October 28, 2022
35 for EMCC35 | Michelle Tan
In this instalment of our #35forEMCC35 series, we spotlight Michelle Tan, an NUS alumna from the class of 2016. As an undergraduate, Michelle had set her mind and heart on pursuing a career in theatre. She decided EMCC Crew was the ideal choice for her to attain a diverse set of skills and experience through working on a diverse range of productions across different artistic forms and formats, and spent all four of her undergraduate years in it. Today, Michelle is a programmer in the Programming and Production Team at The Theatre Practice (hereby referred to as “Practice”). She appreciates that Practice creates and presents works that are not limited by form, but driven by ethos and the spirit of play. At the time of this interview, she is working on Extinction Feast, a theatrical experience which combines powerful storytelling, evocative multimedia, live foley and canapés by @ahhuakelong, a Singapore-based fish farm.
How did you first get started with EMCC?
I was intending to pursue a career in theatre after graduation, and wanted to continue engaging with the arts during my university years. EMCC was an ideal choice, offering opportunities to work in various capacities on a diverse range of productions across different artistic forms and formats. So I joined the EMCC Crew in my first year and remained part of the team throughout my university years.
What role did you play in EMCC Crew and how did it/they last?
I worked mainly as a Production Manager in the EMCC series, but I also participated in different shows as Stage Manager, Crew, Artist Liaison and Front-Of-House. In my final year, I was the Vice-President (Talent and Development) of EMCC Crew and helped to organise and develop training workshops for the team. The sum of these experiences provided insight and perspective on how each role relates to each other, which I found to be a valuable takeaway since the process of realising a production is inherently collaborative in nature.
What are some of the training workshops you organised for EMCC Crew?
The EMCC Crew Executive Committee (Exco) was interested to expand the training programme to include lighting and sound design, and to better structure the training progression for both junior and senior EMCC Crew. Our mentor, Mr Kenny Wong (presently Head of Technical Production at Esplanade), conducted workshops that introduced the crew to the basics of technical theatre, production and stage management, and the basics of sound design.
In addition, we organised workshops led by senior EMCC Crew members that covered lighting design and the responsibilities of EMCC-specific duties, complemented by understudy opportunities. We believed a more structured training programme would better scaffold our members’ accumulation of knowledge, skills and experience year on year, thereby enhancing our ability to support the staging of EMCC programmes.
How did your passion for the arts intersect with what EMCC sought to achieve?
I think that EMCC has been an important platform for students to play, experiment and express themselves – as performers, production personnel and as audiences. The opportunities it presented for us to experience the arts in multifaceted ways, and to challenge ourselves to delve into unknowns, were to me quite precious. Personally, EMCC was a space to kindle my interest and curiosity towards the arts. I remember being part of the production team for White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour during the NUS Arts Festival in 2014. The actor sees the script for the first time on stage, right in front of the audience. And the experience of bearing witness to five such first encounters – the shifting dynamics between text, performer and audience – left an impression on me at that time.
What hopes do you have for the EMCC series in furthering its arts outreach programme and pushing the boundaries of artistic expression by students?
I wish for the EMCC series to continue nurturing students’ voices as artmakers, and allowing that to ground their experimentation of artistic expression. Not necessarily in pursuit of pushing boundaries, but to explore the possibilities (both within and across disciplines) of how best to express the messages they wish to convey.
In that same vein, I hope the EMCC series creates bridges to reach and engage with their intended audience. As the form of expression evolves, I hope that in turn offers the EMCC Crew opportunities to experience and participate in an even more diverse range of productions.
What advice would you give to NUS students who are keen to pursue a career in Singapore theatre?
I feel it is important to identify what feeds you as a theatremaker, in whichever capacity you choose, whether on or offstage. It could be emotionally, cognitively, socially, even materially to be pragmatic – the list goes on. I think all are equally valid, and it will be an ongoing process of clarifying what that is and observing how that shifts over time. But I do think this dialogue with self is crucial to sustain yourself in the ways that matter to you, which will feed back into the kind of work you choose to do and finding your tribe who share a common ethos to do it with, even if one day it may no longer be in the form of theatre.
About #35forEMCC35
NUS Centre For the Arts is proud to commemorate 35 years of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts (EMCC) through our #35forEMCC35 series. Spotlighting 35 individuals from past and present editions of EMCC, the series showcases how EMCC has complemented these individuals’ academic and professional lives, and their hopes for EMCC in the years to come.