Invisible

ART:DIS (Arts & Disability) Singapore is a non-profit organisation established in 1993, championing the learning and livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities (PwDs) in the arts. We provide a wide range of programmes to enable PwDs to develop their artistic interests, grow their self-confidence and engage them as active members of a supported community. Our parallel professional development pathways further support sustainable & meaningful impact for PwDs to gain work experience, empowering them to live independently in the community.

Established in 1987, The Necessary Stage (TNS) is a non-profit theatre company with charity status. Our mission is to create challenging, indigenous and innovative theatre that touches the heart and mind. TNS has the honour of being the only arts company in Singapore helmed by two Cultural Medallion recipients: Artistic Director and Founder Alvin Tan and Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma. The company is also the organiser and curator of the annual Singapore Fringe Festival.

TNS is supported by the National Arts Council (NAC) under the Major Company Scheme for the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026.

Playwright & Co-Director

Haresh is the Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage (TNS) since 1990, having written over 100 plays staged in more than 20 cities. His play Off Centre was the first Singaporean work selected by the Ministry of Education for GCE N-and O-Levels. He received the S.E.A. Write Award (2014) and the Cultural Medallion (2015). With 13 publications, his works have been translated into Malay, Mandarin, Greek, and Italian. In 2021, he published Reading the Room: A Playwright’s Devising Journey, detailing his creative process. Haresh has won Best Original Script at The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards and showcased works at Esplanade’s first playwright-centred season in 2017.

Co-Director

Grace Kalaiselvi is an independent theatre actor, director, educator, and writer. An alumna of Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore, she hopes to create more works representing the suppressed and minorities. Working in both English and Tamil languages, she creates a range of works suitable for young audiences, teenagers, and adults. Some of her works include Come Back Home with Polyglot Theatre Australia, The Indigo Jackal, Marma Medai-Theerppu, Watching the World Go By, Paper Paravai and Amma’s Sarees for Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay; Rasanai and 3FVU for T:>works for N.O.W Festival, and Angry Indian Woman – The Trial for Singapore Writer’s Festival.

Movement Director

Ruby Jayaseelan is an experimental movement artist deeply rooted in ancient embodiment practices such as Bharathanatyam and Yoga, and intensely informed by somatic techniques and authentic movement. She lives by moving, performing, teaching and collaborating on stages, streets, and nature, revelling in the holistic practice of art, movement, and its philosophy.

Cast

Dalifah Shahril is an actress and arts educator who is effectively bilingual in English and Malay. She is also a voice actor and voiceover talent for various companies and television productions. Dalifah enjoys working with young children, and teaches speech and drama.

Cast

Deonn is an actor, theatre-maker and teacher. With her roots as an actor, Deonn has branched into writing and directing for theatre. Most recent directing credits include: The Bird Who Was Afraid of Heights (Esplanade Playtime), White, All White (The Necessary Stage) and Survivor Singapore (Esplanade FYI). Deonn is currently an Associate Artist of The Necessary Stage. She is interested in people and their stories, and always enjoys having a good laugh.

Cast

Jaspreet is an actor, dancer, and passionate advocate for individuals with intellectual disabilities. A member of the Diverse Abilities Dance Collective, she refines her artistry through performing and teaching. She collaborates with multi-disability groups and co-trains preschoolers in dance. An active participant in the self-advocacy project Our Lives, Our Voices, she speaks on inclusivity and empowerment. In 2022, she received the Goh Chok Tong Enable Award for her advocacy work. Jaspreet dreams of attending university and believes in lifelong learning.

Cast

Periyachi Roshini is a Bharatanatyam dancer and an actor with a first-class honours degree in Acting from LASALLE College of the Arts. She enjoys being part of productions that brings awareness to important social issues. Her recent works involved working with artists with disabilities and theatre for young audiences.

Sound Artist

Bani Haykal experiments with text and music.

As an artist and musician, his work revolves around human-machine relationships / intimacies, examining and reflecting on how tools and technologies have shaped and continue to shape our experiences from commuting to communicating, navigating places and people.

Manifestations of his research culminate into works of various forms including site-responsive installations, poetry and performance. In his capacity as a collaborator and a soloist, bani has participated in festivals including Other Futures (Netherlands), MeCA Festival (Japan), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), Media/Art Kitchen (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Japan), and Liquid Architecture (Australia / Singapore) among others.

Lighting Designer

Faith Liu Yong Huay is currently a freelance lighting designer in Singapore, focussing on theatre and dance performances since 2016. Her lighting portfolio is available for viewing at liuyonghuay.tumblr.com.

She graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2016) under the National Arts Council Scholarship (Postgraduate).

She co-founded 微 Wei Collective with Neo Hai Bin in 2017, which is interested in the performance of space, and how material and movement can allow one to experience a breathing space. Her collective’s work can be viewed at instagram.com/weicollective.