"If you know already then why must you do? If you already think that is perfection, then why do you still want to learn?" Kuo Pao Kun asked Peter Sau this probing question during a monologue presentation, and it has since become his guiding principle in everything that he does.

Peter is Head of Artistic Development with Art:Dis, a non-profit organisation in Singapore creating learning and livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities in the arts.

He was already working as an actor before he took a break to train at ITI. After graduation in 2003, he then worked extensively with nearly every theatre company in Singapore before transitioning into producing and directing. He was conferred the National Arts Council (NAC) Young Artist Award in 2011 for his breadth of experience in acting and directing—including directing A Mad Woman’s Diary (2009) and Tell Me When to Laugh and When to Cry (2012) under Esplanade’s The Studios series.

The turning point in his career began while pursuing his MA in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2014. In London, he encountered accomplished disabled artists, which opened his eyes to disability arts. Even as he received the 2015 ST Life! Theatre Award for Best Actor in ART by Nine Years Theatre, he felt that the award marked the conclusion of his acting journey. He was hungry for something new.

Upon returning home, he realised the gap in disability arts was stark: Singapore was lagging far behind. Yet momentum was building—NAC was hosting Arts and Disability Forums with UK and Australian practitioners.

In 2018, he worked with British playwright and ITI frequent collaborator Kaite O’Reilly to develop the show And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues, which was the first multilingual, intercultural, deaf and disabled-led theatre project created between the UK and Singapore. The experience deepened his commitment to the genre, but he learnt that sustaining this work as a freelancer was difficult. In 2020, he joined Art:Dis (formerly Very Special Arts) to strengthen his commitment to the disability arts space.

It was here that he realised how his ITI training had prepared him for this work.

says Peter. Each distinct culture, he says, has its own advocacy principles, rights, language and modes of expression. He admires the pride these artists take in their full, unapologetic selves. This authenticity, together with ITI’s interdisciplinary practice and resilience training, teaches him to thrive across differences and embrace what makes an artist distinct.

Today, Peter champions equitable access to disability arts education while bridging two communities: practitioners hesitant to engage with disability arts and disabled artists determined to succeed. The road ahead is long, but Peter finds comfort in Kuo Pao Kun’s wisdom—perfection is not a destination but a continuous, lifelong journey.