Actress and director Koh Wan Ching to take over as head of acting at Intercultural Theatre Institute

SINGAPORE – Veteran actress Koh Wan Ching, 42, has been appointed head of acting at home-grown theatre academy Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI).

From July 1, she will assume directorial responsibilities from co-founder and current director Thirunalan Sasitharan. She will helm the academy’s professional diploma in intercultural theatre acting, which draws from classical and contemporary Asian theatre techniques and remains the only such accreditation in the world.

ITI said in a statement on Wednesday that Sasitharan, 65, will retain the designation of director but ease out of administrative and curriculum-based tasks. While continuing to teach the Humanities (Cultural & Literary Theory module), he will assume a mentorship role and spend more of his time on research, writing and strategic planning.

ITI said: “The appointment signals the first succession of leadership since the school was co-founded in 2000. Wan Ching’s appointment follows the engagement of younger, more innovative and diverse faculty at the school, whose students and alumni come from 18 countries.”

Koh told The Straits Times in an e-mail: “The school’s curriculum has been tried and tested and I will not be making major changes in the next few years. I will be looking into integration within the curriculum and how our teachers can co-teach and collaborate across modules.”

The teacher of acting and movement at ITI for the past three years added: “I want more people to know about ITI and the unique training we offer and to see our students’ experiments with theatre. I would like to look into more engagement and collaboration with local practitioners.”

Founded in 2000 as the Theatre Training and Research Programme by late theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun and actor and art critic Sasitharan, ITI – renamed in 2011 – is an independent theatre school for contemporary artists that seeks to enable its students to produce original, intercultural works.

It has its building in Upper Wilkie Road in Rochor and counts among its graduates nearly 100 arts practitioners, among whom are Yeo Yann Yann, winner of two Golden Horse Awards for her performances in Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo (2013) and West Season (2019); and Grace Kalaiselvi, founder of Brown Voices, Singapore’s first collective of Indian theatre practitioners.

Koh, with her 20 years of acting experience with major Singapore theatre companies like Drama Box, Nine Years Theatre and Wild Rice, is well known in the Singapore circuit, but has big shoes to fill.

Sasitharan, who received the Cultural Medallion in 2012, is a well-known international name and has been frequently invited to lecture on various aspects of theatre both here and abroad. He also served on the boards of multinational institutions like the Asian Arts Network.

Koh said: “Sasi is internationally recognised as a cultural leader and accomplished academic and practitioner. I have mostly worked locally as a practitioner. I have much to learn and am grateful for his mentorship moving forward.”

Koh’s directing credits include two outdoor productions – It Won’t Be Too Long: The Cemetery (2015) at Bukit Brown Cemetery, which she co-directed with Drama Box founder Kok Heng Leun; and Tanah.Air: A Play In Two Parts (2019) at the Malay Heritage Centre with Kok and Checkpoint Theatre associate artist Adib Kosnan.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre studies from the National University of Singapore and was previously an adjunct lecturer in the Bachelor of Arts acting programmes at both Lasalle College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.