Yusof: Portrait of a President

Teater Ekamatra is an established and exciting Singaporean arts company that spotlights artists of diverse ethnicities. The company is living out their 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 garnered numerous nominations and accolades, especially at Singapore’s highest platform for excellence in theatre, the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. These include Best Director, Production of the Year, Best Original Script, and more. 

Guided by their values of diversity, inclusivity, integrity, accountability, and people-centredness, Teater Ekamatra is committed to their mission of creating engaging art that inspires, as well as incubating emerging talents and expanding diversity within the industry.  

Director & Set Designer

A recipient of the Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award, Fared engages in cross-disciplinary work delving into both the realms of visual and performing arts. He holds a Master’s in Arts (Design) from Open University/LASALLE College of the Arts.

Fared has collaborated extensively with various theatre and arts groups in Singapore as a director, performer, visual artist, and set designer. He has won several awards as a director, designer and actor for the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards and BOH Cameronian Arts Awards.

A founding member of Neon Tights, a visual art collective dealing with theatre design, Fared also served as the Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra from 2013 to 2023. He also does consultancy work with Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) and teaches at School of the Arts (SOTA).

Playwright

Zizi Majid is a playwright whose works advocate for a shared humanity. Her plays have been performed in Singapore, Malaysia, China, and the U.S. She is the inaugural recipient of the Julia Miles Playwriting Residency (WP Theatre, NYC), an alumna of the Dramatists Guild Foundation Playwriting Fellowship (NYC) and a proud alumna of the WP Lab (NYC).

She won the Pacific Rim Prize for Playwriting (Kumu Kahua / UHM Theatre Playwriting Contest, Hawaii); was a finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Award (Chicago); a twice semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neil National Playwrights Conference and a finalist for the Columbia@Roundabout New Play Reading Series (NYC).

Her plays include Milk, They Came in the Night, Return to Fall, Yusof and How did the Cat Get So Fat?. Zizi was the Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra (Singapore) for five years garnering multiple awards during her tenure. She teaches playwriting at Syracuse University. MFA: Columbia University.

Cast

Dalifah Shahril is a performer and theatre practitioner who is effectively bilingual in English and Malay. She was awarded Best Actress in the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards in 2018, and has performed in over 100 theatre productions, TV productions, and short films over the past 25 years in the arts industry.

Besides loading her resume with acting skills, Dalifah also voices various docudramas and corporate videos. She conducts storytelling sessions in schools, museums, festivals, corporate events and more.

When she is not performing, Dalifah takes on the role of theatre production manager and arts educator. Dalifah enjoys working with young children and finds great satisfaction in witnessing their confidence grow through her speech and drama classes.

Cast

Farah Ong is an independent artist—an actor, performance artist, voiceover artist, and teaching artist.

Her recent stage credits include Geng Rebut Cabinet by Teater Ekamatra and The Death of Singapore Theatre as Scripted by The Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore by Wild Rice. Recent screen credits are Chiron by Papahan Films and Come Closer by Akanga Film Asia.

Theatre and performance can mean a lot of things to various individuals. To appease her existential musings, Farah is grateful that she can be the channel to tell stories often left untold and represent voices that have been silenced.

Cast

Ghafir is a Malaysian actor and director seen in Accidental Death of an Activist (Wild Rice, Singapore) and Disgraced (Singapore Repertory Theatre). He won Best Actor (2024 ST Life Theatre Award) for his role in SRT’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Park).

Selected credits include HOTEL, Merdeka/獨立/சுதந்திரம் (Wild Rice); Julius Caesar, Guards at the Taj (SRT); Three Years in the Life and Death of Land, Acting Mad, Civilised (TNS); Kingdoms Apart (Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay); Temple, Being Haresh Sharma, Medea (Cake Theatrical); and Gold Rain and Hailstones (Instant Café Theatre).

Ghafir holds an MFA in Acting (Asolo Conservatory/FSU), and a BA in Theatre Performance (Western Michigan University).

Cast

Sani Hussin began his acting career in 1992 with Teater Kami in their first youth theatre production. Since then, he has directed seven plays and acted in more than forty plays in both English & Malay. He has worked extensively with many local theatre companies like The Necessary Stage, Teater Kami, Teater Ekamatra, Drama Box, Dramaplus, Wild Rice, and ACT 3.

Sani is also actively involved in local television productions and has acted in more than sixty television dramas and films. Among his television and film credits are the award-winning series Soldadu 1 & 2, Singapore Short Stories, SP4, Bukit Chandu, Singapore Shakes Series, Ajna, Roman Picisan, Sayang Semuanya, 9 Lives, Police & Thief (Seasons 2-6), and Bisikan Bayangan. His directing credits include, A Midsummer Night's Dream (in Malay), Festival Pintu, MAT CD, Penantian, and Sidang Burung. Sani has been nominated 14 times at the Pesta Perdana Suria TV Awards, and has won twice. He has also been nominated at the 22nd Asian Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor and twice at the Life Theatre Awards for Best Acting Ensemble.

Sani is a recipient of the NAC Georgette Chen Scholarship & LASALLE-SIA Scholarship (1997/98) and NAC Overseas Theatre Bursary Award (1999/2000). Sani is currently a freelance actor, director, and arts educator.

Cast

Siti made her debut as a full-time theatre actress after attending The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Youth Ensemble programme in 2003. She has since worked with a wide range of theatre companies, both locally and internationally. She has won the Best Actress Award twice at The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards for her performances in Model Citizens (2010) and Off Centre (2015). She was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2014 and most recently, received the Best Actor/Actress in A Comedy Role Actor Award at Pesta Perdana 2023.

Cast

Fauzie is an actor, singer and host. He made his acting debut in a six-part drama Teman Anugerahku that aired on Mediacorp’s Suria channel in 2006. His natural flair for acting earned him the Best Newcomer award at Pesta Perdana—a biennial award ceremony honouring excellence in the local Malay TV industry—in 2007.

Since then, Fauzie has starred in several dramas on Mediacorp’s Suria and Channel 5. Expanding his acting repertoire, he ventured into theatre in 2010, playing Tim Robinson in the stage adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

In 2013, he took on the lead role in Banting, Singapore’s first commercial Malay film since the 1970s. He also played a lead role in Tanglin, one of Singapore’s longest-running long-form drama, which has since concluded.