Details
Sat–Sun, 15–16 November 2025, 11am–11am (24 hours)
National Gallery Singapore
This event has concluded.
Participation fee: S$60/Slot (Inclusive of booking fee and meals)
At the intersection of two milestone anniversaries, T:>Works celebrates 40 years and National Gallery Singapore marks its 10th with a co-production of the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025.
Underpinned by a series of stimulus activities co-conceptualised by T:>Works and the Gallery, 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 will respond to the two installations, both commissioned under the Gallery’s OUTBOUND series—reimagining transitional spaces and key entrances at the Gallery through a series of unique artwork commissions, developed in collaboration with leading artists from around the world—Angin Cloud by Art Labor and Eidolon by Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier.
Engaging deeply with the themes and spatial ideas present in the artworks, the participants will be challenged to write a play within 24 hours reimagining notions of time and place; of modernisation and colonial histories through individual creative lenses.
Read here.
Dr. Adele Tan
Dr. Adele Tan is Senior Curator and Assistant Director (Curatorial Programmes) at National Gallery Singapore. She received her PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Her curatorial work and research focus on modern and contemporary Southeast Asian and Chinese art, with a special interest in performative practices, photography, and new media. Some of her major exhibitions include Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow (2017), Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia 1960s–1990s (2019), Kim Lim: The Space Between. A Retrospective (2024) and Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art (2025), where she is the lead curator. Other major commissions she curated at the Gallery are the 2019 and 2023 annual Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commissions with artists Charles Lim Yi Yong and Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta respectively, as well as the inaugural series of OUTBOUND commissions with Yee I-Lann, Haegue Yang, Gary Carsley and Jane Lee. In addition to her curatorial role, Adele also lectures in art history at the National University of Singapore.
Grace Kalaiselvi
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 & Amma’s Sarees for The Esplanade; Rasanai & 3FVU for T:>Works for N.O.W Festival and Angry Indian Woman-The Trial for Singapore Writer’s Festival. Her independent creations include the Mother I series and Goddesses of Words series. She has also acted in The Silence of a Falling Tree & 0600 for Singapore International Festival of Arts and a line could be crossed… & Precise Purpose of Being Broken for M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.
Myle Yan Tay
Myle Yan Tay is a writer of plays, fiction, essays, comic books, and reviews (not necessarily in that order.) His novel, catskull, was published by Ethos Books and won "Book of the Year" and "Best Literary Work" at the Singapore Book Publishing Awards and was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize. His plays, Brown Boys Don't Tell Jokes and Statement Piece were staged by Checkpoint Theatre; Brown Boys Don't Tell Jokes was nominated for 4 Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, including "Best Production" and "Best Script." He co-hosts Comic Sans, produced by Andas Productions, an award-winning podcast about comics for those who are sans knowledge. He is an Associate Artist at Checkpoint Theatre and you can find more of his work at myleyantay.com.
Tan Shou Chen
Tan Shou Chen is a recognised theatremaker from Singapore – he is an actor and a director. Shou Chen has created or performed in works that have been seen in the UK, Thailand, France, China, Portugal and Singapore. Shou Chen works regularly with new writing across all stages, from conception to production. www.shouchen.net.
Jo Tan
Jo Tan is an award-winning actor and/or playwright, but most often ‘and’, as seen in her multi-accoladed plays like King, Forked, and Session Zero. She has a somewhat international CV, with Forked and King touring the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as being commissioned for the Sydney Fringe Festival, and Por Por’s Big Fat Surprise Wedding co-headlining Adelaide’s OzAsia Festival. King - with its first two iterations both produced by T:>Works - won her both the Best Original Script and Best Actress titles at the Life! Theatre Awards, before being nominated for the Popcorn Writing Awards in Edinburgh this year. Jo also co-created Dungeons and Distractions with Edward Choy - a live Dungeons and Dragons game with inflatable dice and fight choreography!
Competition Categories
Youth Category: 15 - 18 years old
Open Category: 19 years and above
Prizes (Youth Category)
First Prize: S$350
Second Prize: S$250
Third Prize: S$150
Prizes (Open Category)
First Prize: S$350
Second Prize: S$250
Third Prize: S$150
Find out more here.
Please contact us at 24pwc@tworksasia.org.
Details
Sat, 2 November 2024, 3–6pm
@72-13, Home of T:>Works
This event has concluded.
Workshop fee: S$30 (Participants of the playwriting competition enjoy 50% discount for the workshop at $15)
Unlock your creative potential in our Beginner’s Playwriting Workshop! Designed for anyone curious about storytelling, this workshop is all about exploring fun, pressure-free techniques to jump-start your writing. Whether you’re new to writing or just looking for fresh ideas, we’ll guide you through playful exercises and creative prompts to help you discover the joy of crafting your own unique stories for the stage. No experience needed—just bring your imagination and a willingness to experiment! Join us and turn your ideas into the start of something amazing.
Part of the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 preparatory process, Chong Tze Chien invites emerging and new writers, and any one interested in scriptwriting as a medium, to attend this workshop.
About Chong Tze Chien
Chong Tze Chien is an acclaimed Singaporean playwright and director, known for his bold and inventive approach to theatre. A prolific playwright with over 20 years of professional experience under his belt, Chong has received numerous accolades for his work, including multiple Life! Theatre Awards. As a core team member of The Finger Players, one of Singapore’s leading theatre companies, he is celebrated for pushing the boundaries of form and storytelling, blending old school as well as original techniques with contemporary narratives. His works often explore themes of identity, memory, and social issues, making him one of the most original and well regarded practitioners in Singapore’s theatre scene.
He has three collections of plays published by The Necessary Stage, Epigram Books and The Finger Players respectively, containing critically acclaimed plays such as Charged, Poop! and PIE. In 2015, Charged was cited by The Business Times as one of the top ten plays of all time in Singapore. Other notable plays directed and written by Tze Chien include Turn By Turn We Turn, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and The Book of Living and Dying.
Beginner’s Playwriting Workshop is part of T:>Works’ 24-Hour Playwriting Competition preparatory processes.
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