Back for its fourth edition, theatre development space Centre 42’s annual showcase will once again provide an abundance of bite-sized acts by local artists, all happening at their recognisable blue house on Waterloo Street from Aug 30-31, in conjunction with the Singapore Night Festival 2019.
But unlike previous years, Late-Night Texting 2019 will be showcasing performances that delve into complex and timely topics like sexual assault, gender and sexuality, as well as stories about identity from minority groups.
Find Kitchen Masala, which features a collection of works that offer stories about the Singaporean Indian identity, relating to family and relationships. Produced by Singapore’s first Indian collective Brown Voices, the group aims to create conversations and provide a voice for their lesser-represented community. On the other hand, The Women Before Me explores art and sexual assault, and was written by actor and playwright Zee Wong, who was perturbed by the normalisation of violence against women both locally and internationally.
There’ll also be the Mandarin reading of theatre practitioner Tan Liting’s play Pretty Butch, which discusses gender and sexuality. First developed over a span of two years at Centre 42’s Boiler Room incubation programme, the play debuted at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival in 2017 before being translated into Mandarin for a presentation at the Taipei Arts Festival in 2018.
Also, be sure to participate in what will probably be the most interactive performance of all—Dating Sim (Beta). A dating simulation come alive, audiences can look forward to examining modern dating and relationships through an interesting theatrical experience.
And don’t forget to check out The World’s Loneliest Bookstore, an immersive exhibition that imagines a bookstore set in a post-apocalyptic world by BooksActually, as well as performances of local theatre classics-turned modern like Emily of Emerald Hill, as @thisisemeraldgirl and One Year Back Home, now Gossip GRLs, to be put on by the alumni and students of NUS Theatre Studies.
Between all the entertainment, grab bites and drinks at Coffee Bandits’ food truck that’ll be dishing out simple yet comforting fare on both nights.
Late-Night Texting 2019 takes place Aug 30-31 at 42 Waterloo Street. Admission is free. Check out their event line-up here.
