W!LD RICE was founded in 2000 by Ivan Heng

Ivan Heng

Ivan Heng is a Peranakan- -Hokkien-Chinese-Singaporean stage actor and director. He is the founding artistic director of W!LD RICE, a theatre company in Singapore....

 and is recognised as one of Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

’s leading professional theatre companies.

Description

The company takes its inspiration from the multicultural societies that make up Singapore and modern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, celebrating their diverse cultures and performance styles.

W!LD RICE’s creative work is first and foremost a celebration of Singapore talent. By producing and touring glocal productions that are distinctively local in flavour and yet universal in vision and concerns, the company creates shared experiences for audiences in Singapore and around the World.

W!LD RICE’s programming for the main stage includes:

• New and original works
• New productions of the Singapore repertoire
• New interpretations of the World’s Classics

The company also makes contributions to the wider community through its following divisions:

• Chilli Padi, the Youth & Education division, which reaches out to school audiences
• First Stage, which nurtures young talents from the ages of 5 to 16
• Young & W!LD, which identifies and develops aspiring theatre professionals

Mission

W!LD RICE is committed to touring its shows internationally to raise the profile of Singapore theatre, to create an international awareness of its unique productions, and to engage its artists and collaborators in creative dialogues with the international arts community. Its distinctively Singaporean productions have won acclaim at major international arts festivals in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and Malaysia.

Singapore Theatre Festival

In 2006, W!ld Rice was the principal inaugurator of the first Singapore Theatre Festival, held in August, a biannual month-long festival of Singapore-created plays. Joining W!ld Rice in the Festival were TheatreWworks

TheatreWorks (Singapore)

TheatreWorks is an independent, non-profit theatre company in Singapore. Its artistic director is Ong Keng Sen. Its Managing Director is Tay Tong.-History:TheatreWorks Ltd was established in 1985...

, Spell #7, Dramabox and The Theatre Practice.

Non-theatre related activists who spoke at the forums included gay activist Alex Au

Alex Au

Alex Au Waipang, also known by his Internet nom de plume as Yawning Bread, is part of the Singapore gay equality movement.He is the author of a website, where he provides analyses of Singaporean politics, culture, gay issues and miscellaneous subjects.-Biography:Au, English-educated and of...

 and Workers' Party of Singapore

Workers' Party of Singapore

The Workers' Party of Singapore is a centre-left opposition political party in Singapore. The party currently has six elected seats in Parliament, with the party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Pritam Singh serving as Members of...

 Chair Sylvia Lim.

Productions

• 2000
  • Emily of Emerald Hill
• 2001
  • Blithe Spirit
    Blithe Spirit (play)
    Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
    
    
  • The Woman In A Tree On The Hill
  • An Occasional Orchid
  • The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole, No Parking On Odd Days
• 2002
  • Boeing-Boeing
  • Ang Tau Mui
  • Animal Farm
    Animal Farm
    Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...
    
    
• 2003
  • CINDEREL-LAH!
  • The Eleanor Wong
    Eleanor Wong (playwright)
    Eleanor Wong is a writer and playwright in Singapore. Her plays have been produced in Singapore and regionally. She is best known for "Invitation to Treat", her trilogy of plays centred around the experiences of the character Ellen Toh, a lesbian lawyer in Singapore...
    
     Trilogy - Invitation to Treat
• 2004
  • Landmarks: Asian Boys Vol.2
  • For The Pleasure Of Seeing Her Again
  • The Visit Of The Tai Tai
  • Aladdin
• 2005
  • Second Link: The Singapore-Malaysia Text Exchange
  • Oi! Sleeping Beauty
  • Boeing-Boeing
• 2006
  • Inaugural Singapore Theatre Festival
  • Homesick
  • The Silence of the Kittens
  • The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ
  • Second Link: The Singapore-Malaysia Text Exchange
  • The Magic Fundoshi
  • Jack and the Beansprout
• 2007
  • Blithe Spirit (play)|Blithe Spirit
  • Happy Endings: Asian Boys Vol. 3
  • Beauty World
  • The Campaign to Conger the Public Service Star on JBJ
• 2008
  • OCBC-Wi!LDRICE Singapore Theatre Festival
  • The Swordfish, Then The Concubine
  • The Last Temptation of Sir Stamford Raffles
  • Apocalypse Live!
  • Magdelena
  • Angelism
  • Tree Duets
  • Own Time Own Target
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

External links

• W!LD RICE - Official website