In Conversation: Escape to Batam

Established in 2002, Checkpoint Theatre was the first theatre company to exclusively develop, produce, and champion Singapore writers and original Singapore content with strong writing, performance, and directing that embraces and empowers diverse voices and communities. The company creates work from idea to page to stage and beyond.

Through its process of rigorous dramaturgy and incisive direction, Checkpoint Theatre creates and presents new theatrical and inter-disciplinary work with honesty, depth, and nuance. They also publish original works written by Singapore storytellers and collaborate with international partners to show Singapore work abroad.

Checkpoint Theatre builds and strengthens a community that values creativity, both as makers and consumers of art. The company mentors emerging theatremakers and creatives through workshops, internships, collaborations, and providing professional resources.

Their landmark productions such as The Fourth Trimester, Normal, Recalling Mother, and Atomic Jaya have been instant local classics. These works are well-loved by audiences and regularly garner critical acclaim. Most recently, Secondary: The Musical received the ST Life Theatre Award for Production of the Year 2025, while Hard Mode won Best Original Script.

Checkpoint Theatre is supported by the National Arts Council under the Major Company Scheme and is a registered charity with IPC status.

Claire Wong is the co-founder, Joint Artistic Director and Producer of Checkpoint Theatre. Trained in both Asian and Western performing arts, Claire obtained her Master of Fine Arts (MFA, Theatre Arts) from Columbia University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the National University of Singapore and was formerly a litigation and corporate lawyer.

Claire’s recent directing credits include Statement Piece (2025), Hard Mode (2024), Playing With Fire (2024); Recalling Mother: Her Lines, My Lines (2022), which she co-directed and also co-wrote and performed in; Faith Ng’s The Fourth Trimester (2022); Occupation as part of Chamber Readings: Plays by Huzir Sulaiman (2022); Adib Kosnan's Keluarga Besar En. Karim (The Karims) (with Joel Lim, 2021); Lucas Ho’s The Heart Comes To Mind (2020); Zenda Tan's Eat Duck (2019); Huzir Sulaiman’s Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner (2019), a commission of Singapore International Festival of Arts; Dana Lam’s Still Life (2019) and Faith Ng’s Normal (2017, 2015). As an actress, Claire has performed in landmark Singapore productions and international arts festivals. 

Huzir Sulaiman is the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. A critically acclaimed and award-winning playwright, his Collected Plays 1998-2012 was published in 2013. His play Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner was a commission of the 2019 Singapore International Festival of Arts. Recent directing credits include Secondary: The Musical (2024), Session Zero (2023, 2021), Tender Submission (2023), Brown Boys Don’t Tell Jokes (2023), The Weight of Silk on Skin as part of Chamber Readings: Plays by Huzir Sulaiman (2022), Vulnerable (2021), Two Songs and a Story (with Joel Lim, 2020), Thick Beats for Good Girls (2018) and FRAGO (2017).

Huzir has taught playwriting at the National University of Singapore’s University Scholars Programme; at the NUS English Department; the School of the Arts; and other institutions. Huzir was educated at Princeton University, where he won the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize, and is a Yale World Fellow.

Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips is a climate artist, writer, theatremaker and performer. She is also an Associate Artist with Checkpoint Theatre. With a degree of Environmental Studies (specialising in Environmental Biology) from the National University of Singapore, Cheyenne uses writing and performance to interrogate how environmental concerns intersect with science, society policy, culture and identity. She was selected to be part of the prestigious 2024 Arctic Spring Expedition hosted by The Arctic Circle Residency Programme, is a BeFantastic Fellow (2021) and was part of the La Wayaka Residency to San Blas, Panama in 2018. Cheyenne was also named a Young ASEAN Storyteller in 2022.

Cheyenne debuted as a playwright in 2024 with Playing With Fire, a profoundly human look into Singapore’s oil and gas Industry, placing the complexities of a just energy transition under a microscope, to much acclaim. Cheyenne’s other writing and performance credits include A Literary Trail of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (ASEAN Centre of Biodiversity, 2022), Vulnerable, an eight-part podcast (Checkpoint Theatre, 2021); A Grand Design (Checkpoint Theatre, 2020), In The Twine: A Tapestry of Stories (Singapore Writer’s Festival, 2018) and For The Record (Centre 42’s Basement Workshop Residency, 2017). She also co-wrote The Last Gardener with Isabella Chiam (The Theatre Practice, 2024).

Cheyenne is a licensed Tourist Guide and has hosted a walk-andwrite in Jalan Besar and eco-literary walks around MacRitchie Reservoir in collaboration with the Public Utilities Board (PUB) as part of Singapore Water Month 2018. Her other writings can be found in PR&TA, the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (QLRS), Contour: A Lyrical Cartography of Singapore (Poetry Festival Singapore, 2019) and Who Are You My Country? Writing about Identity, Past and Present (Landmark Books, 2018). She writes a weekly newsletter: Field Notes From The Poetic Scientist and runs a monthly spoken-word competition called Outspoken.