selected publications and talks
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peer-reviewed publications
(forthcoming with University of Hawaii Press) The Storytelling State: Performing Lives in Singapore.
2021. “Rehearsing ‘Karen’: The Dramaturgy and Politics of Cross-cultural Digital Theatre.” Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques 23.
2021. “When/If Performance Studies Came to Singapore: PSi #10 and its Ramifications.” Studies in Theatre and Performance 41 (1). 40-49.
2018. “‘This is my doodle’: Non-Participation, Performance, and the Singapore Memory Project.” Performance Paradigm 14. 64-85.
2018. “‘Flesh and Blood Archives’: Embodying the Oral History Transcript.” Oral History Review 45: 1. 127-142.
2017. “Globalisation, Transgression, and the Call to Performance Studies.” About Performance 14/15. 261-284. [Special issue: 30 years of Performance Studies in Sydney University]
2017. Cheng, N. Y., Leadbetter, M., Pearson, N., Sastrawan, W. J. “Perspectives on the Past: Ritual in Southeast Asia.” TAASA Review 26: 4. 24.
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other writings
These essays touch on Southeast Asian history and politics vis-à-vis digital games; books; theatre; dance; performance; museums; and more.
2024. Not a Peranakan Play? Rehearsing Identity in ‘Mari Kita Main Wayang’.
2021. Book review: Raffles Renounced: Towards a Merdeka History.
2020. Age of Empires II: Rise of the Rajas – playing the past in Southeast Asia.
2019. Making and unmaking decolonisation: Civilised by The Necessary Stage (Singapore).
2019. “I feel blessed (to be a Singaporean)”: MY Bridge of Light by the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.
2018. Five reasons why I don’t always like art galleries.
2017. To infinity and beyond: the Singapore History Gallery (review).
2017. ‘Ghosts and Spectres – Shadows of History’ at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art: A Review/Memory.
2017. The ending of The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye… and what it says about history-telling.
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talks & presentations
Invited speaking engagements
2023. Digital Heritage Futures. Part of the Asia Research Institute Heritage Futures: Asia Series.
2023. Performing Arts x Tech Conference-Unconference. As Moderator on the “Ways of Making” panel. Organised by the National Arts Council and Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay.
2022. ONGOING ONLINE: Durational & Digital Dramaturgy. As Moderator-Provocateur. Part of the Asian Dramaturg’s Network Event Series 2021-22.
2022. “I was born in the year of nothing”: The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye as periperformative life narrative. Part of the Singapore Studies virtual seminar series. Organised by Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.
2021. Expansions, Intersections and Hybridities in Dramaturgy. Invited panelist for d’n20 Celebrating Dramaturgy. Organised by The Dramaturgs’ Network, a UK-based organisation.
2021. “Future:Proof - digital/viral dramaturgies.” A panel for Bodies:On:Live Magdalena:On:Line Festival 2021. Organised by The Magdalena Project, an international network of women in performance.
2020. “Social media, storytelling, and migrant workers in Singapore.” Part of the online workshop on Social Media and Polarization in Southeast Asia. Organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
2018. “Performance, affect and memory in Tan Pin Pin’s films (solo speaker).” Part of the Politics of Art in Southeast Asia seminar series. Organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
2017. “History-telling in Singapore and the epilogue of The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.” Organised by the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre.
2017. “Ritual in Southeast Asia.” Part of TAASA 2017 Lecture Series. Organised by The Asian Arts Society of Australia. Sydney Mechanics School of Arts.
Selected conference presentations
2023. Theatre as Archive and Archiving Theatre in the Storytelling State. ADSA 2023. Adelaide, Australia. 27 November - 1 December.
2023. A Better Life?: Migrant storytelling in Singapore. Performance Studies international #27. Johannesburg, South Africa. 2-5 August.
2018. The Storytelling State: Oral History as Performance in Singapore. Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference. University of Sydney. 3-5 July.
2017. ‘Thick Transcription’: Embodying the Transcript with Moving Memories. Oral History Australia Conference, Sydney. 13-16 September.
2017. Re-tualising Brother Cane: Performance Art in Singapore. European Association for Southeast Asian Studies Conference. University of Oxford, United Kingdom. 16-18 August.
2017. Oral History as Performance of Belonging in Singapore. Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies conference. Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. 27-30 June.
Conference panels organised
Leadbetter, M. Cheng, N. Pearson, N. Sastrawan, J. 2017. Perspectives on the past: New Critical Approaches to Ritual in Southeast Asia [double panel]. European Association of Southeast Asian Studies. University of Oxford, 16-18 August.