What is Octopus?

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were infected by a deadly sexually transmitted disease?

What if you have exposed your loved ones to the deadly infection by your own choices?

What would your love ones do if they found out that they were infected because of you?

These are the questions that the main characters in “Octopus”, written by Steve Yockey, are forced to deal with after a hastily planned night of “fun” with the 4 of them places them in the situation where one of them turns out to be positive. As the story progressed, audience gets to see how the newly discovered information threatened the relationship that both couples have with each other and how each reacts differently to the news. In the actions that the characters take as the story unfolds, “Octopus” puts out a mirror for the audience to reflect on themselves and discover if what they see on stage would be something that they could consider doing if they find themselves in similar situations.

“Octopus” is not all doom and gloom as love in the age of AIDS/HIV is still love nevertheless. It is also a story of commitments and the lengths that people would go to keep what’s most important to them. It presents the audience with 2 different and parallel ways that people deal with the problem that still plague us even after all these years. One may have a better outcome than the other but it may not be the easier path to choose when all is said and done.

While “Octopus” is firmly situated in the context of the gay community, it is by no means limited by it. The questions raised, motivations scrutinized and message reveals resounds on a universal level no matter which part of the sexual preference spectrum the audience choose to identify with. Like the disease itself, the message in “Octopus” does not discriminate. It is for all to hear, understand and share.

So what is Octopus?

Short answer … it is a play directed by Kelvin Wong, featuring Malik Taufiq, Jack Lua, Nandang Abdul Rahman, Edmund Wong & Will Quah which will be performed at Pentas 2, klpac from Dec 16 – 22nd,2010.

It is also an unapologetic gay play to opens a window into a situation that most people would never want to find themselves in which allows them to examine the possibilities of the what ifs within the context of the universal story being presented on stage.

It’s something that you will miss out if you don’t go and watch it yourself

(Cast of the Malaysian production of "Octopus by Steve Yockey

*STRICTLY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY*

Date & Time: 16 – 18 Dec & 20 – 22 Dec @ 8:30pm; 19 Dec @ 3pm
Venue: Pentas 2, klpac
Venue Map: http://www.klpac.com/Welcome.asp?c=venuelocation
Ticket Price: RM38 (adults), RM25 (students & the disabled)

Coming Soon!

Tackling the World 10 minutes at a Time

I'm definitely going for the workshops this year after chickening out at the last minute last year. Anyone else coming?

Want to learn the Art of 10-minuters?

SHORT+SWEET Malaysia 2010

Workshops Now Open for Registrations

SHORT+SWEET Malaysia will be returning for a third season! And we're growing our SHORT+SWEET family in Malaysia once again... Last year, we introduced a new member, SHORT+SWEET DANCE. This year, we will be welcoming another addition SHORT+SWEET MUSICAL. You can look forward to six weeks of SHORT+SWEET festival this year.

As usual, we'll be starting off with a whole host of workshops conducted by SHORT+SWEET experts Alex Broun, who will be running the theatre workshops, and Nicole Stinton, who will be running the musical theatre workshops.

It's a fantastic opportunity to familiarise yourself with the whole SHORT+SWEET concept and it'll give you an early start to prepare for the festival in September / October 2010... do sign up with your friends!

THEATRE
Playwriting Level 1: 2 April @ 7pm - 10pm
Playwriting Level 2: 3 April @ 2pm - 5pm
Directing / Acting Level 1: 3 April @ 10am - 1pm
Directing / Acting Level 2: 4 April @ 10am - 1pm
Combined Session - Playwriting / Directing / Acting Advanced: 4 April @ 2pm - 5pm
Public Reading & Showcase: 4 April @ 7pm - 10pm

MUSICAL THEATRE
Composers & lyricists: 11 April @ 10am - 2pm
Performers: 11 April @ 2.30pm - 5.30pm
Performers / Composers / Lyricists: 11 April @ 6.30pm - 10pm & 12 April @ 6.30pm - 10pm

TO REGISTER
E-mail michelle@klpac.org your contact details & state which workshop you'd like to attend
(registration fee of RM10 applies)

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
SHORT+SWEET 2010 Festival Dates
SHORT+SWEET Musical: 22 September - 3 October
SHORT+SWEET Dance : 6 October - 17 October
SHORT + SWEET Theatre: 20 October - 31 October

Open Auditions for klpac's T4YP 2010 Ensemble

Do you want to be in the limelight? Do you want to try to see if you're cut out for the theater stage? If you're between 16 to 25 years old, here's a chance for you!

Since 2008, klpac’s Theatre For Young People (T4YP) programme has been providing a platform for young people to express themselves by creating meaningful theatre.

Once again, we would like to welcome young people between the ages of 16 to 25 years old to be part of the T4YP Ensemble as actors for Season 2010. Previous theatre experience is not essential. However, commitment, creativity and dedication are …

Season 2010 runs for a period of six months from April to September and features three mainstage productions in Pentas 2 and a 2-week season of experimental theatre in the Indicine. Throughout the season, compulsory weekly rehearsals on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights as well as Saturday afternoons.


Audition Details:
One Day Only: Saturday, March 27
Time slots: 10am to 1pm, 2pm to 6pm & 7pm to 9pm
Venue: Indicine, Level 2, klpac

Come Prepared with:

ONE Classical Monologue (2 minutes)

• Text in verse by Shakespeare, Monologue must be memorised

ONE Contemporary Monologue (2 minutes)

• Non-comedic/Serious, text in prose from any contemporary 20th, 21st century playwright or any movie screenplay, Monologue must be memorised

ONE Contemporary Monologue (2 minutes)

• Comedic/Funny, text in prose from any contemporary 20th, 21st century playwright or any movie screenplay, Monologue must be memorised

OPTIONAL: ONE Song (1 minute) to be sung acapella

Looking for monologues for the audition? Try these sites :

• Online Monologue Database: Actorama.com
• Shakespeare monologues: Shakespeare’s Monologues
• Contemporary movie monologues: Colin’s Movie Monologue Page
• Contemporary monologues – from plays: Monologue Archive, The Monologue Database

Audition is by appointment only!

Contact Ashraf Zain (Production Manager, klpac) on 03-40479037 or ashraf@klpac.org

Closing date for registration: Thursday, 25 March by 6.30pm
After this date, no entries will be accepted. No walk-ins will be entertained on the day.

For more information on T4YP and their past productions visit their blog at http://t4yp.wordpress.com/ also visit http://www.klpac.org/

The Week That Was – Feb 22 – 28, 2010

It was a quiet week at the office work-wise. People were just coming back from their long Chinese New Year break and we mostly catching up with all their messages and action items for work. For us who started work the week before, it was just a normal week at the office.

Highlight of the week was the “Bernarda Alba” musical that I watched at klpac on their preview night. It was definitely not the type of musicals that I was accustomed to so it was really an eye opening experience for me to watch. I have actually heard the soundtrack of the original cast production but it never really registered in my head until I actually got to see a full production of the piece. I guess it just goes to show that while listening to the original soundtrack CD might be enjoyable, it is still a poor substitute to actually watching it on stage.

“Bernarda Alba” was quite dark and somber but it was not without moments of charm and frivolity. A character study in effects of repression and social control, it tells the story of a domineering mother how literally imprisons her 5 daughters after the death of her 2nd husband in an attempt to protect them from the outside world. The reactions and conflicts that arose from this decision drove the narration which was beautifully conveyed through the songs being sung on stage. I definitely enjoyed myself at the performance even with the minor technical details that bugged me a bit while watching.

The other highlight of the week was my board gaming overdose. We had planned to have a board game session at a friend’s house on Sunday but a few of us wanted to have another session on the Friday before because it was a public holiday and they were all in town. We ended up going to the Boston’s Café near my place and staked out our own little corner to play our board games. We played and played and played! By the time we stopped, we had actually played almost 12 hours of board games in one sitting! We had “Settlers of Catan”, “No Merci!”, “Wits & Wagers”, “Times Up: Title Recall” & “Pictionary” on the table that day. Other than the 1 hour that we had to spend virtually in the dark thanks to a power outage at the café, it was just games and good company for the whole evening.

I was afraid that the guys would be all boadgame-ed out when Sunday came along but I guess that the board game bug has hit my group hard. After lunch at a nearby kopitiam, we adjourned to a friend’s house for games. We decided to whip up a batch of double chocolate chip cookies for the afternoon and proceeded to play several board games till it was time for dinner. We ended having rounds of “Settlers of Catan” (a group favorite), “Tribond”, “Kill Doctor Lucky”, “Wits & Wagers” & “Who Am I” that afternoon. I still didn’t get a chance to introduce the group to “Small World” yet but I hope to do so next time we come together for games.

It was a great weekend of games and great friends.

“Bernarda Alba” at klpac

klpac presents

BERNARDA ALBA

SYNOPSIS

“Bernarda Alba”, a musical, tells the tale of a powerful matriarch who imposes a strict rule on her household following her second husband's funeral: "Not a breath of outside air is going to enter this house. It's going to feel like we've bricked up the doors and windows," she proclaims.

Bernarda's five daughters, however, struggle with her cold wishes. The girls' dream and desires challenge their mother's harsh rules and the outside world begins to slowly permeate their isolated existence.

Cast: NICOLE-ANN THOMAS, ABIGAIL BARRAGRY, AMELIA CHEN, MIN LI, STEFANIE PAULUS, ASHVINA MARIE NAIDU, ELVIRA ARUL, SHERYL CHONG, TIONG WOOI, ROSDAYANA ROSTI & BELINDA HON

Director: CHRISTOPHER LING
Executive Producer: DATO’ FARIDAH MERICAN
Artistic Director: JOE HASHAM OAM

Musical Director: TONY LEO SELVARAJ
Choreographer: PETER ONG
Vocal Director: STEPHEN TOK
Lighting Designer: SANDEE CHEW
Sound: MICHAEL THOMAS

Date & Time:
25 FEB (Preview)
26 – 27 FEB, 2 – 6 MAR @ 8.30pm
28 FEB & 7 MAR @ 3pm (Matinee shows)

Venue:
Pentas 2, klpac

Tickets:
RM48 (adults)
RM38 (senior citizens)
RM28 (students & disabled)

PROMOTIONS:
RM28 flat for preview night and Tues – Wed (2 & 3 MAR) shows

Box Office:
klpac @ Sentul Park (03-4047 9000) &
The Actors Studio @ Lot 10 (03-21422009/03-21432009)

Tickets also available at:
TicketAxcess @ Head office (Jln. Semangat), 1-Utama outlet & Alamanda Putrajaya outlet

Venue Website: http://www.klpac.com/
Venue Map Link: http://www.klpac.org/Welcome.asp?c=venuelocation
Facebook Event link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=235846122777

The Two Weeks That Was – Feb 8 – 21, 2010

The first week was quite busy in the office with everyone trying to finish things off before they leave for their Chinese New Year break. Being the only one in the office who doesn’t need to rush back home for reunion dinners, I had the luxury of taking my company mandatory leave days ahead of everyone else which I did during the week before Chinese New Year. Most of those dates were spent with household chores and some repairs especially those involving the electrical supply.

I guess that it’s a fact of living in a place that when you’ve live there long enough, you’ll bound to have to deal will problems related to aging electrical wiring and the like. For months, I’ve been having power supply brown outs whenever I turn on one too many electrical appliances. Electrical sparks at the power distribution boards became more frequent and things got worse when I can’t even run my microwave without tripping the power supply. I finally had enough and called the electrician to replace the power distribution board before I accidently burn the house down. Good thing that my landlord agreed to have the repair bill deducted for the month’s rent.

Several friends came together to organized birthday dinner with another friend who is celebrating his birthday in the same month. We all went to a small, out of the way, Japanese restaurant called “NIHON KAI” off Jalan Kelang Lama. I have to say that it was a wonderful find for me as they had a really good spread of dishes to choose from and all of them were priced reasonably well. All of us were led into one of those tatami mat private dining rooms where we proceeded to party like drunk Japanese salary men the night through. I’m sure that we sounded like that as we enjoyed the great food, drinks and company.

Chinese New Year came and went without much to mark it for me. We did get 2 boardgame sessions in during the break. The first one was with a group of friends in Sentul which lasted for a few hours where we tested out Settlers of Catan, Wits & Wagers as well as Taboo. Our hosts made us a wonderful lunch in between the games and we ended the day with dinner at Pavilion. The second session of games was on the following day at a café near to my apartment. We ended up spending almost 7 hours there playing “Settlers of Catan”, “Wits & Wagers”, “Kill Doctor Lucky” and “Wasabi!” The funny thing was that everyone else at the café seemed to have the same idea as every table there that night had some type of game happening. I’m guessing that people were already quite bored staying at home during the long break and hence why it seems like everyone was out with games there.

Being at work during Chinese New Year week was a bit if a drag since the whole office was almost empty expect for a few of us. Fortunately, nothing major happen during the period and I was able to handle a few of the issues that cropped up during the period on my own. I ended up taking some time during the week to visit Toybox and get my own copy of the “SmallWorld” board game that I hope to give it a test drive some time soon.

I ended the week with good food and company at a friend’s place on Sunday to watch as many episodes of “Glee” that we could squeeze in. We all ended up only finishing half of the 13 episode season but it was still a great time. I even got to do some cooking since we wanted to make cookies to go with the show and made dinner once everyone got their fill of the TV show. Having a proper kitchen is one of the things that I missed most after moving out of my parents’ house to live on my own. I definitely want to get a proper kitchen in the next place that I move in.