#the mandala effect since characters were mentioning that

[sleepdepravity]

Sometimes playing uchikoshi games is just like “oh my god this is such bullshit (fondly)”

[southeastasianists]

In late July, sitting in my sister-in-law’s home in St. Louis, Missouri, I waited in the “lobby” area of Cloud Theatre for Zoom Parah to begin. Itself a creation born of the pandemic, Cloud Theatre is an online platform which strives to offer a seamless digital theatre experience to global audiences. Their “lobby” is a simple but smart artificial space: a live chat box, available to attendees as they login for a show, is positioned next to the image of a theatre stage, framed by red curtains. The waiting room attempts to replicate the experience of audience members mingling and chatting before a performance begins. Joining others in this virtual space, I was excited to see another Malaysian, also based in the United States, mention that they were from Petaling Jaya—my hometown. I excitedly typed back, “I’m from PJ, too!” The spark of recognition flashing across the chat box was akin to overhearing a conversation between strangers, and interjecting to share a mutual connection. Months into social distancing protocols, the Cloud Theatre lobby reminded me that there was something inherently sociable about joining hundreds of people from around the world to watch this production together—albeit, online.

“We had people who’d never seen theatre before experience it for the first time using Zoom.” Malaysian theatre director, actor and writer Jo Kukathas stressed this point repeatedly when discussing Zoom Parah, the online adaptation of the critically acclaimed play, Parah. This digital theatre performance, and the new viewing experiences it made possible, is just one of many examples of innovative work being produced by Southeast Asian directors, producers, and actors since the pandemic. In the early days and weeks of Covid-19, theatre makers from this region—like so many others around the world—watched in despair as stages went dark and theatres shut their doors. Despite the dire conditions, they rallied—with little to no funding and even less governmental support—to reimagine theatre in the time of COVID. They created innovative forms of theatre designed for Zoom, streamed recordings of award-winning plays that had not previously been available online, and held numerous talk-back sessions to reflect on the creative process. The digital turn in Southeast Asian theatre has provided unprecedented access to experimental and critically acclaimed work from the region. These productions have connected audiences and diasporic communities around the world, focusing often on urgent questions of race, identity, and belonging. These developments offer models not only for the professional theatre world, but also for teachers and students of the performing arts who are navigating online education.

In their articles for Offstage and The Business Times, Akanksha Raja and Helmi Yusof discuss half a dozen new Singaporean and Southeast Asian theatre projects which have embraced the digital turn. These include: Murder at Mandai Camp and The Future Stage from Sight Lines Entertainment; Long Distance Affair from Juggerknot Theatre and PopUP Theatrics; Fat Kids Are Harder to Kidnap from How Drama; and Who’s There? from The Transit Ensemble and New Ohio Theatre. While these are just a few of the productions that have emerged since the pandemic began, they are impressive in scale, quantity, and range of forms. These performances have taken advantage of every feature offered by Zoom, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms. They’ve incorporated chat boxes, polls, and even collaborative detective work on the part of the audience. In addition to Zoom Parah (by Instant Café Theatre), I’ve had the opportunity to watch Who’s There?, as well as a recording of WILD RICE theatre’s celebrated play, Merdeka, written by Singaporean playwrights Alfian Sa’at and Neo Hai Bin. Of these three, Zoom Parah and Who’s There? illuminate the technological and socio-political interventions of Southeast Asian digital theatre, as well as the ways in which COVID-19 has redefined performance and spectatorship.

In addition to the virtual lobby and chat function, Zoom Parah employed live English translation in a separate text box, making the production accessible to those not fluent in Malay. Who’s There? like Zoom Parah, also made the most of the chat function, along with approximately a dozen polls which punctuated the performance. Each poll gauged audience reactions to the complex issues the play addressed and reflected the responses back to the viewers. This feature required audience members to pause, reflect on a particular scene and its context, and assess the perspectives through which they were viewing the performance. In effect, the polls created a dynamic feedback loop between the cast, crew, and viewers, offering an alternative to the in-person audience response that is so crucial to live performances. Augmenting their efforts to keep audience members plugged in, the play experimented with layering lighting, sound, and mixed media to produce different visual and sound effects within the Zoom frame.

Alongside their adaptation of online technologies, both plays are also noteworthy for their socio-political interventions. Parah, the critically acclaimed play on which Zoom Parah is based, was written in 2011 by award-winning Singaporean writer and resident playwright at WILD RICE theatre, Alfian Sa’at. It follow a group of 11th grade students of different races (Malay, Chinese, and Indian) as they navigate reading the controversial Malaysian novel, Interlok, which sparked national debates surrounding racial stereotypes. The classmates, who share a deep friendship, challenge each other’s views of the novel by reflecting on their lived experiences. Zoom Parah retained the original plot and script, bringing the play’s pressing questions into a national landscape marked by pandemic lockdowns and political upheaval, and shadowed by new iterations of Malay supremacy. At a volatile time for the country, Zoom Parah questions what it means to be Malaysian, making visible the forms of belonging and exclusion that continue to shape national identities.

Who’s There? was also invested in broaching difficult discussions of contemporary issues. A transnational collaboration between artists from the US, Singapore, and Malaysia, the play was part of the New Ohio Theatre’s summer festival, which moved online due to the pandemic. Who’s There? aimed to tackle some of the most contentious racial topics of 2020: the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests; the use of black and brownface in Malaysia; and the relationship between DNA testing and cultural identity. The production was structured as a series of linked vignettes, featuring different sets of characters wrestling with interconnected racial and national contexts.

Both Parah and Who’s There speak to the arts’ inherent capacity to not merely experiment with form and aesthetics in the digital realm, but to also engage the complexity of history, politics, and contemporary culture. As Kukathas recently reflected, “The act of making theatre to me is always about trying to connect to the society that I live in; that could be local, that could be global . . . people want to hear stories, and to connect through stories.” By taking on the dual challenge of experimenting with digital technologies and responding to what’s happening in the public square, Southeast Asian digital theatre joins work such as the Public Theatre’s all-Black production of Much Ado About Nothing to offer new frames through which to view race, rights, and identity—even and especially in the midst of a global pandemic.

Kukathas’ comments on the inherently social motivations of her work were shared during a Facebook Live discussion entitled “Who’s Afraid of Digital Theater?”. The conversation aired on 20 August, hosted by WILD RICE theatre and moderated by Alfian. Focusing on “the possibilities and pitfalls of digital theatre,” the discussion featured reflections from artists who have helped launch this new era of Southeast Asian theatre. The panelists included Kukathas, Kwin Bhichitkul from Thailand (director, In Own Space) and Sim Yan Ying “YY” from Singapore (co-director and actor, Who’s There?). Approximately 100 people tuned in for the discussion, and the recording has accrued over 8,000 views on Facebook. During the conversation, the theatre makers shared rationales for their creative choices, as well as strategies for navigating the challenges of developing online performances. Their insights offer potential pathways for other theatre professionals, as well as teachers and students of theatre who are continuing to work online.

Bhichitkul, Kukathas, and Sim’s approaches to digital theatre diverged significantly from one another. They each played with different technologies and were guided by distinct motivations. Bhichitkul was focussed on the isolation created by the pandemic and, responding to this fragmentation, he asked 15 artists to create short, 2-minute video performances. Bhichitkul explained that this project also had an improvisational twist: “Every artist need[ed] to be inspired by the message of the [artist’s] video before them. They couldn’t think beforehand, they needed to wait until the day [they received the video]” before creating their own. The creative process was thus limited to just a 24-hour window for each artist. The entire project spanned 15 days, with Bhichitkul stitching the videos together on the final day.

On the other hand, Kukathas felt strongly that her foray into digital theatre required a deep connection to a live, staged performance. Therefore, she chose Parah—a play she directed for six re-stagings between 2011-2013—as the production she would adapt to Zoom. Kukathas explained, “If I was going to start experimenting with doing digital theatre . . . it needed to be a play that I was very familiar with, and a play that the actors were very familiar with. I wanted the actors to really inhabit their bodies, so that the energy of the actor’s body was very present even through the screen . . . I [needed] actors who have a kinetic memory in their body of that performance being 360 degrees.” Unlike Kukathas, Sim was “interested in doing something as far away from live theatre as possible” and did not want to be “beholden” to its conventions. She views digital theatre as “a new art form in itself; not an extension of live theatre, not a replacement, but something that straddles the line between theatre and film.”

The directors’ reflections on their respective productions illustrate the range of forms, techniques, and points of view with which theatre makers are experimenting. They also suggest that digital theatre has the potential to accommodate a surprisingly wide variety of directorial visions and investments.

And while their approaches might vary, these theatre makers all agreed about the benefits and opportunities of digital theatre. They returned repeatedly to the advantages of greater accessibility and transnational reach without the costs of international travel. Kukathas and Sim cited accessibility and the pay-what-you-can model as being particular priorities for them. Kukathas was especially proud of the fact that “we could reach the play to people who would ordinarily not be able to go to the theatre. And we made our tickets really cheap: our cheapest ticket was RM5 (US $1). We did that deliberately so that people who don’t usually even go to the theatre would get a chance to watch it. So we had people who’d never seen theatre before experience it for the first time using Zoom.”

The directors also view the digital turn as one which opens up new avenues for creativity and collaboration. Sim recalls, “We still spent 3-4 hours per rehearsal, 4 times a week, on this space together. We developed a closeness and a relationship with each other even though we never met live. And we still shared a lot of cross-cultural exchanges.” Kukathas views the shift to online technologies and platforms as one which prompts us to ask big questions about theatre and to re-evaluate the rules of spectatorship. Filming theatre at home, sharing it online, and watching it at home creates, according to Kukathas, a merging of “strangeness and ordinariness” that shrinks the spaces between public and private. The ensuing disorientation poses, for Kukathas, a number of pivotal questions: “What is theatre? What are the impulses that drive us to make a piece of theatre? What is it to watch theatre? How free are you now when you’re watching? . . . I think this could be a good chance to question why we have certain rules [in theatre] and whether those rules are really necessary.”

While we are used to hearing laments about the digital as the enemy of “the real,” the digital turn in Southeast Asian theatre suggests an opening and an expansion; a chance to reimagine the performing arts, develop new forms of collaboration, and reach wider and more diverse audiences. As Akanksha Raja notes in Offstage, “performance-makers have been recognising that the way they choose to embrace technology can not only enhance but possibly birth new forms of theatre.”

However, it’s crucial not to romanticise the very real challenges of alternative forms and platforms. Alfian noted that, “In a traditional theatre, you are a captive audience . . . you’re not allowed to be distracted, not allowed to look at your phone. On the one hand, we’re seeing there’s the freedom to not be so disciplined when watching a show. But at the same time, is the freedom necessarily a good thing? You’re actually quite distracted and you’re not giving your 100 percent [attention] to the work.”

Sim and Kukathas agreed to an extent, but pointed out alternative advantages: group chats and texts in a “watch party” format build a sense of connection among audience members and provide real-time audience reactions and feedback. Kukathas recalled how attendees used the chat box (along with text messages and DMs) to alert Kukathas and her producer to a sound issue that they were not aware of. Kukathas laughingly reflected, “I really appreciated how invested people were. They were like, ‘Fix this right now!’ and then we had to rush to try to fix it. It made me feel how alive we were—the audience was shouting at us!”

The digital turn in Southeast Asian theatre is bringing a wide range of productions to global audiences. The literary and cultural traditions of this region are incredibly rich and have always been shaped by complex histories of migration, exchange, and adaptation. Digital theatre is borne of new practices of migration, exchange, and adaptation—and of necessity. While there have been controversial debates in countries like Singapore and Malaysia about the value of the arts during this pandemic, the creatives featured here are turning to the digital in order to keep art alive and to keep their companies and projects afloat. They are extending an invitation to audiences and to collaborators to embrace play and experimentation, to find opportunities in the challenges of online theatre, and to recognise that art is essential, now more than ever.

[pro-skills1-blog]

Script Reading Training Course

Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting out writing, one thing is for sure: you will need to learn the art of writing the script, and you need it fast. In this article, I'm going to discuss what a script reading training course can do for you.

The first step in becoming a good screenwriter is to identify the right person to help you. This can be accomplished by hiring a professional, as well as taking a class with them. But before you sign on the dotted line, there are several things you should consider:

First of all, look into the course's time frame. A training course should be offered monthly, so it is important to make sure that you can schedule in time for it. If the course is more than six months long, then you may want to consider other options. Some programs are very flexible with their timeframes, while others may not offer them at all.

The duration of the course can also vary, from three days to two years. This should depend on the individual, and the specific skills you want the course to teach you. Most courses are about two to four hours, so this is a good amount of time to give yourself. However, if you are going to invest in this type of education, you may want to choose a longer program, since it will keep you ahead of the game.

If you are already an established screenwriter and already have some experience under your belt, it may not be necessary to take a script reading training course. However, if you haven't made a film since you were in college, it is worth investing in to get the practice you need.

Once you have made sure that the course is right for you, check out its costs. Some courses may be free, while others may charge you for them. It's best to pay for a course that provides you with a full refund, rather than paying for a program you don't need at all.

Don't forget to inquire about the instructor for the training course. Not only should you find someone who you feel comfortable with, but they should also be knowledgeable and able to show you things you may otherwise overlook when reading a script.

By taking the time to read through a script reading course, you will become better prepared to write your first screenplay. This will lead you to success on the road to becoming a writer.

Writing isn't an easy thing to do. Even if you know how to make a cup of coffee, you still won't be successful if you are trying to write a book, or even an outline for a movie.

When you look into a script reading training course, it will give you the information you need to make your journey into writing easier. You will learn how to write a screenplay without the help of others, and you will be able to learn how to write faster. Since you will be writing your own material, you will also be learning how to create and market it effectively.

Another benefit of taking this type of course is that it allows you to work out your own schedule. Since you are responsible for your own learning, you will have a chance to meet new people and learn more about your craft and what it takes to succeed.

Meeting new people is a great way to get feedback from professionals. You can learn more about what it takes to become a top screenwriter, and you will see how you can improve your work by talking to other people like you.

Finally, the more people you meet who can offer you their opinions on the course, the easier it is to write a screenplay. This will give you the confidence to make a film or continue to work on a screenplay. In addition, when you have completed a script, you will find that you can write better scripts, and you will have greater success in selling your script, if you have the time.

Sources

This brief scanned the following sources (title, domain, description):

Screenwriting - Writing NSW (writingnsw.org.au) - Writing for film or television? This is the resource for you!

The Writers' Studio - Creative Writing Courses in Sydney and Online (writerstudio.com.au) - For Over 25 Years, We've Helped Writers Realise Their Creative Dreams. Online & In-Studio. A practical approach that works for complete beginners, professionals & anyone in between.

Industry Certificate: Script Assessment (aftrs.edu.au) - Script assessment and development course suitable for producers, development executives and funding agencies taught by Sally Chesher.

Reading Your Life Script, Biographical Mandala Workshop (sydneyrudolfsteinercollege.com) -

University of Sydney joins SCRIPTS Centre of Excellence (sydney.edu.au) - University of Sydney social scientists will help address fundamental questions about the development of politics and society as part of a new multimillion-dollar cross-university research project.

Screenwriting Tips Screenwriting Courses Sydney Film Script Writing Short Courses Australia (crackingyarns.com.au) - Join renowned story authority, Allen Palmer (AFTRS, NYU, UK Film Council) for an inspiring 2-day course that can transform your understanding of screenwriting for film and TV.

January Term: Writing the Short Screenplay in Sydney (tisch.nyu.edu) - The Tisch winter/January Term program in Sydney is a three-week course devoted to writing short screenplays.

Script In Hand ON HOLD UNTIL THEATRES OPEN (eventbrite.com.au) - Eventbrite - Actors Anonymous Incorporated presents Script In Hand ON HOLD UNTIL THEATRES OPEN - Monday, 4 April 2016 | Monday, 2 November 2020 at Old 505 Theatre, Newtown, NSW. Find event and ticket information.

Playwrights: access and opportunities (sydneytheatre.com.au) -

Creative Writing - WEA Sydney (weasydney.com.au) - Creative Writing Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Do you have a story to tell, but don't know where to start? Creative writing can be taught just like any other art form. Even those who alread...

Screen Acting for Teens - Teen Acting Classes - Screenwise (screenwise.com.au) - Screen Acting Classes for Teens 12 - 16 yrs. Students will learn how to break down a scene, build a character, master audition and more. Apply online at Screenwise.com.au

Travel Writing Course I: Sun, Sea and Script (cce.sydney.edu.au) - Creative writing. Express yourself with the written word. COVID-19 update: arrangement of our courses We are now delivering courses both online and in-person. Please check the delivery format for each class before you enrol. Please note that cours...

Creative writing (cce.sydney.edu.au) - CCE

Deakin (deakin.edu.au) -

The Sydney Screenwriters Meetup Group (Sydney, Australia) (meetup.com) - Hi Screenwriters!This group is for those who wish to network, gain insight and share thoughts on storytelling and screenwriting. Some of us have attended screenwriting courses, others have a writer's

Screen and Media Courses - TAFE NSW (tafensw.edu.au) - TAFE NSW Screen & Media courses cover multiple aspects of the industry from journalism, radio, filming, game design and animation. Discover your future today.

Tadoku Reading Nights (jpf.org.au) -

Microsoft 10962 - Advanced Automated Administration with Windows PowerShell (ddls.com.au) - Learn how to automate and streamline day to day management and administration tasks and functions in your Windows Server Infrastructure.

Get Into Film and Television: Scripts, Screenwriting and TV Producing (australiancollege.edu.au) - The Get into Film and Television: Scripts, Screenwriting and TV Producing course was written by one of Australia's most successful television producers

Topics

These topics were mentioned multiple times across various sources:

Access

creative writing

constructive feedback

current classes

perfect course

online courses

delivery format

prescribed textbooks

Writing Skills

screenwriting insights

high concept

Special Programs

script notes

Special Effects

Script Assessment

character arc

visual effects

course notes

Advanced Production classes

entertainment course

Advanced learners

course information

Short Screenplay

Digital Media

television producer

course career outcomes

script coverage

Hollywood

Transcendent Story

social media

Questions

These are some relevant questions found across sources:

How long is my screenplay?

Is the Industry Certificate: Script Assessment right for you?

Why screenwriters should take the oral before the written

What we're about

What others say.

Why Inception didn't do it for me

What job opportunities could a screen media or entertainment course lead to?

Why can't people write good endings any more?

How to transform your character from wimp to hero

How to win audiences and Oscars introducing the Transcendent Story