FESTIVAL PICKS

Edith Podesta
Director

Edith is a graduate of both National Institute of Dramatic Art’s (NIDA) Acting and Movement Studies courses, who has worked extensively across Australia as an actor, director, choreographer, movement consultant and teacher. As a choreographer she works across all genre’s including opera, musicals , live music events and has extensive experience in devising and developing of original physical theatre work.

Edith is a founding member of the awarding winning experimental theatre collective, A Group Of People and helmed the devising process for A Cage Goes In Search Of A Bird, which won Production of the Year at the 11th Life! Theatre Awards. As an actor Edith works across all mediums including television and theatre.

While in Singapore she has appeared on stage in Home Boxes directed by Benjamin Ho, LIV directed by Nelson Chia for the Singapore Arts Festival and A Note Went Off In My Head an Esplanade Presents production directed by Oliver Chong.

Edith has also lectured at the Theatre Training and Research Programme (TTRP), and in Australia at the NIDA, Conservatorium of Music and University of Technology Sydney. She currently teaches theatre at LASALLE College of the Arts.

Brian Gothong Tan
Multimedia Designer

Brian Gothong Tan studied digital animation at Nanyang Polytechnic. He received the Shell-NAC Scholarship in 2003 and pursued experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts. Brian began designing multimedia works for theatre productions in 2001, with his debut work for The Optic Trilogy by Action Theatre. He won the Best Use of Multimedia award at the annual Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards in 2005 for godeatgod (The Necessary Stage). He also received the Best Multimedia Design award for Nothing (Cake Theatrical Productions) in 2008, and again for his directorial debut for the stage, Decimal Points 4.44 (Cake Theatrical Productions and The Substation), in 2011.

Brian is also involved in visual arts and film. His exhibitions include Heavenly Cakes and Sentimental Flowers (Singapore Art Museum, 2003), We Live In A Dangerous World (Singapore Biennale, 2006) and Signs, Omens, And Relics Of Faith (72-13, Singapore, 2007). He served as Director of Photography for Pleasure Factory (2007), an official selection for the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. In 2008, Brian released his first feature film, Invisible Children, which participated in the Bangkok International Film Festival that year, and Asian Hot Shots Berlin, Singapore International Film Festival and Sintok Singapore Film Festival Tokyo in 2009.

Brian has also helmed the multimedia team for numerous large-scale events. He served as Director of Film and Visual Effects for the National Day Parade in 2009 and 2011 and the Youth Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies in 2010. Brian was also commissioned to produce the main video installation for the Singapore Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, and more recently for Night Festival 2012, WE THE PEOPLE, a film that was projected onto the façade of the National Museum of Singapore. Brian is the recipient of NAC Young Artist Award 2012.

Adrian Tan
Lighting Designer

A Graduate of Lasalle College of The Arts in 2006, Adrian has since designed shows that have been staged both locally and internationally. Recent designs include the well-received Cooling Off Day (Nominee, Production of The Year, Life! Theatre Awards 2012), other shows for Wild Rice include National Language Class, that was premiered at the first Singapore Theatre Festival in 2006 and also staged the Indonesian Dance Festival.

His versatility has been displayed in numerous dance shows in recent years, such as Masterpiece In Motion, 25th Anniversary Gala Performance for Singapore Dance Theatre, 12 Arrows and To Unwritten Chapters for Lasalle's School of Dance, Solo/Duet for T.H.E Dance Company, which was commissioned by the NUS Arts Festival and Petals in the Crowd for The Arts Fission Company, which was staged in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In 2006, he was also the first Asian recipient of the ETC Sponsorship Awards that was held in Las Vegas, USA.

NUS Talents

5 assistant directors and 15 actor-scriptwriters were selected from auditions for their talent, creativity and passion for theatre. Coming from diverse backgrounds, these talents from NUS, Lasalle College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and other tertiary institutions embarked on workshops with director, Edith, in November and December 2013.

Rehearsals began this January and will increase to three and four times a week till performance day.

Some dedicated artists in this production include final year NUS students, Mohammed Fauzi and Jaryl George (both from Theatre Studies), Julfri Kosasih (Accountancy) and Amanda Aw Yong (Accountancy and Communications & New Media), and others such as Lasalle alum Yagnya (assistant to Edith Podesta), Jaryl Lim (Law) and NUS Faculty of Engineering alum Rahul Ghai (acted in godeatgod, NUS Arts Fest 2012), who is participating again at this year’s Festival.