Talk on Teater Ekamatra's “Tiger of Malaya” (with pre-screening)

Teater Ekamatra

Teater Ekamatra is an established exciting Singaporean arts company that spotlights artists of diverse ethnicities. We are living out our vision of being at the heart of theatre, by staging daring works that address socio-political issues. Teater Ekamatra has been commissioned by notable international arts festivals and has also won numerous accolades, especially at Singapore’s highest platform for excellence in theatre, the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, where our trophies have included Best Director, Best Actor, Best Costume and Best Original Script several times. Guided by our values of diversity, inclusivity, integrity, accountability, and people-centredness, Teater Ekamatra is committed to our mission of creating engaging art that inspires, as well as incubating emerging talents, expanding diversity within the industry.

Teater Ekamatra

Alfian Sa’at (Playwright)

Alfian Sa’at is the Resident Playwright of Wild Rice. His published works include three collections of poetry, ‘One Fierce Hour’, ‘A History of Amnesia’ and ‘The Invisible Manuscript’, a collection of short stories, ‘Corridor’, a collection of flash fiction, ‘Malay Sketches’, three collections of plays as well as the published play ‘Cooling Off Day’.

In 2001, Alfian won the Golden Point Award for Poetry as well as the National Arts Council Young Artist Award for Literature. He has also been nominated for the Singapore Literature Prize three times, for 'Corridor' (1999, Commendation Prize), ‘A History of Amnesia’ (2004) and his translation of the novel ‘The Widower’ (2016).

Alfian has won Best Original Script at the Life! Theatre Awards four times, for ‘Landmarks’ (2004), ‘Nadirah’ (2010), 'Kakak Kau Punya Laki' (Your Sister's Husband, 2013) and 'Hotel’ (with Marcia Vanderstraaten, 2016).

Mohd Fared Jainal (Director)

Fared engages in cross-disciplinary work that delves into the realms of both visual and performing arts, with a particular interest in space, body and design. A strong advocate of physical theatre, he is constantly exploring body craft in performance. He is also studying the relationships between elements and principles of art and the human self, asserting these links to be in symmetry and simultaneously manipulative.

Fared has collaborated extensively with various theatre and art groups in Singapore as a director, performer, visual artist and set designer. He is the founding member of neontights, a theatre design collective that creates innovative stage sets and props pieces and was the artistic director of Teater Ekamatra for a decade (2013 - 2023). Fared also teaches at School of the Arts (SOTA).

Shaza Ishak (Executive & Artistic Director)

Shaza Ishak is the executive and artistic director of Teater Ekamatra, where she leads the company’s strategy and artistic direction. She also serves as the lead producer of its suite of artistic works. She believes in effecting social change through the art of storytelling on stage and is committed to forging progress for the ethnic minority arts scene and communities in Singapore and beyond.

In 2019, she graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (UK) with an MA in Creative Producing with a triple scholarship. She is a fellow of the Singapore International Foundation’s Arts for Good Fellowship; the International Society for the Performing Arts (USA); the Eisenhower Fellowship (USA); and the Devos Global Arts Management Fellowship at the University of Maryland (USA). Most recently, she was awarded the Chevening Scholarship to pursue her second MA in Race, Media, and Social Justice at Goldsmiths, University of London (UK).

In November 2021, she was conferred the inaugural Tunas Warisan (Special Mention Award) by the President of Singapore, Mdm Halimah Yaacob, in acknowledgment of her work in the Arts and Heritage sector.

Toshihiko Kishi

Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. He specializes in modern Asian history with a particular focus on issues of media, memories, and visual journalism/documentation.His major publications include “Visual Media in Manchukuo: Posters, Postcards and Stamps;” “East Asian Popular Songs Hour:Crossing Boundaries and Crossing Musicians;” and “The propaganda of Imperial Japan.” He has edited/written for many publications including “War, Radio, and Memory” (Expanded and Revised Edition); “Transportation in Northern China photography collection from the Collection, Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University;” “A journey of 150 years with old photos and postcards;” “Enlightening through TV: USCAR Public Diplomacy, 1950–1972;” “Images of Macau;” and “Visual Taiwan: A Selection of Images from Japan’s Asahi Shimbun.”

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University