The opening and closing ceremonies of next year's South-east Asian (SEA) Games will be "beautiful and inspiring", their creative director has promised.
Actress and director Beatrice Chia-Richmond, who has been appointed to the role, told The Straits Times that brainstorming has begun for the June 2015 events to be staged at the new Sports Hub.
The 39-year-old provided the artistic vision for the 2011 National Day Parade show and will lead a team featuring some of local theatre's biggest names.
It includes musical director Sydney Tan, production designer Goh Boon Teck, playwright Haresh Sharma, and multimedia artist Brian Gothong Tan.
Ms Chia-Richmond, who is also the managing director of concert promoter Running Into The Sun, said the concept for the show is still a "work in progress".
She added that the SEA Games ceremonies are different from National Day Parades because they cater to "an audience that is a regional, not just a national one".
It will be Singapore's fourth time hosting the SEA Games, which was last held here in 1993. The event will coincide with the Republic's 50th year of independence.
The Singapore Armed Forces' Artillery Formation will coordinate the shows, which are expected to take place in front of a capacity crowd of 55,000 at the new 35ha stadium in Kallang, as well as hundreds of millions of television viewers in the region.
More than 7,000 athletes and officials are expected to take part in the sporting events.
Colonel Terry Siow, the chief artillery officer, will have up to 10,000 people at his disposal to make sure that the two shows run like clockwork.
The military, which has been behind the National Day Parade since 1966, was also responsible for organising the SEA Games in 1993.
Organisers were at last year's SEA Games in Myanmar to take notes, and shared their preliminary plans with SAF units and officials in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth earlier this month.
The Defence Ministry has declined to comment.
Organisers have set a $50 million goal in both cash and value-in-kind sponsorship, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises here.
