The duration of this performance is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes with no intermission.
I used to float, now I just fall down. I used to know but I'm not sure now.
What was I made for ?
Yes , we are starting this Artistic Directors' Message with lyrics from Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”, the signature song from the Barbie movie. Stay with us, it’ll all make sense.
Some might say that philosophising over one’s purpose, is the occupational hazard of self-indulgent, pretentious “arty types”. Try saying that to Billie’s face.
For thousands of years, “arty types”, from Aeschylus to Austen, from Shakespeare to Scorsese, from Kafka to Kuo Pao Kun, have explored the relationship between the self and society, attempting to make sense of our very existence.
As we enter an unprecedented epoch of geopolitical turmoil and socio cultural turbulence, all of us – Boomers, Gen Xs, Millennials, Gen Zs, Gen Alphas (yes, they already live amongst us) – are faced with existential conundrums involving rights, privilege, purpose, the future, etc. Art is simply articulating it on behalf of the rest of us.
Billie is a Gen Z using her art to ruminate specifically over a woman’s place in the world, some say encapsulating the themes of the Barbie movie more effectively than the movie itself. Try saying that to Margot Robbie’s face.
In an age where nations were striving for independence, Henrik Ibsen's sense of personal democracy was prophetic. He believed that one’s "rights" resided among the educated minority. In the development and enrichment of the individual, he saw the only hope of a really cultured and enlightened society. As such, he dared to force audiences to face up to the plight of women in a deeply patriarchal world. ARTISTIC
And it is undeniable that we are living in a time where, more than ever, the tension between self and society seems to be at its most precarious.
In A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen used his art to probe the problems of the social passivity assigned to women in a maleoriented society in 1879. Nora, fed up with her treatment as a helpless “doll” under her husband’s care, begins to question her purpose and place in the world as a woman (see, we told you it’ll make sense).
She eventually declares her independence and leaves her family, slamming the door behind her. Despite the emerging feminist movement, this shocked Ibsen’s 19th century audiences, and the act became known as “the door slam heard around the world.”
In connection with Ibsen’s idea that the individual is of supreme importance, he believed that the final personal tragedy comes from a denial of love. As Billie sings:
... I was an ideal Looked so alive, turns out I'm not real
Just something you paid for
What was I made for?
"Arty type" Lucas Hnath’s unofficial “sequel”, A Doll’s House, Part 2, premiered on Broadway just after the national Women’s Marches in the US, and closed just before the #MeToo movement took off. As Hnath was writing it, and revisiting Ibsen’s play, he was asked if he had some sense of the historical reckoning that was coming.
Hnath: “One thing I thought about with the play was simply, ‘What were the problems that Ibsen was trying to address in his time?’ and thinking about how so many of the problems he was trying to address have not evolved from where they were 100 years ago. That’s remarkable.”
In A Doll’s House, Part 2; 15 years after she left her home, Nora is back, and on a mission. And we discover together with Nora how her place in the world in 1894, and for women in 2025, has (or hasn’t) changed. As we enter a new/old world order in 2025, the questions this play poses have more urgency than ever.
We wish to thank our kick-ass Cast, fabulous Creative/Technical/ Production Stage Management teams, and the beautiful Pangdemonium family for kicking off our 2025 Season with this wonderful piece of theatre. Much gratitude also to our Season Patron DBS, Official Wine partner Dorothy's and PAUL, who lovingly fed us, for your faith and friendship. By the way, our next production Singapore, Michigan sees three Gen Zs also asking themselves questions about their purpose and their place in the world (no doubt some of you have some strongly worded suggestions for them), and what it means to be Singaporean. The answer might be found in Billie’s final words from her song:
Something I'm not, but something I can be Something I wait for Something I'm made for (lah)
Lots of love,
TRACIE PANG AND
ADRIAN
PANG ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Henrik Ibsen's 1879 classic,
A Doll's House, looms large over our modern imagination.
It stands as one of the most famous works of 19th century world literature, with one of the most famous ending scenes of all time: After Nora and her husband Torvald are on the brink of having their lives destroyed via blackmail (it has come to light that Nora forged her dead father’s signature), Torvald viciously scolds Nora, despite the fact that Nora committed the crime in order to save him: he calls her a “featherbrained woman” who, he claims, he no longer trusts to raise their three children.
They are narrowly saved when their blackmailer, Krogstad, suddenly rescinds his threats. Torvald is overjoyed, and forgives Nora immediately, concluding, “just lean on me... I wouldn’t be a man if this feminine helplessness didn’t make you twice as attractive to me.” Realising that her husband has long treated her like a plaything, she decides to leave him –
I was... your little lark, your doll, that you'd have to handle with double care now that I'd turn out so brittle and frail... in that instant it dawned on me that for eight years I've been living here with a stranger.
She leaves the home, her children, and everything she knew to make it out on her own in the world. This memorable moment is often staged with the slamming of the house door at the end of the play. A Doll’s House has since become widely celebrated as a story of selfsufficiency and independence in the face of the overbearing patriarchy. It is now one of the most widely performed texts globally and is studied in classrooms the world over.
From the outset, Lucas Hnath’s unofficial sequel, A Doll’s House, Part 2 investigates a lot of the same questions: womanhood, freedom, choice, marriage. The play begins by asking, ostensibly, how much has changed since Nora first left her family 15 years ago, and if the world is any better for it.
But as the text progresses, Hnath’s subversion becomes clear: it undermines many of Ibsen’s original questions, sometimes with a total lack of filial piety. I see Hnath’s piece as the bawdy, naughty child that talks back to their parents, questioning longheld, widely celebrated beliefs.
Most of all, it seems to ask:
Was Nora's big choice at the end of the original play actually good for anyone but her? What does she leave behind? And how did it impact the other women in her life?
The play forces Nora to reexamine her philosophical groundwork by placing her head-to-head with three other figures: her nanny, her daughter, and her husband. I enjoy this text because of its razor-sharp wit and unexpected turns. It remains both intellectually rigorous, hilarious, and moving.
Many thanks to Jo Kukathas for bravely tackling such a demanding role with grace and finesse. You do not leave the stage for the entirety of the play and have done an incredible job leading this show. To Lim Kay Siu, Neo Swee Lin, and Rebecca Ashley Dass: thank you for your intelligence, candor, and commitment to this production. I could not ask for a finer company of actors to tackle this monstrously wordy play with.
To everyone on the team: production, design, management, and Pang staff –thank YOU for seeing us through another successful show. I thank my lucky stars every day that I get to work with a crazy fun group of colleagues.
Welcome to A Doll’s House, Part 2: I hope you enjoy the ride!
TIMOTHY KOH DIRECTOR
A Doll's House
Rockstar Playwright
Hnath grew up in Orlando, Florida. He moved to New York City in 1997 to study pre-med, and then changed to dramatic writing at the Tisch School of the Arts, at New York University, earning a BFA in 2001, and an MFA in 2002. He teaches at New York University. His play The Christians was nominated for two 2016 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Play, and won the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. Red Speedo premiered Off-Broadway in 2016. The play, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, won the Obie Award, for Playwriting.
A Doll's House, Part 2 premiered on Broadway in 2017 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, with Laurie Metcalf winning the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. Hillary and Clinton opened on Broadway in 2019. Dana H. premiered at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (Los Angeles) in 2019. The play relates a real-life incident in the life of his mother, Dana Higginbotham. Other works include: Death Tax, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac's Eye, The Thin Place, The Courtship of Anna Nicole Smith (audio short play), A Simulacrum.
The New York Times has dubbed him “ one of the brightest new voices of his generation ” , while Forbes calls him a “ rockstar ” . Lucas Hnath ’ s provocative plays have taken on topics like doping in sports and the American dream ( Red Speedo), evangelical Christianity and faith ( The Christians) and, gender roles in a revered classic — A Doll’s House, Part 2. In this interview with the Aspen Times, Hnath gives us a peek into his process.
Aspen Times: The story I’ve heard is that you wrote down the title A Doll’s House, Part 2, laughed about how absurd it was, and then got to work. Is that how it went or was it more complicated than that?
Lucas Hnath: That’s basically it. I thought the title was funny and found it audacious. So that was enough to get started. A lot of the plays I work on start that way and then don’t make it much further than the title. The next stage in the process was re-reading Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. The exercise I did was that I found a really bad free translation from some website — a lilac-colored website with a cheesy font — and I cut-and-pasted it into a document and then went through and tried to write the play in my own words. That was the real launchpad for the play, because by the time I worked my way through it was struck by the debate that begins at the end of the play and how that debate has just started. There’s a degree to which (her husband) Torvald’s response is a bit dumb. And if he had more time to think it through and craft a finer argument, what would Nora say? And then what would happen? And that seemed to be a reason to write the play.
AT: In fact, why did you start writing plays?
LH: I dabbled in it in high school, yeah. I think it has something to do with growing up near Disney World and being entranced by theme park design. I always wanted to make my own rides. As a school kid the school takes you to the annual production of A Christmas Carol at the local theater. It’s a show that has special effects in it — dry ice, fog... There’s a quality to it that reminded me of theme park rides. So I think it was just me making the connection.
AT: I also think — if you were inspired by theme park rides — that you are taking the audience on a ride as opposed to just talking to them about human nature or entertaining them with people falling over.
LH: I am acutely aware that when I think of plays I do think: “Well, you strap in and the thing doesn’t stop until it’s done.” That’s why I’m pretty resistant to intermissions. I hate that feeling of leaving the play world. I mean, I am appreciative of plays with intermissions! I don’t have a problem with seeing them. But for myself I think it is related to that experience of “You lock them in the room and the thing doesn’t stop until it stops.”
AT: I feel that your plays are not just about wrestling with ideas, but characters wrestling with contrary ideas that feel equally valid when they start presenting them to each other, and therefore to the audience.
LH: Whenever I make a decision I always consider the things opposite to what I want. I feel the need to understand what everybody is potentially thinking or arguing. I want to attribute this to those years that I worked that law job, where one of the muscles I had to exercise was that whenever I was looking at a case, I couldn’t assess the case if I couldn’t understand all possible arguments. And ten years of everyday doing that definitely leaves a mark.
AT: What I’d attach to that is: there is almost always a dramatic stake in terms of somebody always really trying to get something from somebody. Trying to get that divorce signed in A Doll’s House, Part 2 — everybody has a strong philosophical argument forwarding the dramatic action.
LH: Yeah, and that’s the hard work, trying to bring those two things together. That’s the thing essential to storytelling: How to meld argument and dramatic stakes is not always obvious. And, it’s funny because last night I did something completely naughty: I started writing something new. I’m in the middle of it — I don’t have time to start something new! I started to make an argument in my head about something very hot, very controversial. Very perverse in the sense of taking on a point of view that is uncommon. I wrote this speech, and I thought, “This could be interesting, this could be a play.” So, I wrote the speech and when I got to the end of it, I thought, “Okay, where’s the turn? What is the thing this argument is being made in order to get?”
AT: Speaking of arguments, the exhilarating and ever-changing power dynamics in the arguments between all the characters in A Doll’s House – where did that come from?
LH: My parents were divorced. And as I was writing this play I sometimes put myself in the position of Nora and sometimes in the position of Torvald. And the role of Emmy as the child of divorce, I wrote as a kind of “diplomat”, in a kind of distanced negotiation – in my experience, very typical as a child of divorce. Also a lot of the things she says, I’ve heard close friends say about their feeling about marriage and relationships. A Doll’s House, Part 2 is my “break-up play.” End of the day, though, I truly do not believe that as a writer, one should ever seek therapeutic help from theater. Theater-makers should not rely on it as therapy.
Henrik Ibsen was born in 1828 at Skien, a small lumbering town of southern Norway. His father was a respected general merchant until 1836, when he suffered the disgrace of going bankrupt. There was no redeeming the family misfortunes; as soon as he could, aged just 15, Henrik moved to Grimstad, where he supported himself as an apothecary’s apprentice while studying nights for admission to the university. And during this period he used his few leisure moments to write a play.
First plays and directing
His first work, Catilina (1850), grew out of the Latin texts Ibsen had to study for his university examinations. The play showed a natural bent embodied themes — the soulsearching, rebellious hero, his destructive mistress — that would preoccupy Ibsen as long as he lived. In 1850 he went to Kristiania (known since 1925 by its older name of Oslo), studied for entrance examinations there, and settled into the student quarter — though not into classes. For the theatre was in his blood, and at the age of only 23 he got himself appointed director and playwright to a new theatre at Bergen, in which capacity he had to write a new play every year.
First at Bergen and then at the Norwegian Theatre in Kristiania from 1857 to 1862, Ibsen tried to make palatable dramatic fare out of seemingly incongruous ingredients. He was too inhibited to make a forceful director but too intelligent not to pick up a great deal of practical stage wisdom from his experience. After he moved to Kristiania and after his marriage to Suzannah Thoresen in 1858, he began to develop qualities of independence and authority that had been hidden before.
Two plays that Ibsen wrote for the Norwegian stage showed signs of new spiritual energy. Kjaerlighedens komedie (1862; Love’s Comedy), was unpopular, but it expressed an authentic
theme of anti-idealism that Ibsen would soon make his own, and in Kongsemnerne (1863; The Pretenders) he dramatised the inner authority that makes a man a man, a king, or a great playwright. Sadly, the theatre in Kristiania went bankrupt, and Ibsen’s career as a stage writer was apparently at an end.
But the death of his theatre was the liberation of Ibsen as a playwright. Without regard for a public he thought petty and illiberal, without care for traditions he found hollow and pretentious, he could now write for himself. He left Norway for Italy. For the next 27 years he lived abroad, mainly in Rome, Dresden, and Munich, returning to Norway only for short visits.
For reasons that he sometimes summarised as “smallmindedness,” his homeland had left a very bitter taste in his mouth. With him into exile Ibsen brought the fragments of a long semi-dramatic poem to be named Brand. In Norway Brand was a popular success, and hard on its heels came Peer Gynt (1867), another drama in rhymed couplets presenting an utterly antithetical view of human nature. With these two poetic dramas, Ibsen won his battle with the world; he paused now to work out his future. But Ibsen had not yet found his proper voice; when he did, its effect was not to criticise or reform social life but to blow it up.
The explosion came with Et dukkehjem (1879; A Doll's House). In this seminal play, Ibsen forced soul-searching among audiences, not only individually, but societally. Audiences were scandalised at Ibsen's refusal in A Doll's House to create (as any other contemporary playwright would have done) a "happy ending". But that was not Ibsen's way; his play was about examining one's soul and being true to that self.
A Doll's House gained for him an international audience, but also notoriety. With this play, drama became no longer a mere diversion but an experience closely impinging on the lives of the playgoers themselves. With Ibsen, the stage became a pulpit, and the dramatist exhorting his audience to reassess the values of society. With a mission of saving the soul of humanity, Ibsen became the minister of a new social responsibility.
Ibsen’s next play, Gengangere (1881; Ghosts), created even more dismay and distaste than its predecessor by showing worse consequences of covering up even more ugly truths.
Conventionally minded critics; they denounced Ibsen as if he had desecrated all that was sacred and holy. Ibsen’s response took the form of a direct dramatic counterattack in En folkefiende (1882; An Enemy of the People), in which the protagonist fights the morally corrupt powers that be at his own expense.
In Rosmersholm (1886), at issue for the characters’ future is a choice between bold, unrestricted freedom and ancient, conservative traditions. Each is contaminated by the other, and, for differing but complementary reasons, they lure one another toward a double suicide.
Later works
Thereafter he turned toward a more self-analytic and symbolic mode of writing that is quite different from the plays that made his world reputation. Among his later plays are Fruen fra havet (1888; The Lady from the Sea), Hedda Gabler (1890), Bygmester Solness (1892; The Master Builder), Lille Eyolf (1894; Little Eyolf), John Gabriel Borkman (1896), and Naar vi døde vaagner (1899; When We Dead Awaken). Two of these plays, Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder, are vitalised by the presence of an idealistic and totally destructive female such as first appeared in Catiline.
Another obsessive personage in these late plays is an aging artist who is bitterly aware of his failing powers. Personal and confessional feelings infuse many of these last dramas; perhaps these resulted from Ibsen’s decision in 1891 to return to Norway, or perhaps from the series of fascinated, fearful dalliances he had with young women in his later years.
After his return to Norway, Ibsen continued to write plays until a stroke in 1900 and another a year later reduced him to a bedridden invalid. He died in Kristiania in 1906.
Ibsen wrote plays about mostly prosaic and commonplace persons, but from them he elicited insights of devastating directness, great subtlety, profound soulfulness, and occasional flashes of rare beauty. His plots are not cleverly contrived games but deliberate acts of cognition, in which persons are stripped of their accumulated disguises and forced to acknowledge their true selves, for better or worse. Thus, he made his audiences reexamine with brutal earnestness the moral foundation of their souls.
I'm a Dolly Girl, in a Dolly World...
Of course you all know Henrik Ibsen ’ s 1879 masterwork, but just as a refresher…
Nora Helmer once secretly borrowed money so that her husband could recuperate from a serious illness. Her husband, Torvald, is oblivious to her selflessness – he treats her like a child, and often calls her his doll.
When Torvald is appointed bank director, his first act is to dismiss an employee who had forged his signature on a document.
As it turns out, this man, Krogstad, is the person from whom Nora had borrowed the money. It is then revealed that she forged her father's signature in order to get the loan. Krogstad and Nora are also revealed to be past lovers.
Krogstad threatens to reveal Nora's crime and disgrace her and her husband unless Nora convinces Torvald not to fire him.
Nora tries to influence her husband, but he thinks of Nora as a simple child who cannot understand the value of money or business. Thus, when Torvald discovers that Nora has forged her father's name, he is ready to disclaim his wife even though she had done it for him.
When all is resolved, Nora sees that her husband is not worth her love and leaves him and their children.
An artist ’ s impression of the world premiere of A Doll's House , at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on December 21, 1879.
And now, a cheat sheet from Cliff's Notes…
Ibsen borrowed the broad outlines of the story for A Doll’s House from a woman he knew, Laura Kieler. In 1876, Kieler forged her husband’s signature to borrow money; her husband ultimately committed her to a sanitarium for a time. Kieler also wrote a novel that was a sequel to Ibsen’s play Brand, and she asked him for an endorsement to help get it published; he refused.
Having been interested in painting as a youth, Ibsen was always conscious of making accurate observations. As a dramatist, he considered himself a photographer as well, using his powers of observation as a lens, while his finished plays represented the proofs of a skilled darkroom technician. The realism of his plays, the credibility of his characters, the immediacy of his themes attest to these photographic skills at which Ibsen so consciously worked. Among his countless revisions for each drama, he paid special heed to the accuracy of his dialogue, none more so than in A Doll’s House. Through constant rewriting, he brought out the maximum meaning in the fewest words, attempting to fit each speech into the character of the speaker. In addition, Ibsen's ability as a poet contributed a special beauty to his terse prose.
Once the subject of public controversy, defended only by the avant-garde theatre critics of the nineteenth century, A Doll’s House now appears as an essential part of the repertory
theatre all over the world. No longer inflaming audience reactions, this play is now acceptable fare to the most conservative theatregoer.
Because Ibsenite drama has become part of the history of the theatre, a study of his work gives us a special insight into contemporary writings. “Theatre of the absurd," for instance, expressing a personal alienation from society, is merely another form of the social criticism which Ibsen first inspired.
Although the plays are interesting for their social message, Ibsen's dramas would not survive today were it not for his consummate skill as a technician. Each drama is carefully wrought into a tight logical construction where characters are clearly delineated and interrelated, and where events have a symbolic as well as actual significance.
The symbolism in Ibsen's plays is rarely overworked. Carefully integrated to unify the setting, events, and character portrayals, the symbols are incidental and subordinate to the truth and consistency of his picture of life.
The problems of Ibsen's social dramas are consistent throughout all his works. Georg Brandes, a contemporary critic, said of Ibsen, as early as the 1860s, that "his progress from one work to the other is not due to a rich variety of themes and ideas, but on the contrary, to a perpetual scrutiny of the same general questions, regarded from different points of view."
Professor Koht sums up the dramatist's investigations:
The thing which filled [Ibsen's] mind was the individual man, and he measured the worth of a community according as it helped or hindered a man in being himself. He had an ideal standard which he placed upon the community and it was from this measuring that his social criticism proceeded.
A Doll’s House was originally published in Norwegian under the title “Et dukkehjem.” At the time of Ibsen’s death, A Doll’s House was available in ten languages. Today, it is published in 78.
Contrary to popular belief, word spread reasonably slowly about the play. It was two years before the play was performed outside Scandinavia and Germany, and ten years before a recognisably faithful version was seen in England or America. France did not see the play until 1894. By the time it took its place in the European theatre annals, Ibsen was over sixty.
Until the latter part of the 19th century, theatre remained a vehicle of entertainment. Insights into the human condition were merely incidental factors in the dramatist's art. Ibsen, however, contributed a new significance to drama which changed the development of modern theatre.
Rebecca is an actor for theatre and voiceover work, with experience in film and television. Her recent theatre works include The Wizard of Oz as ‘Dorothy'; Hotel (Wild Rice); Playing With Fire as ‘Sue Rozario’ (Checkpoint Theatre); Falling as ‘Lisa’; People, Places & Things as ‘Laura’ (Pangdemonium); Cat In The Hat as ‘Sally’; Contact as ‘Sarah’ (Singapore Repertory Theatre) and Mosaic as ‘Wong’ (Esplanade) just to name a few. Rebecca credits her accomplishments to her loved ones for their unwavering support. Rebecca is extremely grateful to be a part of A Doll’s House, Part 2, and sincerely hopes you enjoy this production.
Nora JO KUKATHAS
Acting roles Include: ‘Winne’, Happy Days, Samuel Beckett; ‘Ophelia’, Ophelia, Natalie Hennedige; ‘Poncia’, The House of Bernarda Alba, Federico Garcia Lorca; The Goddess ‘Agnes’ Dreamplay, Asian Boys, Alfian Sa’at; ‘Mercutio’, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare; ‘Julie’, Cuckoo Birds, Natalie Hennedige; ‘Helen’, The Road to Mecca, Athol Fugard; ‘Elsa’, Decimal Points, Brian Gothong Tan; ‘Caesar’, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare; ‘Mira’, How To Be Alone, Ghafir Akbar and Joel Waage; Raj and the End of Tragedy, Jo Kukathas; Hotel, Alfian Sa’at; Being Haresh Sharma, Natalie Hennedige and Haresh Sharma; The Neon Hieroglyph and My Bodily Remains, Tai Shani. Solo Performances: Atomic Jaya, Election Day and Occupation, Huzir Sulaiman; From Table Mountain to Teluk Intan, Shahimah Idris and Ann Lee; Going to the Dogs, Jo Kukathas; numerous shows as her various comedic alter-egos, male and female.
LIM KAY SIU
Torvald
Lim Kay Siu is a versatile and critically-acclaimed actor who has been a stalwart in the Singapore and Malaysia theatre scene for the last 4 decades. He has anchored numerous productions over the years, most notably Death of a Salesman (Willy Loman), Tempest (Prospero), Blithe Spirit (Charles) and An Inspector Calls (Arthur Birling).
Kay Siu has also worked internationally in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia on numerous television and film projects. His latest character is the legendary Gyatso, in Avatar - The Last Airbender for Netflix (2024). Kay Siu filmed as a series regular in Vancouver last year.
Kay Siu was voted Best Actor in a play, by The Straits Times of Singapore twice. In 2000, for the role of John in Oleana by David Mamet and in 2018 for the role of Andre in The Father, by Florian Zeller.
Kay Siu is also a Live-Streaming Partner on Twitch, with his actor-wife Neo Swee Lin, as The NeoKeleLims, an ukulele duo, who tell stories and sing songs about their lives, their work, and issues they care about, on: Twitch.tv/TheNeoKeleLims with 27K followers.
NEO SWEE LIN
Anne
Marie
Neo Swee Lin trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She also has a law degree from NUS.
Plays include: White; Devil's Cherry; The Truth; Missing; Dark Room; Hotel; Circle Mirror Transformation; Falling; Romeo & Juliet; Cooling Off Day; Nadirah; Poop; Postcards from Rosa; Beauty World; Cogito; For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again; Mama Looking for her Cat; The House of Bernada Alba.
Her TV and film work include Sleep With Me; Avenue 14; The Blue Mansion; 12 Storeys; PCK Pte Ltd.
Swee Lin has also voiced many documentaries for National Geographic & Discovery. These include the Korea Next series; Samurai Spiders of Japan; Body Snatchers of Bangkok.
She is married to Lim Kay Siu, together they form The NeoKeleLims & live stream on Twitch.tv TheNeoKeleLims & Tiktok Neokelelims.
Creative Team
TIMOTHY KOH
Director
Tim’s early career was spent assistant directing and in fellowship at some of New York City’s most prestigious nonprofit theatres, such as Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Playwrights Horizons.
Since 2022, Tim has served as Associate Director of Pangdemonium Theatre. For the company, he’s directed Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Doubt: A Parable (Production of the Year and Best Director nominations at the Life Theatre Awards), and Muswell Hill. Selected Assistant Director credits for the company include the Southeast Asian premiere of Dear Evan Hansen, Into the Woods, and The Glass Menagerie. He also spearheads Pangdemonium’s New Works Lab, which incubates and develops brand new plays, as well as the Very Youthful Company, a training program for teen actors and stage managers.
Training: New York University
Tisch School of the Arts (BFA Theatre), College of Arts and Science (BA English and American Literature).
LUCAS HNATH
Playwright
Hnath grew up in Orlando, Florida. He moved to New York City in 1997 to study pre-med, and then changed to dramatic writing at the Tisch School of the Arts, at New York University, earning a BFA in 2001, and an MFA in 2002. He teaches at New York University. His play The Christians was nominated for two 2016 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Play, and won the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. Red Speedo premiered Off-Broadway in 2016. The play, directed by Lileana BlainCruz, won the Obie Award, for Playwriting. A Doll's House, Part 2 premiered on Broadway in 2017 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, with Laurie Metcalf winning the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. Hillary and Clinton opened on Broadway in 2019. Dana H. premiered at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (Los Angeles) in 2019. The play relates a real-life incident in the life of his mother, Dana Higginbotham. Other work includes: Death Tax, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac's Eye, The Thin Place, The Courtship of Anna Nicole Smith (audio short play), A Simulacrum.
EUCIEN CHIA
Set Designer
Eucien is a long-time Pangdemonium collaborator since 2011, having designed over twenty of their productions including Dear Evan Hansen; Doubt: A Parable; The Glass Menagerie; The Mother; Urinetown; Little Voice; and Spring Awakening.
Accolades: Straits Times Life Theatre Award Best Set Design winner for The Almighty Sometimes (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Company (Dream Academy); Dealer's Choice (Pangdemonium); December Rains (Toy Factory).
Original scenography for new commissioned works: Kingdoms Apart, A Good Death (Esplanade Theatre); The Commission (SIFA); Normal (Checkpoint); H is for Hantu (STAGES); A $ingapore Carol; The Emperor’s New Clothes (Wild Rice); Sleepless Town; Shanghai Blues (Toy Factory).
Selected credits: Cinderella (Singapore Ballet); Falling (2024), Into the Woods, RENT, This is What Happens to Pretty Girls, End of the Rainbow, The Pillowman (Pangdemonium); La Cage Aux Folles (2017), Boeing Boeing (2017) (Wild Rice); Sing To The Dawn, The Wizard of Oz (I-Theatre); Tick, Tick... Boom! (Sight Lines).
Eucien thanks God for his amazing family.
JAMES TAN
Lighting Designer
James Tan (Pangdemonium’s Associate Artist/ Independent Lighting Designer) was conferred The Young Artist Award and awarded Arts Professional Scholarship by The National Arts Council of Singapore. Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design, University of California San Diego. James leads the Pangdemonium Lighting Apprenticeship Programme – giving a lighting individual an exclusive opportunity to further develop their craft with the company each season. Selected Theatre Lighting Design Credits: The Glass Menagerie, Dragonflies & Next to Normal (Pangdemonium), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs & Merdeka (Wild Rice), 2:22 - A Ghost Story & Disgraced (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Lord of the Flies (Blank Space Theatre with Sightline Productions) and Stream of Memory (An Esplanade Commission and Production with Papermoon Puppet Theatre, Indonesia). Selected Events
Lighting Design: National Day Parade 2022 (Defence Science and Technology Agency), From Singapore to Singaporean: The Bicentennial Experience (Singapore Bicentennial Office), OCBC Garden Rhapsody: Rainforest Orchestra – Asia & Australia Edition (Gardens By The Bay) & The Art of the Brick® Exhibition by Nathan Sawaya (MBS ArtScience Museum). Selected Public Artwork: Yellow (Public Art Trust-Rewritten: The World Ahead of Us).
JING NG
Sound Designer & Composer
Awarded the National Arts Council Scholarship, Jing graduated with first class honours from Rose Bruford College (U.K.) specialising in Performance Sound. Having designed for various companies and productions over 10 years of practice, he aspires to provide a wholesome sonic experience for the audience – what, why and how you listen through a live performance. As an arts educator at NAFA since 2017, Jing has been teaching the core principles and techniques of production sound design. These modules fosters future practitioners in developing a deeper understanding of sound in various artistic mediums and discovering the infinite possibilities of sonic arts. He was nominated for Best Sound Design in the 2014 Off West End Theatre Awards, and the 2018, 2022 – 2025 Singapore Straits Times Life Theatre Awards. Jing is currently developing future iterations of his installation work – Distance Makes The Heart Fonder
Leonard is an international costume designer, fashion consultant, and educator. He designs costumes for dance, opera, theatre, and film, and has worked in the USA, China, the Middle East, and Singapore. Leonard was the principal shopper for the New York City Ballet costume atelier for 12 seasons, working on over 75 unique ballets.
Singapore design credits include work with Pangdemonium (Dear Evan Hansen, Into the Woods, The Glass Menagerie, Urinetown, Doubt, Muswell Hill), Singapore Ballet (Cinderella), SRT (The Almighty Sometimes, Guards at the Taj, Gretel & Hansel, The Truth), and W!ld Rice (Merdeka, An Inspector Calls).
Leonard has also worked for the Juilliard School, television shows Gotham (FOX) and Crashing (HBO), Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Ballet Academy East, Barrington Stage Company, and Opera Omaha. He has lectured at the Design Council of Abu Dhabi, the Arkansas Arts Center, Lasalle College of the Arts, and the National Library of Singapore.
Leonard was the first and only costume designer a warded the NAC Overseas Arts Scholarship for his MFA from Boston University, and is currently the Director of Industry Development & Internationalisation at the Singapore Fashion Council.
LEONG LIM
Hair / Wig Designer
Leong is a prominent figure in Singapore’s hairstyling industry with more than 30 years of experience. His expertise spans across film, theatre, and stage productions, where his innovative work has become integral to the visual identity of numerous shows. Leong is renowned for creating distinctive and characterdriven looks, blending creativity with technical precision to craft styles that capture the essence of both characters and clients. His portfolio includes recent work on acclaimed productions such as “People, Places & Things,” “Doubt,” “Cabaret,” “Into The Woods,” and the mesmerising 2023 performance of “Singapore Ballet Cinderella.”
CAST
(in alphabetical order)
Emmy Nora Torvald
Anne Marie
CREATIVE TEAM
Director
Playwright
Set Designer
Associate Set Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer & Composer
Associate Sound Designer
Costume Designer
Hair / Wig Designer
REBECCA ASHLEY DASS
JO KUKATHAS
LIM KAY SIU
NEO SWEE LIN
TIMOTHY KOH
LUCAS HNATH
EUCIEN CHIA
GRACE LIN
JAMES TAN
JING NG
JEAN YAP
LEONARD AUGUSTINE CHOO
LEONG LIM
PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGEMENT TEAM
Production Manager
Production Coordinator
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Technical Manager
Props Master
Props Assistant
Costume Coordinator
Dresser
Sound Operator
Lighting Board Programmer
Hair Assistant
Production Apprentice
Make-up Consultant
Accessible Performances Consultant
Captioning Operator
PANGDEMONIUM TEAM
Artistic Director / Managing Director
Artistic Director / Producer
General Manager
Associate Director
Production Manager
Associate Production Manager
Production Coordinator
Company Stage Manager
Marketing Manager
Digital Marketing Executive
Marketing Executive
Relationship Manager
Business Development Manager
Ticketing Manager
Accounting Manager
Company Administrator
Production Apprentice
Marketing Assistant
Ticketing Assistant
Associate Artist
FOH Manager
A Doll's House, Part 2 Team
OTHMAN M. YUSOF
TRICIA WEE
KOH YI WEI
SHARLENE LIM
LEE JIA MIN
NUR ALIFF
DANIEL SIM
JIONG LING (THE BACKSTAGE AFFAIR)
TAN JIA HUI
JUSTINA KHOO
LEEYAU SHI MIN
CLEMENT CHEONG
KAREN NG
ON YU KIM
BOBBIE NG (THE MAKE UP ROOM)
GRACE LEE-KHOO (ACCESS PATH PRODUCTIONS)
JANSEN NG
TRACIE PANG
ADRIAN PANG
RENEE TAN
TIMOTHY KOH
LEAH SIM
OTHMAN M. YUSOF
TRICIA WEE
KOH YI WEI
KRISTAL ZHOU
RICHIE RYAN
QIANG QIAN TAN (QQ)
GUINEVIERE LOW
ANNABELLE LIM
MICHELLE SEETOH
MARIEM TOUAHRIA
HILMI SHUKUR
ON YU KIM
AZ ADILAH
NG JAELYN
JAMES TAN
VANESSA MOSTAFA
PANGDEMONIUM TEAM
JOHN CURRIE
JACQUELINE CHAN
DEBBIE ANDRADE
DR. JADE KUA
HANMING WANG
BEATRICE CHIA-RICHMOND
TRACIE PANG
ADRIAN PANG
Education & Outreach
A key part of Pangdemonium’s mission is to nurture aspiring artists and theatre practitioners. We want to provide opportunities for emerging talents to work with and learn from industry professionals in a challenging and inspiring environment.
With these practical and instructive programmes, we aim to reach out to the community, fuel the creative instincts of young minds, cultivate the passion for the art of storytelling on stage, and share hands-on experience in the craft of theatre making. Through this, we hope to foster future theatre-makers.
Triple Threats Very Youthful Company New Works Lab
Our long-running Triple Threats programme is designed for youths who are interested in the art of musical theatre.
The programme imparts fundamentals of storytelling through music, expression through song, vocal instruction, and movement. They will have the opportunity to participate in a special performance at the end of the programme.
Our alumni have gone on to perform in professional productions such as Six: The Musical, Fun Home, Miss Saigon Vienna, and The Great Wall Musical
This year, we're taking things to the next level! We will be staging a full-scale production of the iconic Heathers: The Musical (Teen Edition) for youths aged 13 to 21.
Our workshop is open to the public through auditions. The performance will take place on Saturday, 21 June 2025. Watch our socials for more information!
The Very Youthful Company (VYC) represents our youth wing, where theatre-makers aged 14 to 19 form a company and perform a fully-staged play.
Through weekly Saturday sessions, they act, stage manage, and design aspects of the show under the guidance of our Pangdemonium team.
Last December, we staged The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theatre Project at the Drama Centre Black Box.
VYC runs from early September through early December in 2025, comprising a series of weekly Saturday workshops and rehearsals. Auditions will be held in July.
We launched our New Works Lab in 2022. The Lab provides playwrights with intensive developmental support on a new original play.
Selected writers will be working closely with our Associate Director, Timothy Koh through several stages of drafting, feedback, and inquiry over a few months.
Applications for our 2025 edition have closed.
Technical Apprenticeships
Our Technical Apprenticeship programme offers a production-wide, professional experience for highly motivated and committed individuals who are looking to bridge the gap between their academic experience and a professional career in theatre. We offer apprenticeships in Production Management, Technical Management, as well as an exclusive programme in Lighting Design.
Technical Management
Apprentices will have the opportunity to work with our professional Technical Management team and Creative team. The apprentice will gain hands-on experience working with professionals in the industry from pre to post production.
This is a 24-month apprenticeship programme for all young professionals interested in Technical Management. Dates and hours will be determined by the needs of each production.
Production Management
Apprentices will work with our full-time Production Management staff.
Production Management has the critical role of keeping a production running smoothly from conceptualisation through rehearsals, set-up, performances, and eventually strike and archival.
Apprentices will assist the Production Management team in coordinating the various production disciplines – scenic, lighting, wardrobe, sound, multimedia projection, and stage management.
Production Management apprentices are required to fulfil office hours in the department as well as attend to the needs of the production during performances.
Lighting Design
This is an apprenticeship for our mainstage productions that will give an intermediate-level lighting-specialised individual an exclusive opportunity to further develop their craft under the mentorship of Pangdemonium’s Associate Artist, James Tan.
Dates and hours will be determined by the needs of each production.
James Tan is an established Singaporean Lighting Designer. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from UC San Diego. James recognises the significance of mentorship from young aspiring lighting professionals. James was conferred The Young Artist Award and awarded Arts Professional Scholarship by The National Arts Council of Singapore.
We're
looking for earlycareer professionals who meet the following qualifications:
Have some previous theatre training and skills.
Exhibit a strong drive to work in this field (relevant academic qualifications are a plus, but not a requirement).
Over 18 years old.
Willing to clock irregular working hours.
Can commit for the length of the production (depending on individual apprenticeships, may be anything from 3 to 6 months).
Word processing and spreadsheet experience are required.
Admission by interview only. For enquiries, please email us at education@pangdemonium.com
THANK YOU FOR BEING OUR FRIEND !
Season Patron
DBS Bank Ltd
White Knights
Alfa Tech VestAsia Pte Ltd
Winged Crusaders
Holywell Foundation
HCS Engineering Pte Ltd
Jacqueline Ho, Esq
The Diana Koh Foundation
The Grace, Shua and Jacob Ballas II Charitable Trust
Crusaders
Mrs Lee Li-Ming
Priscylla Shaw
Wee Chwee Heng
Superheroes
Conrad & Andrea Lim
Desmond & May Lim
Dharmendra Yadav
Dr Jade Kua & Marion Isabelle Teo
Esmond Loon
Goh Swee Chen
Goh Sze Wei
Harris Zaidi & Terry Tan
Meng
Mr & Mrs Clarence Tan
Paige Parker & Jim Rogers
Russell H K Heng
Shiv & Roopa Dewan
Shivani Manohara
Sze Wei Goh
Tee Bee Tin
Thang Chang King
Velasco, Valerie
Heroes
Adeline & Timothy
Capt. Rahul & Smita Choudhuri
CK & Sylvia
David & Thuan Forrester
Dr Irene Lim & Prof David Stringer
Dr Lena Lee
Ferdinand de Bakker & Yoon Lai Cheng
Jaime, Erin, Emily, Erica & Evelyn
James & Rebecca Orme
John Currie & Hong Sun Chee
Katherine Krummert & Shawn Galey
Kelvin, Kayla & Natasha
Kok Aun Koh
Lena Lee
Loh Soon Hui
Mei Ling Kang
Michelle Shek & Harry Brilliant
Mr & Mrs Victor and Michelle Sassoon
Phil Hardman
Rachel & Wen Juin
Silver Rita Elaine
SL Chan Champions
Aileen Tang
Ajai & Abha Kaul
Ajit Nayak
AK & SC
Alois Schiessl
Amith Narayan
Angela Wu
Angela Yap
Audrey Chng
Audrey Phua
Barry & YT Clarke
Ben, Sharon, Goku & Bulma Low
Berlinda Gooi & Frank Schuurmans
Bernice & Alzone Ang
Carolyn Lim
Charles Koh
Charmaine Lim
Christopher Pang
Claire McColl
Damien Lim
Danielle Daryl Lim
David & Jessica Neo
Desmond Lim
Divya and Saahil Patel
Dominik von Wantoch-Rekowski
Dr Tan Eng Thye Jason
Emmett, Hazel, Emeric & Ethel Wong
Eugene Lee
Foo Yee Ling
Foong-Meng Ng
Gaurav Kripalani
Gretchen Liu
Hong Heng Leong
Ho Weiyun
Hwee Suan Ong
Janice Goh
Jennifer King JFK
Joanne Pek
Jolyn Moh
Karin Lai
Kelvin Tan & Sandy Chan
Lance Busa
Lee Eng Hin & Saralee Turner
Louie C.
Luke Bradshaw
Matthew Flaherty
Matthew William Hunter
Mattopher
Matt Wong
Meixuan Goh
Melanie Tan
Melissa Phua
Michael Henderson
Michael Wong
Michele Gai Musgrave
Nithia Devan
Pang Siu Mei
Pauline Lim
Phyllis Tan
Pierre Colignon
Ravi Sivalingam
Ronald & Janet Stride
Ronald JJ Wong
Rossana, Hanim & Rehya
Rumyana Lulova
Sandra Gwee
Sabine Kreuzer
Sardool Singh
Sehr & Ashnil Dixit
Shou Sen Cheam
Steven Wong
Susan Sim
Suzanne Lim
Tania Wee
Toh Bao-En
Yap Zhi Jia
Yee Pui Phing
Yichun Ng
Yvonne Soh
Pangdemaniacs
AC
Ahmed Bahajjaj
Alan Ng & Koh Woon Teng
Amanda Rain Lui
Andrew Lim
Angelina Chang & Brian Selby
Candice Luo
Cara & Tamara Chang
Charmaine
Charmaine Chua
Chia Yu Hsien & Linda Lim
Chloe Goh
Chewng Wen Zhao
Chng Pei Ee
Cynthia Wong
Daniel Loon
D Cheong
Dennis Tay
Dinesh Balasingam
Dr Christopher Chen
Dr Teo Kien Boon
Elvin Too & Catherine Cheung
Eugene Ang
Farid Baharuddin
Geoffrey Baker
Grace Chiam
Huan Nguyen
Jack Tan
Jiexian
Joanna Tan
Jolyn Teh
Jorin Ng
Koon
Laura L Leanna
Lesley Tan
Lim Lay Keow
Lim Qian Ru
Lone
Lynce
Maurice de Vaz
Melissa Pollock
Mikail Kalimuddin
Mingcheng Lim
mOOn
M Y Ng
Nathalie Ribette
Nerida
Ng Hian Hui
Niko Lin
Ong Ai Ghee
Ong Pei Chin
Precilla Lai
Rajesh & Shanti Achanta
Rose Ann Ferrer Tenorio
Roy Sim
Sarah Mei Ismail
Sebastian & Yew Ming
Sera Foo
Serene Thain
Sijia Lin
Siok Chen
Soh Sze Shiang
Sophia Tay
Tan Hian Hong
Tan Poh Kiang
Tan Zhe Ren
Terry Tan Boon Jay & Grace
Chow Weng Xi
Tivona Low
Toh Wei Seng
Tom Hayhurst
Tommy Koh
Vanessa Seah
Victor Yong
Vidula Verma
Wang Wei-lung
Wee Cathleen
Wee Su-ann
Xinyi Li
Yan Zhiyan
Yunita Ong
Zech Tan
We would like to express our sincere thanks to our new Friends who made their kind donations after this list went to print.
Support Pangdemonium
Your support as our Friend of Pangdemonium will help us create theatre that empowers, stimulates and inspires. Your donation can be fully matched, dollar-for-dollar, thanks to the Cultural Matching Fund. With you, we can bring stories to the stage and nurture the next generation of artists, theatre practitioners and audiences.
As our valued Friend, you will receive complimentary tickets, invitations to pre-show receptions, enjoy backstage tours, receive 250% tax deduction and more.
If you wish to set up a regular monthly donation as our Young Patron, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status (UEN.: 201229915M). Donations above $50 entitles you to a tax deduction 2.5 times the value of your donation.
Donate today at donate.pangdemonium.com
For more information, please visit http://www.pangdemonium.com/ support-us/fop, or write to fundraiser@pangdemonium.com.
Corporate Giving — Sponsorship and Donations
Be a valued partner of Pangdemonium and join us in sharing the power of live storytelling with audiences from all walks of life.
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
Our corporate donors and sponsors receive exclusive opportunities and entitlements such as:
•
Brand exposure: acknowledgement and mentions across Pangdemonium’s publicity channels,
•
Hospitality opportunities: such as hosting your guests at Pangdemonium’s productions,
•
Tax benefits: as a registered charity with IPC status (UEN No.: 201229915M), cash donations above $50 are eligible for a 250% tax deduction.
IN-KIND SPONSORSHIP
Working with corporate partners on in-kind sponsorship arrangements helps us cover our production’s costs, while offering our corporate partners the opportunity to showcase their products and services.
Current and recent partners include airlines, hospitality groups, food and beverage and storage solutions partners.
We are extremely grateful to companies such as DBS Bank Ltd, Alfa Tech VestAsia Pte Ltd and HCS Engineering Pte Ltd for coming on this journey with us as a season patron and corporate donors respectively.
Contact annabelle@pangdemonium.com for corporate giving, sponsorship opportunities, and in-kind donations.
Tracie and Adrian would like to say a big thank you to the following for creating further pangdemonium with us on our production of A Doll's House, Part 2.
SEASON PATRON
OFFICIAL WINE
LOVINGLY FED BY
CORPORATE DONORS
We would like to thank our long-time supporter Tee Bee Tin for helping us create one of our key visuals for A Doll's House, Part 2.
Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is supported by the National Arts Council under the Major Company Scheme for the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026.
A Doll's House, Part 2 is supported by the Cultural Matching Fund.
