ROBINSON GROUP & OCBC BANK. present

Transcription

1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ROBINSON GROUP & OCBC BANK present 10 September 2012 This November, W!LD RICE presents a deliciously hilarious musical with HANSEL & GRETEL - the 9 th edition of its annual must- see Christmas pantomime. Penning the book and lyrics is Alfian Sa at, the company s resident playwright who, having written the highly successfully Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2008) and Beauty & the Beast (2009), is no stranger to the W!LD RICE panto. Another familiar name, Elaine Chan, will compose the soundtrack of original music, making this her sixth panto adventure. Dim Sum Dolly and celebrated actress, Pam Oei, makes her professional directorial debut with the production. True to W!LD tradition, the trio is set to give the Brothers Grimm fairytale a local twist, full of laugh- out- loud moments. HANSEL & GRETEL s star- studded cast includes Sebastian Tan (Broadway Beng), Dwayne Tan (Army Daze), Denise Tan (Gold 90FM), Siti Khalijah (Boeing Boeing), Dwayne Lau (Cinderel- Lah!) and Vernetta Lopez (CLASS 95FM). It will also feature 30 young talents from the age of 4-12 as part of W!LD RICE s FIRST STAGE! programme. W!LD RICE is proud to bring you this fun- filled musical feast for all the family this holiday season. Come follow the food trail as the world s most beloved brother and sister lead us on a yummy adventure that indulges in Singapore s favorite past time. ABOUT HANSEL & GRETEL Poor Hansel and Gretel. Their new pop- star- wannabe stepmother thinks that the family budget is too tiny to support a household of four, so she s decided to let them go. Their henpecked father doesn t quite agree, but even he s feeling the pinch in this new economy! So the brother and sister pair are abandoned in the jungles of Mandai, to fend for themselves. There are strange cries in the dark, and eyes glowing in the bushes. Will they ever make their way back home?

2 To their surprise, they stumble upon a house, made from the tastiest goodies they ve ever seen. Fences of fishball sticks, walls of kueh lapis, and roof tiles made of kaya toast! Little do they know that the homeowner is a batty, flamboyant witch, mysteriously known as 'the Chef'. Will Hansel and Gretel realise in time that they have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire? Will their father stop making goo- goo eyes at their stepmother and start looking for his kids? And what exactly is the secret identity of the Chef's assistant, a spunky, rapping dynamo called Nicki Minah? Hansel & Gretel features Sebastian Tan, who won Best Supporting Actor for his role as The Queen in another W!LD RICE pantomime, Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. With an exciting cast line- up including Denise Tan and Dwayne Tan, catchy original songs and mouth- watering sets and costumes, Hansel & Gretel promises to be a holiday feast for the senses. OUR PRESENTING SPONSORS W!LD RICE is proud to announce that the ROBINSON GROUP & OCBC BANK have come on board as Presenting Sponsors for HANSEL & GRETEL. These two dedicated champions of the arts have previously teamed up to sponsor the W!LD RICE productions of Beauty World in 2008, Beauty & the Beast in 2009, and Cinderel- Lah! in SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS

3 FAST FACTS Title : Hansel & Gretel Book & Lyrics : Alfian Sa at Music : Elaine Chan Director : Pam Oei Choreography : Rotjana Patikarapong (Oh) Musical Director : Joel Nah Set Design : Kelley Cheng Lighting Design : Mac Chan Sound Design : Shah Tahir Costume Design : Moe Kasim Hair Design : Ashley Lim Make- Up Design : Beno Lim (M.A.C) Producer : Tony Trickett Cast : Dwayne Tan as Hansel Denise Tan as Gretel Sebastian Tan as The Witch aka The Chef Siti Khalijah as Vilma the Maid and Nicki Minah Dwayne Lau as Steven (Hansel & Gretel s Father) Vernetta Lopez as Cassandra (The Evil Stepmother) A Live 4 Piece Band! The FIRST STAGE! Kids

4 Press Contact : Haswani Sungit PR Executive Sirius Art Pte. Ltd. DID: haswani@siriusart.com.sg Venue : Drama Centre Theatre Show Dates : 22 November 15 December 2012 Press Night : 24 November Ticketing Agent : SISTIC.com Pte Ltd SISTIC Hotline (65) SISTIC Website SISTIC Authorised Agents Ticket Prices : 7.30pm on 23 Nov Cat 1: $59 Cat 2: $49 Cat 3: $39 Cat 4 (restricted view): $44 Tues, Wed, Thurs & 7.30pm Cat 1: $64 Cat 2: $54 Cat 3: $44 Cat 4 (restricted view): $49 Fri & 7.30pm, Sat & 2.30pm Cat 1: $69 Cat 2: $59 Cat 3: $49 Cat 4 (restricted view): $54 Priority Booking : 17 September - 30 September % Discount for OCBC Cards Early Bird : 1 October 24 October % Discount for OCBC Cards 20% for PAssion Cards 15% Discount for General Public

5 ANNEX I. ABOUT THE W!LD RICE PANTOMIME II. CAST BIOGRAPHIES III. CREATIVES BIOGRAPHIES IV. ABOUT W!LD RICE V. ABOUT W!LD RICE S PATRON SPONSOR

6 APPENDIX I THE W!LD RICE PANTOMIME Once a year, the best of Singapore s theatre, television and film community come together to celebrate the festive season by taking everyone s favourite fairy tales and giving them an imaginative local twist bringing laughter and the magic of theatre to audiences from 5 to 105. The W!LD RICE Pantomime brings together all the elements of great family entertainment slapstick comedy, satire, political incorrectness, snazzy songs, toe- tapping dance routines, fabulous costumes and spectacular sets, audience participation and a Good versus Evil story that is strong on romance and adventure. Through FIRST STAGE!, W!LD RICE also develops the talents of children from the ages of 4 to 12, many of whom take their first steps on the Singapore stage. Aladdin (2011 & 2004), Cinderel- LAH! (2010 & 2003), Beauty & The Beast (2009), Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (2008), Jack & The Bean- Sprout! (2006) and Oi! Sleeping Beauty!! (2005) have tickled and touched an audience of over 150,000. Today, the W!LD RICE Pantomime has become the MUST- SEE musical of the holiday season, and the best possible way to round up the busy year! PRAISE FOR W!LD RICE s ANNUAL PANTOMIME One of local theatre s most enduring Christmas traditions. TODAY A night of magic at the theatre. ST Life! An enjoyable show with plenty of heart Just take the whole family. ST Life! A uniquely Singaporean experience. The Flying Inkpot PRAISE FOR BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2009) "Beauty & The Beast cannot be faulted for its high production values and dedication to entertainment. It offers many laughs, feet- tapping catchy songs and a lovable cast. Great fun for the family." ST Life! "Absolutely fantastic, as usual, please carry on every year forever!" CNBC.com PRAISE FOR SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (2008) An enjoyable show with plenty of heart Just take the whole family. ST Life! Sebastian Tan stole the show in drag as the wicked Queen, whose crisp English and penchant for elaborate head- pieces brought the house down. ST Life! His script is smart, sassy and satirical, but comes with enough good, clean fun for the whole family. The result is an enjoyable show with plenty of heart and some inspired musical touches. ST Life!

7 APPENDIX II CAST BIOGRAPHIES DWAYNE TAN Hansel Dwayne graduated from the American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York. Earlier this year, he was in Spring Awakening by Pangdemonium, Army Daze by Simply Works and The National Broadway Company by TheatreWorks. His W!LD RICE credits include his portrayal as 'Paris' in Romeo and Juliet, `Frankie' in Beauty World and `The Prince' in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. With the Singapore Repertory Theatre, Dwayne has been in Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio, Much Ado About Nothing and Forbidden City. In the US, Dwayne was on the Junie B. Jones national tour and played `Ching Ho' in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Merry- Go- Round Playhouse). In 2010, he staged, wrote and produced Fairy Tales - The Full Picture as part of Esplanade's Flipside Festival Being a finalist on Singapore Idol led to his self- produced EP, Moments Alone. His work extends to voice- overs including anchoring for the regional lifestyle channel, Life Inspired (Singtel MIO TV) and many cartoon series characters like `Joey' in Yu- Gi- Oh! He was also recently seen as the co- host of Sunshine Station on Okto. He maintains his own website at dwaynetan.webs.com DENISE TAN Gretel Denise trained in Theatre Studies at Leeds University, pursuing roles that include Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, Chava in Fiddler on the Roof and Charity in Sweet Charity. She also staged two original works at the Leeds Workshop Theatre. In Singapore, Denise was most recently seen in National Broadway Company (Esplanade s 10 th anniversary musical), Into the Woods (Little Red), Fried Rice Paradise (Bee Lean), Animal Farm (Mollie/ Moses) and The Full Monty (Vicky), for which she received a Life! Theatre Awards Best Supporting Actress nomination. Other local theatre credits include Beauty World (Lulu), The Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey), Ka- Ra- You- OK (Electric Geisha), M. Butterfly (Comrade Chin), Love Puke (Hermione), Aladdin (Genie of the Ring), Chang and Eng and Broadway Beng. Singing credits include SingaPOPera! with People s Association, Crazy Christmas with Dream Academy and two sold- out Dashboard Divas concerts at the Esplanade. Denise also hosts The Lunchtime Jukebox on MediaCorp Radio s Gold 90FM and is regularly heard in commercial voice- overs as well as animated series, including Detective Conan, Doraemon, Nickelodean s Tomato Twins and 20th Century Fox s Book of Virtues. Besides performing, Denise also enjoys sniffing out the perfect french fry and not acting her age a combination that makes her Gretel personified in this fourth collaboration with W!LD RICE!

8 SEBASTIAN TAN The Witch aka The Chef Sebastian has been a Dream Academy Artiste since He was the director for Honk! and Just So (SMU s Arts Festival ). Notable musical theatre credits include Happy Ever Laughter, The Broadway Beng Series ( ), Crazy Christmas, Into The Woods, $ING Dollar, Cinderel- LAH!, Snow White, Jack & The Beansprout, Asian Boys Vol. 2, Fried Rice Paradise, Twist of Fate, Forbidden City, Titoudao, Army Daze, Miss Saigon (UK tour). TV credits include Payday, First Class Seasons 1 & 2, Sayang Sayang Season 2, The Noose, Police & Thief. Film credit: The Blue Mansion. Vocal recordings include TV serial theme songs: Price of Peace (Best Theme Song, Star Awards 1997) and Will You, National Day theme song Sebastian won Best Supporting Actor at the ST Life! Theatre Awards 2009 for his performance as The Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (W!LD RICE). Other awards include Best Ensemble (ST Life! Theatre Awards 2010), Actor of the Year (Elle Awards 2007), and winner, Talent Search SITI KHALIJAH ZAINAL Vilma (The Maid) and Nicki Minah (The Witch s Assistant) Siti made her debut as a full- time theatre actress after she attended the year long Theatre for Youth Ensemble programme in 2003 held by The Necessary Stage. Some of her acting credits include The Necessary Stage's main season productions like Those Who Can t, Teach, Model Citizens, Can Change, Past Caring, Frozen Angels, Good People, and Gemuk Girls which won Best Production Of The Year at the LIFE! Theatre Awards She has also acted in Cinderel- Lah! and Boeing Boeing by W!LD RICE; Rainbow Fish, Little Red Hen and Just So by I Theatre; Divine Soap, Desire At The Melancholic String Concert and Nothing by Cake Theatre; Trainstopping by Sightlines Entertainement; The Hossan Leong Show 3, Happy Ever Laughter by Dream Academy and Army Daze by Simply Works. She has won Best Actress for her role in Model Citizens at the ST Life! Theatre Awards 2011, and has been nominated under the same category for her roles in Gemuk Girls by The Necessary Stage, and How Did The Cat Get So Fat? and Nadirah by Teater Ekamatra. Besides being actively involved in theatre, Siti has also ventured into acting for television programmes, namely The Samsudins, Nora Wedding Concepts (Season 1 &2) and Tahu Nahu (Season 1 & 2), CinderLela for Suria, and No Problem! for Kids Central. Her work has allowed her to travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Australia, Scotland and Russia where she performed and/or assisted in forum theatre workshops. DWAYNE LAU Steven (Hansel & Gretel s Father) Dwayne graduated from The NUS Theatre Studies Program (Hon) in 2007 and is currently the head of Bez Creative Ministry, the drama department of his Church. He is also the resident drama coach of both St. Anthony s Canossian Secondary School and Meridian Junior College. His stage credits include I Theatre s: You Are Special, (principle role Punch), The Wizard of Oz (Scarecrow), Fairytale Heart (Male Lead); Duck and Dive (Villain), The Elves and the Shoemakers

9 (Villian) and Sing to the Dawn. This year, he makes his debut writing their year- end production, Ashputtel, the Story of Cinderella. Other Companies also include STAGES : Dine- in- Cabaret: Broadway for Suakus, Chestnuts Does Christmas (2009), Chestnuts 3D (2010) and Chestnuts i15 (2012), W!LD RICE s: Own Time Own Target for both runs 2008 and 2009, Cinderel- Lah! 2010, Tok- Cock- Sing- Song Singapore Theatre Festival (2011). Hansel and Gretel is his 2 nd Pantomime with W!LD RICE and he is immensely excited and grateful for this wondeful opportunity! VERNETTA LOPEZ Cassandra (The Evil Stepmother) First came on the scene as Denise on Under One Roof, a local hit TV sitcom in Since then, Vernetta has starred in countless sitcoms and dramas that span television, movie, musical and theatre productions. She recently completed another season of Zero Hero, a sitcom for children on OKTO. It is currently the highest rated show on OKTO for 15 & below. She has also been part of the Morning Express Crew on Class 95FM, Singapore s #1 English Radio Station since Vernetta is regularly engaged by companies for voice- over productions. These include documentaries for National Geographic, Channel News Asia, and multi- national corporations such as UOB, Standard Chartered, Magnolia, WDA, IKEA, Mercedes Benz, Lancome, M1, Singtel, Starhub, Heaven and Earth, Guinness, L oreal, Osim, OTO, Courts, IDA, Asiana Airlines, Fuji, Sony, Singapore Airlines, and Volkswagen. Vernetta s quirky personality and unique voice talents have also led her to another world of entertainment - puppetry work! She recently a completed a third run of Knock Out, where she s played a frog called Ditzy, an ape called Ooboo, and Cyloon the Recycling Racoon! Vernetta was recently appointed the local Ambassador for L oreal Paris. Watch out for the new campaign set to hit print and TV in August 2012.

10 APPENDIX III CREATIVES BIOGRAPHIES ALFIAN SA AT Book and Lyrics Born in 1977, Alfian Bin Sa at is currently a Resident Playwright with W!LD RICE. His plays with the company include Cooling Off Day, Homesick, Landmarks: Asian Boys Vol. 2, Happy Endings: Asian Boys Vol. 3, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and Beauty & The Beast. His published works include two collections of poetry, One Fierce Hour and A History of Amnesia, two collection of short stories, Corridor and Malay Sketches, and three collections of plays, Collected Plays 1 & 2 and Cooling Off Day. He has been nominated for the Kirayama Asia- Pacific Book Prize and the Singapore Literature Prize for A History of Amnesia. Alfian has been nominated seven times for Best Script at the Life! Theatre Awards, eventually winning in 2005 for his play, Landmarks, and later in 2010 for his play, Nadirah. He was also the winner of the BOH Cameronian Best Original Book and/or Lyrics Award for The Secret Life Of Nora in Malaysia in In 2001, Alfian won the Golden Point Award for Poetry as well as the National Arts Council Young Artist Award for Literature. His plays have been translated into German, Swedish and Danish and have been read and performed in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, London, Zürich, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Melbourne and Sydney. ELAINE CHAN Music Best known for the LTA jingle Love Your Ride and the NDP 2005 theme song Reach Out for the Skies, this popular theatre composer- arranger- director has garnered songwriting awards in her teens, wrote and directed her first full length musical score at 18, toured the south of New Zealand, received the Wong Yee Hua Memorial Music Excellence Award, music directed NDP 2005, and together with Selena Tan, was nominated in 2011 s Life! Theatre Awards for Cinderel- Lah! Her prolific portfolio encompasses musical direction, original writing & arrangements for all Dream Academy Productions of the Dim Sum Dollies, Hossan Leong & Broadway Beng shows, Sing Dollar, A Crazy Christmas (2007) and 5 of the W!LD RICE s Pantomimes : Cinderel- Lah!, Jack and the Beansprout!, Aladdin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Beauty & the Beast. Her varied engagements include CD projects, recordings, charity concerts as well as orchestrations for the 2010 Singapore Youth Festival Opening Ceremony and vocal arrangements and direction for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Her recent musical theatre directions include W!LD RICE s La Cage aux Folles (2012) & Aladdin (2011), Dream Academy s Big Band Crazy Christmas Concert & Into the Woods (2011), Sing Theatre s A Singaporean In Paris (2010) & No Regrets (2011), and Toy Factory s mega- musicals December Rain & 881.

11 PAM OEI - Director Pam has been in over 60 theatre, television and film productions. Her theatre credits as an actor include the critically acclaimed Animal Farm, The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ, Titoudao, Everything But The Brain, Rent and Boeing Boeing, but she is probably most known on stage for being one third of the Dim Sum Dollies. For film, she played the title role of Peggy Su! (BBC Films) and was also in Glen Goei s Forever Fever (Miramax Films) as the trash- romance- novel- reading Ah Mui. Most recently she had a cameo role in The Blue Mansion, also a Glen Goei film. She has also been in several Mandarin and English TV programmes and was nominated Best Actress in a Comedy at the Asian Television Awards for three consecutive years ( ). At the Life! Theatre Awards in 2001, Pam won in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories on the same night. Turning 40 this year, she decided to challenge herself by producing Happy Ever Laughter, a sell- out standup comedy show at the Esplanade Theatre featuring 12 of Singapore s top comedians. Pam is also making her pantomime directing debut with Hansel & Gretel and thanks Wild Rice for this yummy opportunity. In real life, Pam runs after her 21- month- old son with glee. ROTJANA PATIKARAPONG (OH) Choreographer Oh, who hails from Thailand, has been dancing professionally for 17 years. Her wealth of experience as a performer and choreographer has seen her participate in numerous TV Productions, Music Videos, Corporate Shows, Concerts and Large Scale Events. A major highlight of her career was her appointment as Assistant Dance Choreographer for the 1998 Asian Games Opening Ceremony. On top of her achievements, Oh is constantly dedicated to providing opportunities for children and dancers as a dance educator and manager of dance acts. JOEL NAH - Musical Director Joel Nah has been playing the piano for the stage since Having started on the organ at the age of 3, his first stage musical was in 2000, the operetta The Mikadao, as part of his junior college anniversary fundraiser, and of which he was the music director. Some of his recent theatre production credits include: La Cage aux Folles (2012), The Lion King (2011), Into The Woods (2011), 881 the Musical (2011), Arabian Nights (2010), December Rains (2010), The Full Monty (2010), Victor/Victoria (2009), Little Green Frog (2009). Joel was also Music Director for Vizpro s I Love You, You re Perfect, Now Change (2011), Dream Academy s Crazy Christmas (2010 & 2008), Broadway Beng: Jiak Liu Lian! (2009), and also played keyboards for JJ Lin s World Tour concet in Singapore in April KELLEY CHENG Set Design Kelley Cheng is an architect turned Jill- of- all- trades the Editor- in- Chief of Singapore Architect magazine, she also runs her own design & publishing consultancy The Press Room, designing everything from books, graphics to spaces. On the side, she owns two trend- setting F&B outlets, 15 minutes and Night & Day. On top of that, as an educator, she teaches Visual Communication at Nanyang Technological University, sits on numerous advisory panels for educational and design institutions and serves regularly on the

12 judging panels of local and international design competitions such as the Red Dot Awards, Nagoya- Do!, Design for Asia, Creative Circle Award, James Dyson Award, etc. As a creative director, her graphic and branding projects include the Youth Olympics Games (2010), ilight Marina Bay Light Art Festival, Singapore Pavilion at the World Expo Yeosu 2012 and she is currently working on The National Art Gallery Singapore. In her free time, she tends the bar at Night & Day and occasionally indulges in alcohol. MAC CHAN Lighting Design Mac has worked as a Lighting Designer for Malaysian and international theatre since Over the years, he had travelled with his lighting design work staged in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Africa. A three- time winner of Best Lighting Design at the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards of 2002, 2003 and 2004, he received an honorary mention at the 2002 Singapore Life! Theatre Awards for his lighting design works in Singapore. He also received the Malaysian National Arts Awards for Best Lighting Designer in His lighting designs for W!LD RICE include La Cage aux Folles, Emily of Emerald Hill, The Woman in a Tree on the Hill, The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole and No Parking on Odd Days, Oi! Sleeping Beauty!!, Jack & The Bean- Sprout!, Blithe Spirit, Happy Endings: Asian Boys Vol. 3 and has worked on a successful 2nd run of the smash hit The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ in September 2007, The Importance of Being Earnest and NDP 09. SHAH TAHIR Sound Design Shah Tahir has been in the Audio and Music industry for more than 20 years and has been involved in various aspects of it. As a musician, he has played the guitar on numerous albums of local and regional artists such as Dick Lee, Kit Chan, Jeremy Monteiro, Zainal Abidin, Sheila Majid, JJ, Chris Ho, Sandy Lam and many others. As a music producer, Shah has been involved with many local talents like Humpback Oak, Oddfellows, Heritage, Trob, Sweet Charity, Michaela Therese, Prema Lucas, Jachinta. and others. He has also arranged and composed for multiple MediaCorp Channel 8 television programmes such as the 2002 Best Drama Serial Nominee Beautiful Connection. Currently, Shah Tahir is very much involved with Live performances and has been the Audio Consultant/Sound Designer for the National Day Parade ( ), Corporate Events and Live TV broadcast mixing with MediaCorp s events. Another passionate area of work for him is in Theatre and Musicals, which he has been designing and mixing audio for many major productions here such as, 881 The Musical, Into the Woods, Kumar The Queen, The Hossan Leong Show, December Rain, The Full Monty, Dim Sum Dollies, The Importance of Being Earnest and many more. MOE KASIM Costume Design Moe received training in performance with the SAF Music and Drama Company. Not only does he sing, dance and act, he also designs costumes. As a self- taught designer, his credits include major national events like the National Day Parade (2006) and the annual Chingay Parade. His

13 designs for W!LD RICE s pantomimes Aladdin (2004), Oi! Sleeping Beauty!! (2005), and Toy Factory s Titoudao (2007), won him Best Costume Design at the ST Life! Theatre Awards. Subsequently, he achieved the prestigious honor with the same award for Liao Zhai Rocks (2011). His work in The Secret Life of Nora starring Tiara Jacquelina, Ryan Silverman and Aznil was also nominated for Best Costumes at the 9 th BOH Cameronian Arts Award in Kuala Lumpur. Moe s credits for costumes in theatre include Cinderel- Lah!, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Jack and the Bean Sprout, The Magic Fundoshi, Singapore Theatre Festival (2006, 2008 and 2011), Happy Endings: Asian Boys Vol.3, and Beauty World for W!LD RICE; The Broadway Beng shows, Dim Sum dollies: History Of Singapore, Kumar the Queen, and Multiple Personalities Disorder for Dream Academy: and Liao Zhai Rocks for The Theatre Practice. His recent movie credits include Royston Tan's hit movie 881 (nominated for Best Costume Design at the 44 th Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan) and 12 Lotus. He also supported ChildAid 2011 and designed the national costume for Miss Singapore International. His most recent project was for the World Expo 2012 held in Yeosu, Korea in May. Moe is the owner and creative director of his costume boutique Moephosis Concepts, which stands proudly at 84 Joo Chiat Road. ASHLEY LIM Hair Design Ashley started his hairstyling career in 1986 and set up Ashley Salon in 1999 in order to further pursue his dedication towards the art of hairdressing, especially with theatrical work. Ashley became involved with theatrical work in 1987 and has since worked on almost 150 productions of local and international standards. Many of these productions were participants of festivals, some of which became nominees and/or winners of various art awards. Ashley has gained a wide range and depth of experience working with all the leading professional theatre companies of Singapore. He has had the opportunity to create hair designs from a diversity of different cultures and periods. His skill is extensive, culminating from more than two decades of hairdressing experience. He is privileged to be widely recognised by the local theatre community as a veteran in his artistry. Ashley is particularly thrilled to have participated in Broadway Beng! Jiak Liu Lian (Dream Academy), Beauty & The Beast (W!LD RICE), Victor/Victoria (Zebra Crossing) and The Monster Show (Universal Studios Singapore), just to name a few. Apart from theatre, Ashley also extends his work to TV shows and advertorial works for leading local fashion magazines, providing contemporary hair designs for bridal and fashion projects. BENO LIM (M.A.C) Make- up Design M.A.C Pro Team Senior Artist Beno has been doing make- up for 20 years. Beno draws his inspiration from the everyday - movies, music, nature and the quirks of experience. To Beno, make- up tells a story, which is why he has always enjoyed make- up for theatre, particularly creating looks for characters that help propel the plays forward. This year, he created the looks for the cast of W!LD RICE's La Cage aux Folles. He also helmed the looks for The Theatre Practice's Lao Jiu.

14 Besides doing make- up in International Fashion Weeks in fashion capitals Milan and Paris, this year he also keyed both the Singapore Men's Fashion Week and the Audi Fashion Festival. He also regularly does magazine shoots for Urban, Her World, Female, Elle, NuYou, Designare Homme, Vulture and Nylon. He has also done make up for celebrities like Lady Gaga, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Korean actor Sung Hoon, and local artistes like Ivan Heng, Anita Kapoor and Michelle Chong. He has also worked with local designers like Ashley Isham, Reckless Ericka and Max Tan.

15 APPENDIX IV ABOUT W!LD RICE W!LD RICE was founded in 2000 by Ivan Heng, an internationally acclaimed and award- winning theatre practitioner, and is recognised today as one of Singapore s leading professional theatre companies. It s mission is to provide an open forum for the shared experience of theatre; celebrating diversity, reflecting on the problems and possibilities of our times, and presenting productions that inspire, challenge and entertain. A commitment to the highest standards informs every aspect of W!LD RICE s creative work which is first and foremost a celebration of Singapore theatrical talent. By producing and touring productions that are distinctively local in flavour and yet universal in vision and concerns, the company creates memorable experiences for audiences in Singapore and the World. The company s exciting and varied programming for the main stage includes: New and original works. New productions of the Singapore repertoire. New interpretations of the World s Classics. The company s mission to build a theatre culture also extends to the wider community through the following divisions: FIRST STAGE!, a project which nurtures young talents from young & W!LD which identifies and develops Singapore s young theatre professionals. W!LD RICE is committed to touring its shows internationally to raise the profile of Singapore theatre, to create an international awareness of its unique productions, and to engage its artists and collaborators in creative dialogues with the international arts community. Its distinctively Singaporean productions have won great acclaim at major international arts festivals in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Russia. In August 2006, W!LD RICE presented the inaugural SINGAPORE THEATRE FESTIVAL, a biennial new writing festival committed to develop, present and promote Singapore Theatre. Renamed the OCBC SINGAPORE THEATRE FESTIVAL in 2008 and MAN SINGAPORE THEATRE FESTIVAL in 2011, this festival has to date produced 22 World Premieres of new Singapore writing, and has been hailed as the main event in the world of the arts (SPH The Straits Times, 2006), and the Blockbuster Event of the Year (TODAY, 2008).

16 APPENDIX V ABOUT W!LD RICE S PATRON SPONSOR MAN INVESTMENTS Man is a world- leading alternative investment management business. It has expertise in a wide range of liquid investment styles including managed futures, equity, credit and convertibles, emerging markets, global macro and multi- manager, combined with powerful product structuring, distribution and client service capabilities. As at 31 December 2011, Man managed $58.4 billon. The original business was founded in Today, Man is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index with a market capitalisation of more than 2 billion. Man is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the FTSE4Good Index. Man also supports many awards, charities and initiatives around the world, including sponsoring the Man Booker literary prizes and the Man Asian Literary Prize.