In 2011, The Finger Players (TFP) launched a development programme for playwrights and directors called Watch This Space. It is spearheaded by playwright-director Chong Tze Chien, who felt that there were not enough platforms supporting new voices in the Singapore theatre scene at the time.
“I think as a theatre company, it is our responsibility to inject some form of training programme to enrich the ecosystem, because the reason that we are here today is also because of the generosity of our predecessors. I wouldn’t be here without Haresh Sharma and other theatre companies opening their door to me. I think I am just passing the baton,” says Tze Chien. “Because how else do you grow the scene if you don’t have writers, directors, and actors? You need those before you can grow an audience.”
Watch This Space runs an open call for playwrights and directors on alternating years, and past participants include Zelda Tatiana Ng, Tan Liting, and Thong Pei Qin for the Directors Series, and Ng Yi-Sheng, Lucas Ho, and Ellison Tan Yuyang for the Playwrights Series.
(Source: Centre 42 Archive for Singapore Theatre)