A Yagnya is a collaborative theatre-maker.

Yagnya’s playwriting credits include Help! Our Dead Have Dementia and Other Stories (SIFA X: there is no future in nostalgia), Between 5 Cows and the Deep Blue Sea... (Esplanade’s Kalaa Utsavam 2022, The Straits Times Life! Theatre Award Nomination for Best Original Script) which she also co-directed, and Hi, Can You Hear Me? (The Necessary Stage’s [TNS] Playwright’s Cove 2020, then developed as a main season production of the company in 2024).

You define yourself as a playwright-director. Is there a reason for those specific designations?

I enjoy telling a story. I think as a director and as a playwright, you get to see the big picture while working through the details. It’s the possibility of facilitating a room, to collaborate and create something. I also enjoy the process of devising and coming up with a script, and then working on the directorial process.

What do you like about Singaporean playwriting, and in consequence being a Singaporean playwright?

It’s who I am. That’s it. There’s nothing to like or dislike—it’s what I feel the most about. It’s how I view the world, and the lens of which I view it.

However just because I’m a Singaporean doesn’t mean I can’t write about the world. The fact is I am a Singaporean-Indian, Tamil-Japanese-English-speaking, director-playwright, who then sees everything from that lens. Everything I do comes back to that. That’s who I have to be true to. That’s my responsibility.

Is there a particular playwright’s work that you love?

Ota Shogo! He is (was) a Japanese playwright-director and maybe more of an auteur. He specialised on the aesthetics of quietude. The Water Station in particular reminds me that I love plays that have less words, which makes me question myself as a playwright who also loves maximalism. [Laughs]

But on a serious note, I do enjoy being able to capture what can't be spoken, what can’t be said, what is absence, what is present… I feel drawn to this especially because Singapore censors itself so much, there’s so much silence. 

I’m also drawn to writing daily conversations, which is why I love Cafe by (Singapore’s) Joel Tan. It captures the mundane while something else is happening. That contrast—what’s happening versus what is said—I adore it.

Are there any important figures that have influenced your practice?

I’d like to acknowledge The Necessary Stage for the continued support and mentorship over the years, and for having me as one of their Associate Artists. Alvin, Haresh and (general manager) Melissa have always been like a theatre family to me, and I’ve been incredibly blessed to always be able to reach out to them for all kinds of advice as a budding artist here. They have always given so much sound dramaturgical feedback on my writing, challenging me to do better and dig deeper. They really motivate me to push my work and always be a critically thinking artist.

Also, there have been so many developmental spaces like Centre 42, where I was able to do the Playwrights’ Professional Development Residency, Sharda Harrison’s Pink Gajah lab, as well as Brown Voices where I initially workshopped Between 5 Cows And The Deep Blue Sea. And of course, I also want to thank Esplanade’s Kalaa Utsavam team, especially David Pandarakannu, for taking the leap of faith and co-producing the work (first read at Raga 2020, and subsequently produced at the festival in 2022) which essentially launched me out into the industry.

Being an “up and coming” face in the arts industry here has never been an easy road, but I really want to thank every person out there who took a chance on me at every point in my life.

What do you hope to see in the future of local theatre?

I just hope to continue having conversations with people from different backgrounds. For me, the worst-case scenario would be an environment so policed and full of eggshells that I stop making theatre. I hope that growing older means that there are more spaces for nuanced conversations to happen.