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Sim Yan Ying “YY” is a theatre artist based in Singapore and New York. She creates as a director, performer, and deviser, and strives to make works that are experimental and accessible, physical in nature, and reflective of a diversity of lived experiences. YY believes in the power of live performance to bridge perspectives within and across communities in an increasingly polarised world. 

Her original works include: Where Are You? (Wild Rice/Mabou Mines), a series of productions on how we experience grief and confront death; Who Are You? (Esplanade), a devised performance about migrant-local relationships in Singapore; I LOVE WHITE MEN (Caveat NYC/Ars Nova/Dixon Place), a one-woman show excavating white worship and postcolonial baggage from an immigrant’s perspective in New York; and Without Reason (ArtsWok Collaborative/Esplanade) about the struggles of an interracial relationship in Singapore. 

Digital works: Who’s There? (New Ohio Theatre), an international collaboration about the socio-political and racial unrests in 2020; (un)becoming (T:>Works N.O.W. 2021), exploring the complex dynamics of mother-daughter relationships in modern-day Singapore; and Bloodlines 血脉 (Fault Line Theatre), a work-in-progress with artists across the Sinosphere examining the volatility and promise of Chinese-ness. 

YY obtained a BFA in Theatre and a BA in Psychology from New York University, and has trained in programmes such as the SITI Company’s Summer Intensive, Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Directing Residency, and The Necessary Stage’s Devising Platform. She is presently a Director under The Studios: TRIP at Esplanade, an Associate Artist at Fault Line Theatre, and a participant of Emergency Academy as well as T.H.E Dance Company’s Training Initiative. 

simyanying.com 
 

Jean Tay graduated in 1997 with a double-degree in creative writing and economics from Brown University, USA. Plays produced include Chinatown Crossings, The Shape of a Bird, It Won't Be Too Long: The Cemetery – Dusk, Senang, Sisters, Boom, Everything but the Brain, Plunge, The Knot and Water from the Well. Jean also wrote the books for the musicals The Great Wall: One Woman's Journey, The Admiral’s Odyssey, Man of Letters, and a children's musical Pinocchio. She has written over 20 plays and musicals, which have been performed in Singapore, the US, the UK, Italy and Indonesia. 

In 2000, her play The Knot was awarded 1st prize for Action Theatre’s 10-minute Play Competition. She has been nominated four times for Best Original Script for the Life! Theatre Awards, and won for Everything But the Brain in 2006. 

Jean was attached to Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) as resident playwright from 2006–2009, and helmed SRT’s Young Company Writing Programme from 2012–2016. Her plays Everything but the Brain and Boom have been published by Epigram Books and used as ‘O’ and ‘N’ Level literature texts for secondary school students. Jean is the founding Artistic Director of Saga Seed Theatre, set up in 2015 to bring Singaporean stories to the stage, and provide a platform to nurture local talent. 

Dapheny Chen is an independent dance artist who negotiates between the roles of a choreographer, performer, educator and arts manager. 

She is concerned about the provocations, connections and criticality that arise from making and viewing dance. Breaking away from her conventional dance training, she examines socio-political ideologies to navigate the possibilities of contemporary dance, while seeking to create alternative nodes of experience and entry points as conversations for change and knowledge. Her practice embraces the multiple facets of choreography and dance that change with time and state. While acknowledging the agile and transient nature of processes involved in creation, she breaks down previous definitions of the form to reform new experiences. 

Dapheny has danced with Ah Hock and Peng Yu (2004), L.A. Dance Connection (2003–2008), Frontier Danceland (2010–2011) and Re:Dance Theatre (2012–2015). She is focused on the sustainability of dance artists and their related work and labour practices.