Director's Message
Pangdemonium’s Very Youthful Company was established last year as a free programme for teens aged 14-19 to come together and work toward a full production of a play.
Entering as actors and stage managers, our participants have also taken on responsibilities in marketing and costume design under the guidance of our staff and guest artists.
Through the programme, we hope to educate young actors by providing them the space to grow, whilst putting them through the paces and demands of staging and performance. I believe in choosing complex stories so participants can learn how to interpret a script through Stanislavsky-based approaches to acting and performance. Alongside this, our young stage managers work directly under the mentorship of Pangdemonium’s
Production Managers, who provide them hands-on instruction on how to lead a room, prepare reports, and communicate with designers. We therefore give participants a taster of what to expect should they wish to pursue further training or work professionally in the theatre.
This year, I selected Failure: A Love Story by Philip Dawkins. Failure is a text that is close to my heart; it concerns a group of three sisters (and their adopted brother) who run a clock shop in Chicago, Illinois. It is 1928, and their lives are changed forever when a mysterious stranger walks in and falls in love with the girls, one by one.
The premise sounds far-out, but the text is heartfelt, genuine, and touching. It presents difficult emotions and motivations; it doesn’t shy away from asking tough questions about life and death, family and care, fate and consequence. Quite simply, it is a story about failing in love. How does failure stalk us, and how do we assume the courage to carry on and love wholeheartedly in the face of it?
These are questions I am interested in asking, and questions our young thespians have wrestled with since rehearsals began.
Many thanks to our Pangdemonium staff for their insight and guidance, and to our sponsors who believe in the work we do. We could not do this without your support!
I am incredibly proud of our participants, who have truly risen to the challenge with grace and tenacity. I would like to thank each and every participant for giving this their all, allowing themselves to learn, grow, and become better theatre-makers.
Timothy Koh Director of VYC
A Note from Pangdemonium...
Dear Friends, Family and Supporters,
We are delighted to welcome you to the Very Youthful Company’s production of Failure: A Love Story.
One of Pangdemonium’s missions as a theatre company is to discover, nurture and mentor young talents in a professional environment and VYC is an important part of that goal. VYC gives aspiring young actors and theatre makers an opportunity to cultivate fundamental skills and techniques in acting, stage management, marketing and stage craft guided by Pangdemonium’s team and lead by our Associate Director Timothy Koh.
This is our second year of presenting a VYC show and the young talents that you see today distinguished themselves out of 50 other young hopefuls who auditioned for us. They have worked hard with commitment, discipline, focus and passion and I hope that you will enjoy the fruits of their labor.
A big thank you must go out to our generous sponsors and donors — the Diana Koh Foundation and The Grace, Shua and Jacob Ballas II Charitable Trust, without whom programmes like VYC would not be possible.
Enjoy!
Adrian & Tracie Pang Artistic DirectorsCompany of Failure: A Love Story
An avid dancer, athlete, and actor, Andrei Rasmussen fell in love with acting at a young age. He performed in Singapore Lyric Opera’s 2012 production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly as The Son. Andrei has since been part of multiple short films and won Best Actor in the acting competition “Theatre Slam” organised by Kids Performing Academy of the Arts. Andrei is currently studying theatre at SOTA and is constantly looking for ways to push his potential.
Chloe is thrilled to share the stage with this year’s Very Youthful Company in Failure: A Love Story, after having the opportunity to perform in last year’s Chatroom as Eva. Prior to this show, Chloe has been in a few local and international musicals and plays, such as Pangdemonium’s Fun Home (2017) and the recent rerun of SCHOOLED (2022) which was crafted through participating in Wild Rice’s Singapore Youth Theatre.
Known for living in his mind rather than the real world, Dharshan had his first experience with theatre when he was 5 years old. He enjoys singing, rapping, writing, and producing his own music. He also posts skits, stop motion animations and other types of videos to his YouTube Channel. He loves football and basketball, and is an avid supporter of Manchester United and the Toronto Raptors. He is also an active participant in all forms of performing arts.
You might have seen Dharshan in The Good Citizen (Wild Rice, 2021), My Buddy Bonemasher (MediaCorp, Beach House Productions), ChildAid (2017) or even at the National Day Parade. Dharshan is thrilled to be a part of this year’s VYC and hopes to take you on a journey with his fellow castmates that will make you laugh and cry.
Andrei Rasmussen Henry Fail, Grantland Rice, December
Chloe Choo Marietta Fail, Dog, Mae, Moses
Dharshan Nathan Mortimer Mortimer
Wong Gerty Fail
Evangel, 19, is a freshman at the National University of Singapore (NUS) where she double majors in Psychology and Theatre Studies. Most recently she starred in the two-hander, I and You (Gateway Arts, 2022) as Caroline, the female lead. As part of the inaugural batch of Wild Rice’s Singapore Youth Theatre in 2020, Evangel wrote, devised, and acted in SCHOOLED (2020 & 2022).
From a young age, she has been involved in numerous acting and singing programmes and deepened her passion by pursuing Higher Level Theatre for her International Baccalaureate (IB) exams. Evangel continues to seek opportunities to grow as a performer and theatre practitioner where she hopes to inspire others through art.
Josiah Tan is a theatre student at School of the Arts (SOTA) and has been extremely passionate in theatre since young. He has been in seven Wild Rice pantomimes, most recently Peter Pan in Serangoon Gardens (2019), and was part of Wild Rice’s 2021 Singapore Youth Theatre, where he took part in devising The Good Citizen earlier this year. He also managed to make an appearance in a children’s sitcom What On Earth? produced by Stardust Story, where he played the role of Chad Mando. He also plays Tchouk ball and badminton on the side. He is extremely grateful to be part of this year’s VYC and is very excited to work together with his castmates on Failure: A Love Story
Lea Jaccard Nelly Fail
Lea is thrilled to be a part of Failure: A Love Story as it is her first ever play with Pangdemonium’s Very Youthful Company. She is eternally grateful for this opportunity.
With great passion in performing, Lea is a DSA drama student from SACSS Drama Club. As part of her school’s Drama Elective Programme, she trains under Dwayne Lau. Lea started acting in 2021 and sees theatre as a form of art which she has a deep passion for. She would like to undergo more training to become a more successful actress.
Josiah Tan John N. Fail Evangel Zoe Rowe Jenny June FailZoe has loved theatre since she discovered it at the age of 3. She has been performing throughout her life with companies such as Centre Stage and Wild Rice. Zoe was in the first batch of Wild Rice’s Singapore Youth Theatre in 2020.
She loves sitcoms, coffee, McFly and Taylor Swift, and is always annoyingly bursting into song or going on a walk. This is her first time performing with Pangdemonium. Zoe is thrilled to be a part of the second batch of the Very Youthful Company, and is very excited to play breaststroking/breathtaking Jenny June.
Also, Zoe would like to kindly ask everyone reading this to stream Midnights (3 am edition) by Dr Taylor Swift after watching Failure: A Love Story.
Alvan Tan Stage Manager
Alvan Tan is an aspiring stage manager. His interest in the technical aspects of theatre has grown since 2019. He enjoys learning on the job and taking opportunities to broaden his knowledge. In the years to come, Alvan hopes to gain wide and valuable insight into technical theatre and the events industry.
His stage management credits include Chatroom (Pangdemonium VYC, 2021), and rehearsal SM for Tartuffe and The Duchess of Malfi (SOTA, 2022). Alvan also was the ASM for Impact 2022 (SOTA, 2022) and stage crew for The LKY Musical (SRT, 2022).
Besides theatre, Alvan also helps out and plans events such as TONES 2022, Singapore Night Festival, souNDProof and RETROSPECT 2022 (SOTA). Alvan is thankful for the opportunity to stage manage Failure: A Love Story with VYC 2022.
Kirstin Kyle Assistant Stage Manager
Kirstin was studying Arts & Theatre Management at Republic Polytechnic, before deciding to take a break to venture out and explore the curiosities of life.
Failure: A Love Story, is one such curiosity. Having always been in love with the arts and theatre, working on this show has been an absolute delight.
The lessons she learnt about theatre from secondary school and this production has shaped her belief that stage management is an integral part of tying the beauty and magic of theatre altogether.
Since then, Kirstin has always taken great joy in working on the sidelines, watching the magic unfold on stage, whilst assisting her team in every possible way.
But most importantly, she takes the greatest joy from an adorable creature who barks, pees, and poos on the floor every 10 seconds — Kiefer Chestnut, her beloved puppy, who is a very, very good boi.
Failure: A Love Story Creative Team
Timothy Koh Director
In New York City, Tim has worked as an Assistant Director at Lincoln Center Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club, held a Fellowship at Playwrights Horizons, and directed thesis plays at NYU’s Graduate Department of Dramatic Writing. Other US experience includes work with Scott Rudin Productions, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and the Lucille Lortel Awards.
In Singapore, he is the Associate Director of Pangdemonium, where he helms the New Works Lab and the Very Youthful Company. With Pangdemonium, he directed Muswell Hill and assistant directed The Mother and The Glass Menagerie.
Training: New York University Tisch School of the Arts (BFA Theatre), College of Arts and Science (BA English and American Literature).
Grace Lin Set Designer
Grace Lin is a designer of sets/ environments for plays, musicals and opera. Arriving at set design from a background in architecture and graphic communication, she has experience working in editorial and graphic illustration as well as environmental design.
Grace holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the National University of Singapore and a Masters in Design Communication from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Tai Zi Feng Lighting Designer
Tai Zi Feng graduated with BA Hons in Theatre Arts from the University of Essex, East 15. His work ranges from dance, musicals to theatre plays.
As a Lighting Designer, he is always drawn to the connection between light and other mediums in our daily life. He believes that light can help evoke emotions and accentuate moments.
Some of his recent work includes: Kwa Geok Choo by Toy Factory, Quasimodo by Sing Theatre, Tartuffe by Wild Rice.
Daniel Wong Sound Designer
Daniel Wong is a sound designer, composer and music producer. He graduated from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music with a B.Mus(Hons) in Recording Arts & Science.
Sound design credits include The Almighty Sometimes (SRT), Muswell Hill (Pangdemonium), I And You (Gateway Arts), The Sound Inside (SRT), Tuesdays with Morrie (SRT), Cafe (W!LD RICE), and Chatroom (Pangdemonium). Composition credits include My Invisible Life (Gateway Arts), Jade: The Quarterlife Crisis, Smartypants and the Swordfish (Gateway Arts) and Perfecting Pratas (Sight Lines Entertainment).
Outside of theatre, Daniel produces and records songs for various artists and organisations, including lewloh, JAWN, Vivien Yap, HubbaBubbas, Lorong Boys, and Voices of Singapore. Recently, he produced the main theme song for Sunny Side Up (Mediacorp) with his band, Oakë.
CAST
Andrei Rasmussen
Henry Fail, Grantland Rice, December
Chloe Choo Marietta Fail, Dog, Mae, Moses
Dharshan Nathan Mortimer Mortimer
Evangel Wong Gerty Fail
Josiah Tan John N. Fail
Lea Jaccard Nelly Fail
Zoe Rowe Jenny June Fail
CREATIVE TEAM
Philip Dawkins Playwright
Timothy Koh Director
Grace Lin Set Designer
Tai Zi Feng Lighting Designer
Daniel Wong Sound Designer
PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGEMENT TEAM
Alvan Tan Stage Manager
Kirstin Kyle Assistant Stage Manager
Andrei Rasmussen, Lea Jaccard Costume Team
Dharshan Nathan, Zoe Rowe Social Media Team
Evangel Wong, Josiah Tan Key Visual Idea
SPECIAL THANKS Leonard Augustine Choo, Petrina Kow
Production Team
PANGDEMONIM TEAM
Tracie Pang
Artistic Director/ Managing Director Adrian Pang Artistic Director/Producer
Renee Tan General Manager
Crispian Chan Creative Director/IT
Timothy Koh Associate Director
Kristal Zhou Marketing Manager
Jasper Lim Creative Designer
Crystal Quah Digital Marketing Executive
Leah Sim Production Manager
Sunitha Nayar Production Manager
Cat Andrade Company Stage Manager
Kusum Sandhu
Fundraising & Engagement Manager
Clare YuRu Business Development Manager
Guillaume Vautrin Accounting Manager
Guineviere Low Company Administrator
Keerthana Ravi Production Apprentice
Yeo Man Lin Ticketing & Marketing Assistant
Mavis Tan Fundraising Assistant
James Tan Associate Artist
PANGDEMONIM BOARD
Raeza Ibrahim John Currie Debbie Andrade
Leonardo Drago Dr. Jade Kua Beatrice Chia-Richmond
Pang Adrian Pang
Tracie
Production Team
Rehearsal Photos
Nelly, Gerty, and Jenny June Fail are three industrious sisters. After their parents drown in the Chicago River, they inherit a clock shop, where they live with their adopted brother, John N. Fail. Then, a mysterious stranger comes into their lives and changes the course of the Fail family history forever.
It is 1928, and the Fail girls will not survive the year. Like their parents, they too will die through a series of tragic circumstances.
An affecting, funny, and ultimately uplifting tale, Failure: A Love Story is an ensemble play that asks powerful questions about falling and failing in love.
Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com).
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings or streams of this production is strictly prohibited, a violation of United Kingdom Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and an actionable offense.
Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status. Registration number: 201229915M
Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a recipient of support from the National Arts Council’s Major Company Scheme for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023
@veryyouthfulcompany