In Conversation: Escape to Batam

History, with a capital ‘H’, calls to mind specific events with significant impact on the wider community. These events are commemorated on specific dates or reiterated in school textbooks. The intimate stories of the people affected, however, often remain untold. Yet, they offer alternative perspectives to these world-changing events—those that find joy in times of uncertainty, community while sitting in isolation, and comfort in the unknown future.

Join us for In Conversation: Escape to Batam, as moderator Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips speaks with playwright-director Claire Wong and playwright-dramaturg Huzir Sulaiman to uncover the unique creative process that comes with developing a play steeped in personal and family history.

Checkpoint Theatre’s In Conversation is a series of intimate dialogues between theatre practitioners as they go beyond the rehearsal room and dive deeply into the themes, ideas, and techniques that they use to create compelling theatre.

Escape to Batam is a delicate tapestry of the past and present, weaving the remarkable lived experiences of Ming, who spent his boyhood on the rural island of Batam to escape the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, with his daughter’s personal stories of family, loss and grief felt in the years since her father’s passing. Drawing parallels from their different life journeys, daughter Claire finds herself discovering what it means to live with the pain of loving those who have left us, and how to carry on for those who are still with us.

Key Production Credits

Panellists: Claire Wong and Huzir Sulaiman

Moderator: Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips