Writing is my passion.

Painting is my penance.

Create. Don't wait.

If you wait for a publisher to publish your books, an art gallery to showcase your exhibits, and collectors to buy your paintings, you will end up producing only 5% of your potential to unfurl the full magnificence of your works.

A masterpiece first comes into tangible being as a draft or a sketch on paper.

At the end of each day, before going to bed, write down everything you did and ate and said, everywhere you went, everyone you interacted with, and everything you thought from the time you woke up, and see how much you really remember.

This is an exercise in breaking down the defense mechanism repression, in strengthening your powers of observation, and in embracing both the pleasant and the unpleasant toward achieving inner balance.

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: _Malavika_ by Nanda

Hello Nanda!

First, your play was already cleverly conceived before our first meeting. You are one of those playwrights whose plays are written in full inside one's head so that, when they are ready to be written, they just flow onto hard copy. After our discussion session, electronic dramaturgy, the videotaped, informal reading that I watched with you, and our restructuring, your play is finally finished. It was interesting to dramaturge because it is the second of a trilogy, the first already written and staged, the third, yet to be written. Still, it must be able to stand up as an independent piece--and it does.

A few comments:

--I noted the additions you made to contribute to the sensual atmosphere of the play.
--All of the roles are vehicles for fine, ensemble acting. I wonder, though, whether a static, staged reading will diminish their impact.
--The play is too long. Act 3 seems to have the most tolerable length. I suggest that you read it aloud (or do so again with the help of your friends) and time each act. Tighten the play: make your cuts now rather than wait for the director to make cuts you might not agree with.

Then proofread your manuscript, make a clean copy, and submit it to TheatreWorks for a staged reading.

Well done!

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: _Mixed_ by Raemae

Hello Raemae!

It's been a long journey, but you've proven to have the constant passion and the tenacity to see your play through. After two rounds of dramaturgy and an informal reading I was fortunate enough to sit in five months ago, I am pleased to reread your play and see that you've made very judicious changes/additions.

Technically, each act in your play is really a cluster of scenes; you might want to reconsider calling your divisions not acts but something else, in case the definitive, post-production, version of your play finds publication.

Proofread your manuscript once again, especially for grammar, and clean it up before submitting it to TheatreWorks for a staged reading. Keep in mind that the staged reading will have a director and a professional cast, and be open to their suggestions. Theatre is teamwork after all, and the last thing you want is a director and a cast that will be unhappy rehearsing a play they don't feel comfortable with, night after night.

In the meantime, congratulations! If I'm lucky I might be in the audience for your staged reading.

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: "The Book of Mothers" by Eleanor

Hello Eleanor!

Thank you for writing this wonderful play. Here are my comments:

--Scene 5 is mainly exposition. Provide dramatic tension between the two men. While this is really a feminist play, you need to flesh out your male characters and render them as real persons. Give your male performers acting roles they can be proud to assume.
--Consider eliminating male characters altogether, rewriting the scenes that have them into monologues or reports.
--It is possible to envision the performer of CHILD as a young adult, rather than casting a real child. Casting children in plays usually creates production problems due to scheduling.
--Your real drama begins in Scene 7.
--I offer you two options:
1) Write a second act in which the events are repeated, but with a different, upbeat ending. It is then up to the audience to decide which is the real act and which is the fantasy act. This will elevate your one-act play to a full-length play.
2) Interweave the real act and the fantasy act, keeping the piece a one-act play. Explore your subject matter. Squeeze every bit of imagery out of it.
3) In one act, CHILD should be female. In the other, male. This will provide more dynamics to your message.

While further developing your play, put more of yourself (your selves, actually, since playwrights really have multiple personalities) in your work. Do not be ashamed or embarrassed to show your characters and their emotions inside out.

In all, though, well done! Persist and see this through.

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: _Kor Kor Cheh Cheh Di Di Mei Mei_ by Flora

Hello Flora!

Your play concept is interesting, and you should begin writing it along the following guidelines:

--First, know your four protagonists deeply and intimately before even bringing them onstage.
--Be mindful of points of attack for your two parallel plots.
--Allow both plots to converge not once but several times within the entire play.
--This play and its treatment verge on the cinematic and the melodramatic, so be careful to keep it a dramatic stage play.

Finally, do not be intimidated by the submissions and speed of progress of your co-participants. Focus only on yourself and your own work. Go into your fantasy writing room and shut out everyone and everything else.

Now, plunge into writing.

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: "Project X" by Adi

Hello Adi!

You've written a very interesting one-act play. This isn't the play you began writing during our workshop, though--that was longer, more complex, and more ambitious.

At this point, would you like to develop this particular play further as a one-act play? That is quite all right. We can go with this for now, but I advise you to write full-length plays afterward; this will propel you faster to become a major Singaporean playwright, which I know you can be, especially with your flair for characterization and dialogue.

My comments on your manuscript:

--Always be aware of stage business. What are the characters doing? If they are sneaking into a room and spying on someone they would be huddled most of the time and their use of stage space would be restricted. They would also have to be speaking in whispers.

--You have a single walk-on toward the end of the play. Is this necessary? How challenged would a performer be to do this walk-on? Would he even include this project in his portfolio? Always think of your director and your performers and how their talents can shine.

Consider several walk-ons that would compel your characters to have a variety of reactions and a variety of movements.

--Keep in mind that it takes thousands, if not millions, of dollars for a producer to stage a play. Producers will bank on financially viable projects. Ensure that your play, no matter how short or how long, has a new, unique, and non-whimsical message for your prospective audiences.

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: _FInal Call_ by Timothy

Hello Timothy!

Your play flowed so well that I was disappointed to see that your manuscript ended, unfinished, on Page 41. I hope that I can read your entire play very soon.

All of your dialogue is witty and sparkling, and every line contributes to characterization. The genre you seem to have chosen for this piece is Theatre of the Absurd, which emerged in the 1960s from industrialization, mechanization, and the subsequent de-humanization of relationships in well-developed countries. In Asia, this works very well in Singapore, Japan, Korea, and China, not due to industrialization and mechanization but to giant leaps in technology.

You have an incisive, Kafkaesque mind that endows your protagonist with a unique point of view that, at the same time, comes across as valid social commentary. Your second act seemed too short in comparison with the first, but that, of course, was due to the fact that your manuscript is unfinished. Keep in mind that both acts should be balanced--bring back the other characters even if they must appear as yet other characters played by the same performers. This will keep your play well-structured.

Even in its present state, your play is already very well-polished. Be sensitive, however, to nuances in language. On Page 1, Lines 3, 19, and 20, for instance, the line "We bring you to where you need to be" is more correctly stated "We bring you where you need to be". also on Page 1, the Airline Rep's line "...passengers of Flight 1949 to..." is usually, in airports, "..passengers of Flight 1949 bound for..."

Well done!

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: "At The End of the Road" by Pearlyn

Hello Pearlyn!

I commend you on following through with this play from our recently concluded workshop. It is currently a one-act play as you envisioned it to be, but it can and should be developed into a full-length play, not necessarily divided into acts. Otherwise every event that transpires after Sarah's accident is abrupt and functions as deus ex machina. Between Scenes 2 and 3, for example, you need to go deeper into Sarah's mind and how she comes to her decision to be a martyr for her husband's cause.

Your play swiftly generates conflict, which is a good thing. Like a clever musical composer, though, you should be able to carry it through the play and take it to the climax that it deserves. You can do this--I perceive it from reading the dialogue that you wrote between man and wife and from the psychological dynamics between them. If you succeed, you could even very well be on your way to be Singapore's modern Strindberg.

Before proceeding any further, explore the genre of noir. Read all of Cornell Woolrich's novels, beginning with The Night Has A Thousand Eyes. Your public library should have them. And then, flesh out your play.

Do not be concerned with time constraints. Enjoy what you are writing. Even if it takes you a year or more, the most important thing is that you come up with a stage-worthy, dramatic play. 

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: "Ah Ma Goes Home" by Michelle

Hello Michelle!

Your play is still undeveloped as it was before, but its subject matter is very interesting. If you feel that you are having a difficult time advancing, first ask yourself the following:

1) Have you chosen the best medium for your message? Is your story better suited to a novel or a movie rather than to a stage play?
2) Which language is your play coming out more consistently in?
3) Who will come out as the real protagonist of the play, Ah Mah or the Narrator?

Your premise is not yet clear, but your draft is promising. I hope that you can work on it some more.
So far, if this were a novel, the structure is after Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, and if this were a play, the structure is after Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie".

Dramaturgy for TheatreWorks Singapore: _Satamilla (Without Sound)_ by Aswani

Hello Aswani!

Your manuscript is mature and lyrical, and reflects a creative sense of staging.

Here are my comments:

1) Your title should either be Satamilla OR Without Sound. Do not include translations in parentheses.

2) Proofread your work carefully. Do NOT take stage directions for granted--they guide not only the director but also the performers and your readers. On Page 3, 7th Line from the Bottom, you have "SANJEEVAN closes the door to exit", which should read "SANJEEVAN exits and closes the door behind him".

3) Scenes 2 and 3 are underwritten, as though they were mere transition scenes in a movie or TV episode. Give both scenes dramatic substance. Both scenes should demonstrate your premise more clearly.

4) I love your juxtaposition of past and present. It is as though your play were really about reincarnation and the flashbacks are not scenes from the immediate past but scenes from a previous lifetime. (Although, in a sense, they are.)

5) How do you visualize the seduction in Scene 6: Is SUSEELA 2 performing onstage alone? If the MAN is physically absent in this scene, won't the audience infer that this scene from the past is merely a figment of SUSEELA's imagination?

6) Be aware of frequent scene changes that require complete set-ups of furniture and props. I have yet to see a revolving stage at TheatreWorks.

7) Scene 7: This is SUSEELA 2 on the stage, not SUSEELA, but you neglected to indicate so.

8) On Page 12, Last Line, YU LING says, "...I know that Mother Mary is around you..." Then on Page 13, Line 5, she says, "I'm from a Buddhist family..." The audience might laugh out loud, unless that is your intention.

9) Always keep in mind that both SANJEEVAN and SUSEELA must have well-developed characters. One should not merely be a sounding board for the other.

Do proceed with this play along the above guidelines. I look forward to seeing how it develops and how it ends. 

Never rush writing a play "for a production deadline" or a painting "for an exhibit". You will surely be sorry that you did, and your slipshod work will be a reflection of your integrity as an artist.

When having to wait too long in a public place, study the colors of two walls and, in your mind, convert that combination to names of a unique salad or viand.

Emotions normally prevent you from thinking clearly, but if you are a playwright, practice speaking aloud and as eloquently as you can whenever you are alone and in an emotional state. You will find that this enables you to spontaneously produce sparkling dialogue.