Production Informaton
Project Mending Sky: US is Drama Box’s third and final production in their Community Art Project on Environment. Delivered in both English and Mandarin, involving 32 performers and 10 production staff, this was an innovative work, experiential and site-specific, leading the audience from sunset to nightfall, on a physical and imaginative journey through one-and-a-half kilometres of what remains of the historic Bukit Timah Forest.
An inclusive community project under the leadership of Kok Heng Leun, Artistic Director of Drama Box, Project Mending Sky: US brought together leading Singapore artists with students, children, seniors and others in an atmospheric, educational and provocative sharing of deeply important environmental issues.

With only 30 audience participants per performance, the work was created to give an intimate, engaging experience. Designed by artists including Koh Hui Ling (Associate Artistic Director of Drama Box), Jalyn Han (Founder of InArts Productions), Ong Kian Sin (Resident Director/Artist of The Finger Players), Lim Woan Wen (Lighting Designer), Patricia Toh (Performer), Leslie Low and Vivian Wang (ARCN TEMPL, The Observatory), with text developed by Cheow Boon Seng (Playwright).

Project Mending Sky was presented in three parts: the first being in 2008 (‘ME”) looking at the individual’s actions in environmental protection; the second (’YOU”) focused on combined efforts of friend and family; while the third (‘US’) reached wider into community.
Starting at the Bukit Timah Railway Station, once on the historic rail link to Malaysia, the guided walk took participants through a serious of exhibitions, instalments, puppetry, choreographed movements and performance, each segment created and directed by different artists. Starting at sunset and ending after nightfall, this 100-minute event culminated in a sharing session between participants and performers and discussion of themes and ideas.

Formed in 1990, Drama Box has a respected reputation for presenting works that raise social awareness and inculcate civic responsibility. Its mission is to create, present and curate aesthetically compelling theatre with a broad social reach, through deep and intimate engagement. Uniquely, it encourages audiences to participate actively as ‘Spec-Actors’ or ‘Creators’.

(Synopsis and Theme)
Bukit Timah Forest was once an untouched forest where wildlife, including tigers, roamed free; the history of this environment is revealed through the various installations and performances as participants journey on the pretext of a search for the legendary “Bukit Timah Monkey Man”, recorded in 1805 and last spotted in 2007.
Narratives are woven out of the arrival of the British, the last train to pass in 2011, the last tiger killed in late 1890s, the clearing of the forest, and the encroaching residential development that reduced the forest to a nature reserve amongst prime real estate. The work is structured to bring the community together to “discover/rediscover shared connections with the environment.” The culmination aimed at audiences reflecting on their experience and sharing “possibilities for making positive changes to behaviour and habits to help preserve the environment.”

CAST
Puppeteers
Performer ......... Chan Ah Fong
Performer ......... Cheong Wui Seng
Performer ......... George Chew
Performer ......... Ho Kian Tong
Performer ......... Venessa Khoo
Performer ......... Liew Shong Moi
Performer ......... Lim Chiong Ngian
Performer ......... Myra Loke
Performer ......... Victor Png
Performer ......... Michael Soh
Performer ......... Faith Tan
Performer ......... Rita Teo

Seniors
Performer ......... Chan Yoke Sim (Helen)
Performer ......... Beatrice Chien Ah Chee
Performer ......... Chng Yi Kai
Performer ......... Jenny Chong Ngok Cheng
Performer ......... Goh Wui Kheng (Ivy)
Performer ......... Khoo Chee Nee Dorothy
Performer ......... Kong Yat Chiu
Performer ......... Mok San Wan (Vinnie)
Performer ......... Tan Ah Moi
Performer ......... Wendy Yeo Ha Keow

SOTA
Performer ......... Selma Alkaff
Performer ......... Ammelie Ho
Performer ......... Lim Shi-An
Performer ......... Philip Mathews
Performer ......... Melia Sin
Performer ......... Lydia Tan

Statues etc played by company members

PRODUCTION
Playwright......................... Cheow Boon Seng
Artistic Director................. Kok Heng Leun
(Segment Directors)
Our Trash......................... Koh Hui Ling, Han Xuemei, Tan Wei Ting
Lost Soul.......................... Kok Heng Leun, Jed Lim
Lost Conversations.......... Jalyn Han
Shapes and Traces.......... Kok Heng Leun, Liew Jiayi
The Spirits........................ Ong Kian Sin
The Road to Civilisation... Patricia Toh
Music Composers............ Leslie Low, Vivian Wang
Lighting Designer............. Lim Woan Wen
Sound Designer............... Teo Wee Boon
Audio Play Producer........ Lin Wei Dong