-writer and co-director, and originated many roles. His solo comedy, Goy Vey! Adventures of a Dim Sun in Search of his Wanton Father, debuted at Pan Asian Rep and has toured as far as the Leeds Jewish International Performing Arts Festival. He is completing a play about Wong Chin Foo, a 19th century civil rights activist who was the first to call himself Chinese American. Richard’s principal screen roles include New York, I Love You, No Menus Please, Saving Face, Windhorse and Kidnapped (NBC).
CHONG Tze Chien (Singapore): is an award-winning and published playwright/director in Singapore. Some of the awards he has won include the Singapore Dramatist Award and The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards: Best Director, Best Script and Production of the Year. He also writes frequently for local television channels, such as Channel 5, Okto/Arts Central and Vasantham Central. In 2009, he co-wrote Singapore’s first Tamil feature film, Gurushetram-24 Hours of Anger, which has been sold to India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia since. In 2002, The Necessary Stage published his first collection of plays PIE to SPOILT. In the same year, his contribution to the US publication of Monologues for Men by Men, Vol. 2, which was published by Heinemann Press. Not only have Tze Chien’s works been seen in the local scene, his works have also been read and dramatized by Royal Court’s Exposure: Young Writers 2000 in 2000 and Singapore London Playhouse’s double bill adaptation of his published plays PIE to SPOILT in 2005. In August 2006, his work Furthest North, Deepest South made its international premier in Budapest, Hungary. In 2011, Epigram Books published his sophomore collection of plays, which includes Charged, 2011′s Best Script for the The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. For his contributions to Singapore Theatre, he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the Singapore’s National Arts Council. He is presently the Company Director of The Finger Players.
Shawn Hirabayashi (Louisville, KY) has been working at his craft since 1989 during which time he has authored 18 plays that have been produced at various theatres (e.g., Southern Rep, Vital, Ripple Productions, Circle Rep Lab, Sundog, One Dream). During that time he has garnered three awards (Berrilla Kerr, OOBR, and New Play Bacchanal), a residency (New River Dramatists), been commissioned (Wildcard Productions, Starfish Theatreworks, and Reckless), and earned an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.
Janice Poon (Hong Kong) is a writer and theatre professional based in Hong Kong who has been awarded the Asian Cultural Council Lee Hysan Foundation fellowship to pursue research on dramaturgy and new play development in the United States for twelve months in the year 2010-11. Poon created Hong Kong’s first literary department as a member of PIP Theatre Limited. She has edited six publications on Hong Kong theatre and culture; created and performed original solo works and collaborated on major productions with some of the most important experimental theatre companies in Hong Kong. Four of her plays received staged readings in the Hong Kong Playwright Scheme, the Lark Play Development Center and the Martin E. Segal Theatre in New York.
POON Wai Sum (Hong Kong) is the Artistic Director of Prospects Theatre Co., Hong Kong and Teaching Consultant/Visiting Lecturer in Playwriting and Dramatic Literature At Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He has been commissioned by almost all of the professional theatre companies in Hong Kong for new works. Some of the awards he gained include Award for Arts Achievement, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2003; Awardee of The Secretary for Home Affairs’ Commendation Scheme, Home Affairs Bureau, 2006. Spiders In Meditation, one of his award-winning plays, was translated into German and stage-read by Germany’s Dusseldorf Theatre House.
Jeremy Tiang (London) is a Singaporean writer and translator. He trained as an actor at Drama Centre London after reading English at Oxford. His version of A Dream of Red Pavilions, adapted from the 18th century Chinese classic Hong Lou Meng and developed by Yellow Earth Theatre, received a staged reading from Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in Dec 2011. Other work includes Polyglottalstop, godshaped hole and Operation Opera. Jeremy won the Golden Point Award 2009 for his short story Trondheim, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2011, and recently completed a residency with the University of Iowa on the International Writing Program.
