Less Than Half presented by M1 Fringe Festival | 5-8 Jan 2023 

Set in an imagined, futuristic world, Sama Wholeness Centre believes in the country’s mandate that all human lives are Whole. Citizens who do not conform to the status of Whole are put through a rigorous training programme that will help them achieve the desired status before gaining admission to the country. Citizens who fail the programme are ousted and lost forever. Given the high stakes, the recruits soon discover that they must work both individually and collectively. Uncertainty ensues. What have these recruits really signed up for? Will these recruits choose to conform to the demands of the programme, or will they stick to their roots and embrace what makes them “less than half”?

Less than Half is a devised physical theatre performance exploring privilege and inequality that draws from the real-life experiences of the performers. The intense three-month devised process included workshops facilitated by the playwright and directors. Students were tasked to do improv exercises, scene work, physical theatre and research on various areas of social inequality. They engaged in robust discussions and generated monologues, a few of which were featured in the final product (credits to Isabella, Haeindra and Wei Hao). What a truly gratifying way to make theatre and amplify the voices of the youth!  

Directors: Adib Kosnan and Yarra Illeto 
Playwright: Aswani Aswath
​Performers: Students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts BA Performance Making ​programme
Light Design: Tai Zifeng
Sound Design: Alif Daniel 
Production Stage Manager: Shining Goh
Asst. Stage Manager: Stefanie Teo 
Surtitle/Captions Operator: Ashely Fong 
Mic Operator: Manoj Kumar 

Strawberry Girls presented by A Mirage | 27-29 May 2022 
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“Unclean” is a term used to define a menstruating woman within the Indian community.

When 12-year-old Vimisha has come of age, her single mother begins preparations for a puberty ceremony (also known as a sadangu). It is her hope that Vimisha receives many blessings as she embarks on a new phase in her life. But, Vimisha has an important event on the same day and does not want to take part in the ceremony. She is suddenly called “unclean”, confined at home and forced to adopt odd rituals. Meanwhile, her newly-retired grandmother recalls the stigmas she has faced with puberty and wonders how valid such taboos are in today’s world.

Staged in support of Menstrual Hygiene Day (that falls on 28 May), the play Strawberry Girls follows the lives of three generations of women, examining the social and cultural issues related to menstruation and seeks to normalise conversations about periods in the Singapore-Indian community.

Written & Directed by Aswani Aswath
Cast: Padma Sagaram, Aiswarya Nair, Sanchala Sanju
Production Manager: Othman M. Yusof
Sound Designer: Ramesh Krishnan
Produced by: Pearlyn Tay & Theo Chen

Special feature: Our Better World
Read stories of puberty by Padma and Aswani! 

​15-year-old Natasha is an aspiring poet; life is a horizon where her words can take flight.
But to the rest of the world, Natasha is “wheelchair girl”, “special treatment”, or “bad karma”. Many people assume many things about her, about cerebral palsy.
If she could speak her mind in a fantasy world, what would she say?
When will society stop talking at her wheelchair? When will society start talking to her?

Production Credits 
Director: Nur Sahirrah Safit
Multimedia Artist: Kaykay Nizam
Cast, Research & Devising Team: TKGS Drama Club
Written in Collaboration with Aswani Aswath
with special thanks to Stephanie Esther Fam

Dust to Dust was presented at the Asian Youth Theatre Festival at Sabah, Malaysia | 14 - 17 Nov 2019
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Based on the festival's theme of 'Environment', Dust to Dust explores the impact of fast fashion through the lens of university students, an investigative journalist and pieces of clothes. It is a call to action for conscious consumption and a powerful reminder of the human cost behind cheap clothes.

Directed by: Renee Yong 
Written by: Aswani Aswath
Cast and crew: Buds Youth Theatre

Photo credits: Buds Theatre Company

Pazupphu presented by Ravindran Drama Group at Aliwal Arts Centre from 6-7 Oct 2017 & the Asian Youth Theatre Festival on 13 Oct 2017 

Labels – we are all defined by them. Yet to what extent are these labels preconceived, how much can we alter them and how ready is a society to accept one who deviates from the norm? Centred on the Singapore-Tamil diaspora, Pazhuppu (translated as “Brown”) explores the impact of a society fraught with the labels of culture, gender and class. 

Director: Ebi Shankara
Playwright: Aswani Aswath 
Performed by Ruban Maniam, Hasisha Nazir, Vinod Rao 
Production Manager: Meghana Shah
Stage Manager: Shivani Rajan 
Production/Set Designer: Khairulnizam
Marketing Manager: Afiqah Azhar 
Illustrator: Raghav Krishna 
Photographer/Videographer: Gaurav Sarkar 
Surtitles: Aishwarya Manivannan

Click to hear what the cast has to say!

Minus presented by Buds Theatre Company in collaboration with EmancipAsia 
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As part of the Goli Theatre’s official launch by DramaBox, Buds Theatre Company worked on a forum theatre piece with EmancipAsia to create awareness on human trafficking. The production, “Minus” was featured as one of the Community Theatre Training Programmes under the SCENES: FORUM THEATRE event. Sylvia Lim, the Director of EmancipAsia, trained under this programme and collaborated with Buds to use theatre as a means to reach out to the public. With the platform of forum theatre, members of the audience were provided with the opportunity to play “spec-actors” who could go up on stage and take on a character in order to change a situation in the play

Minus was subsequently performed at United World College of Southeast Asia’s International Student Convention on 5 Oct 2015 as part of the Round Square Conference. The session focused on the topic of human trafficking.

Director: Claire Devine 
Playwright: Aswani Aswath (while Writer-in-Residence)
Cast: Kunjung Wida, Stanley Seah, Sahirrah Safit, Adib Kosnan, Alyssa and Aswani Aswath
Production: Marijn van den Bogaard and Debbie Gene Joseph 

Book Riot presented by B.Youth Company at The Arts House | 28-31 Aug 2014

Book Riot is set in a post-apocalyptic State where emotions are confined, and speech is not a right but a privilege. Governed by the Black Book, all children aged 13 and trained in the art of being a State citizen. Failure to comply may compromise their existence. Follow them as they challenge the system that structures their lives, dictates their choices and eradicates their souls. 

Book Riot was staged by B.Youth Company, a group of alum from the Buds Youth Theatre Programme, at The Arts House. It was also performed twice by Fairfield Methodist Secondary School, including the Singapore Youth Festival competition (Drama) in 2015. They clinched the Distinction award. It was penned during my enrolment in Buds Youth Theatre's year-long programme under the mentorship of Joel Tan. Growing up in a conservative household that defined what a woman should and should not be, I was inspired to create this play to challenge prejudices within a patriarchal system. 

Director: Claire Devine
Co-director & Asst. Stage Manager: Renee Yeong
Playwright & Stage Manager: Aswani Aswath
Cast: Jovi Tan, Sheryl Lim, Seethoo Zhao, Sarah Supaat, Masturah Oli, Mohd Qayyum, Wisely Chow, Flora Yeo, Shehnaz Salim, Kerwin Chia, Martina Tan
Production Manager & Light Designer: Martina Tan
Set Designer: Wisely Chow 
Sound Designers: Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai, Wisely Chow, Flora Yeo 
Costume Designers: Siti Syahadah, Masturah Oli