The Vault: How Did You Meet Tina?

How Did You Meet Tina? is a performance-presentation created and directed by Chong Tze Chien that traces the legacy of the late Christina Sergeant via archival footage and images as well as recreated interviews with her collaborators, friends, family and students.

Christina Sergeant (1955-2013), more affectionately known as Tina, was an accomplished and passionate actress, director, educator and mentor.

Playwright-director Chong Tze Chien knew of Tina, the much-lauded theatre practitioner, when he was a young student. But it was only over a decade later when he would finally meet her. It was 2004 and Tina was directing his play Furthest North, Deepest South. Tze Chien remembers her as “open-minded, principled and genuine”. To date, she is one of his most favourite collaborators.

Like Tze Chien, many remember Tina as an inspiring person who warmed the hearts and stirred the minds of those she met. But she was also a stalwart in the Singapore theatre scene for over 25 years who co-founded and helmed key art organisations like Mime Unlimited, Actors Theatre Circle, STARS and SDEA, and groomed the arts practitioners of today. In her life in Singapore, Tina was a witness and active participant in the evolution of the local theatre scene.

In this instalment of The Vault, join Tze Chien as he pieces together the artefacts and stories of Tina’s life and legacy.

This edition of The Vault is Tze Chien’s reciprocal project for the grant he received from Centre 42’s Fellowship programme. Find out more about it here.

How Did You Meet Tina? was a performance-presentation created and directed by Chong Tze Chien that traced the legacy of the late Christina Sergeant via archival footage and images as well as recreated interviews with her collaborators, friends, family and students. For one evening only, on 5 December 2015, the Black Box was transformed into an installation of maps and video footage of Tina’s journey in Singapore theatre. Actors Nora Samosir, Serene Chen and Tan Shou Chen shared the stories collected from interviews with Tina’s collaborators and friends.