An Outstanding Team Of Lecturers

The Diploma in Performing Arts teaching team comprises full-time and contract lecturers, all of whom are active and noted practitioners and scholars in their own fields – and sometime across fields as well. Our faculty includes a pool of guest lecturers whose expertise is called upon as and when needed.

Highly committed as teachers, our lecturers bring with them particular skills, theoretical and experiential knowledge, and ways of seeing and articulating viewpoints to share with their students. Their combined qualifications, experiences and accomplishments make them a truly outstanding team in the field of arts education in the country today.

BRENDA DANKER

Producer and director Brenda Danker is passionate about telling human-interest stories arising from a keen interest in social issues affecting women, youth and the marginalised. Her honest yet biting portrayals of these issues in both film and television have won over many critics and garnered her much recognition from the industry. Outstanding production credits include 3R (Best Magazine Award 2003, Best Social Awareness Program – Silver 2005, and Asian TV Awards). Recent projects include the feature film Gadoh (2009) and a documentary Selepas Tsunami (2010). Brenda has more than 10 years of professional experience in TV production for local and regional channels. A co-partner of Big Pictures Production, she holds a Masters with distinction in Screen Drama Direction from Goldsmiths College, University of London, under a UK Chevening scholarship, and a BA in Mass Communication from Universiti Sains Malaysia.
 

ZAHIM ALBAKRI directed the multiple awarding-winning musicals Puteri Gunung Ledang: The Musical and P. Ramlee: The Musical. He has produced a string of outstanding works as a stage director and actor whose talent is sought after and celebrated in both Malaysia and Singapore. A founding member and artistic director and executive producer of the theatre company Dramalab, he trained as an actor at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London, and holds an MA in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University.


 

MARION D’CRUZ is a founder member of Five Arts Centre (est.1984). She graduated with a BA in Performing Arts and an MA in Dance from Universiti Sains Malaysia and has studied classical, modern and contemporary dance in Malaysia, Indonesia, London and New York. Marion’s focus as an artist has been to create a contemporary Malaysian identity in dance and to make works that speak of what she is passionate about. A pioneering dance-maker in Malaysia, Marion now teaches, produces, choreographs and performs. At the 2006 Boh Cameronian Arts Awards, Marion was awarded the Cross-Cultural Champion of the Arts Award.

 

ZALFIAN FUZI is the associate director of The Instant Café Theatre Company (ICT) and has worked in theatre for the past 13 years as an actor, director, dramaturge, and teacher. He holds an MA in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University, London under a UK Chevening scholarship, and a BA in English & Drama from Temple University, Philadelphia. As Associate Director of ICT, he assists in planning the company’s strategy and implements the overall artistic vision. He is tasked with creating new content for new comedy revue shows, plays and corporate shows. As a facilitator, dramaturge, and director he jointly runs ICT’s FIRSTWoRKS programme with its founding member and artistic director, Jo Kukathas, to develop new writing for the Malaysian stage. He uses his skills in dramaturgy and scriptwriting to conduct workshops for writers and mentors the programme’s writers through discussion and one-on-one sessions as they create their original scripts. Notable achievements of this include award-winning original scripts Air Con and Hero which he dramaturged. Zalfian’s most recent directing credits include Air Con and Hero (both nominated Best Director, Boh Cameronian Arts Awards), The Girly Show, and Sex Money Scandal.

DR. NILOUFER HARBEN holds a PhD from Royal Holloway College, University of London, and was a recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies/Fulbright Fellowship and Harvard/Yenching Fellowship. Specialising in English drama history and literary criticism, she is the published author of Twentieth Century English History Plays: From Shaw to Bond.



 

ANNE JAMES was trained in theatre at Universiti Sains Malaysia (Penang) and Northwestern University (Illinois, USA). A much respected and award-winning actor who has performed locally and internationally, she has had the privilege of working with a number of famous directors and theatre companies including Krishen Jit (Five Arts Centre, KL), Richard Schechner (New York), Ong Keng Sen (TheatreWorks, Singapore), Joe Hasham (The Actors Studio, KL), William Gluth (Playbox Theatre Company, Australia), Hiroshi Koike (Pappa Tarahumara, Japan), Ivan Heng (WildRice, Singapore), Zahim Albakri (Dramalab, KL), Edwin Sumun (Sumunda, KL), Jo Kukathas (Instant Café Theatre Company, KL) and Natalie Hennedige (Cake Theatre, Singapore).

PUAY TIN, LEOW is a published playwright whose major plays Three Children, Ang Tau Mui and Family have been produced in Malaysia, Singapore, Tokyo, Berlin, Cairo, Adelaide, Melbourne, and New York. Inspired by Hokkien street opera and Shakespeare, Puay Tin’s writing has tended to be experimental in content, form and performance, incorporating naturalistic and non-realistic dialogues and monologues, as well as songs and chants. Her non-scripted theatre projects have made use of or included pre-existent non-dramatic texts from diverse sources (such as magazines, the Constitution, memoirs, etc.), the creation of modular pieces of performance text, and the use of chance (tikam-tikam) to determine performance sequences. In recent years, she has moved away from writing to participation in collaborative performance projects with other arts practitioners and non-practitioners on projects such as Tikam-Tikam: Merdeka with a law professor, an economist and a historian (2008), Emily of Emerald Hill with film director Saw Teong Hin (2010) and The Baling Talks, curated by arts activist Mark Teh for the 2011 Singapore Arts Festival. A recipient of the UK Chevening and US East-West Centre scholarships, Puay Tin holds an MFA in Theatre from the University of Hawaii, and currently heads the Department of Performance & Media at Sunway University.

IMRI NASUTION is a versatile filmmaker. His skills include cinematography, sound recording, editing and acting, but it is directing that has always been his core strength. Graduated with a diploma in filmmaking, Imri has been directing documentaries, music videos, business programmes and TV series since 1999. He is also a co-founder of Kino-i, a production company that has been playing a key role in nurturing talents by conducting certified trainings and workshops on new film techniques for young people. Together with his team in Kino-i, Imri believes in productive growth through effective knowledge-sharing.

 

MARK TEH is one of the busiest and most versatile talents in contemporary Malaysian theatre. His projects are particularly concerned with the issues of Malaysian history, education and participation. Starting out in college as a member of the ARTicle 19 and Akshen youth theatre collectives, he has since been engaged in a range of collaborative projects which include facilitating community arts workshops, directing documentary performances, researching and teaching. He was the inaugural recipient of the Most Promising Artist Award at the 2002 Boh Cameronian Arts Awards and is a member of Five Arts Centre. Mark is the creative producer for new media projects such as the PopIN information network for Malaysian youth, The Fairly Current Show and MP3. He is currently pursuing his MA in Art and Politics at Goldsmiths College in London, under a UK Chevening scholarship.

AZMYL YUSOF a.k.a. AZMYL YUNOR holds a MA (Communication) from RMIT University, Australia. As a singer-songwriter and touring musician, he has been recording and producing his own albums on his own independent record label since 1997. Unusual for an underground/independent musician, he has shared the stage with acts as diverse as punk pioneers Carburator Dung and mainstream icon M. Nasir. An artist with a multi-disciplinary streak and strong aversion to being pigeon-holed, he regularly collaborates with filmmakers and theatre practitioners as a music composer and performer. He extends his art to non-governmental agencies to support worthy causes and awareness campaigns. As an academic, his published works include research into the stereotyping of music subcultures in simulated media moral panics and the use of 'pop scoring' in contemporary cinema. A co-artistic director of Troubadours Enterprise and co-founder of the Experimental Musicians and Artists Co-operative Malaysia (EMACM), Azmyl is a noted presence in the local arts scene for showcasing and promoting local original music and fringe music genres.

YEE I-LANN

I-Lann graduated in visual arts at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, and later studied painting at Central St Martins School of Arts in London. Incorporating various media including photography, installation and video, her practice seeks connections between landscape, perception and cultural identity. She has exhibited widely, having taken part in the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial at the Queensland Art Gallery, Contemporary Commonwealth exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, Independence Project and Out of the Mould at Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves at ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Germany, and New Nature at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand. Her work as a film production designer can be seen in the following feature films: Karaoke directed by Chris Chong, Senandong Malam directed by Dain Said and Al-Jafree Yusop, and Rain Dogs directed by Ho Yuhang.

GUEST LECTURERS

JAMES LEE

Award-winning film director, noted for works The Beautiful Washing Machine, Waiting for Love, Call If You Need Me, and Tolong! Awek Aku Pontianak. Also a theatre director, photographer, performer and trained graphic designer.






 

MELISSA TEOH

Highly regarded and sought-after as a production and stage manager and designer in Malaysia and Singapore. Holds a BA in Theatre (Directing and Production Design) from Pepperdine University, USA.






 

GREY YEOH

A trained multimedia designer who collaborates in socially-engaged arts projects both online and for live performances. Creative producer for online information portal for Malaysian youth, PopIN and online satire show That Effing Show. Holds a full-time job as the Arts Manager with the British Council Malaysia.




 

DR GHULAM-SARWAR YOUSOF

Highly distinguished scholar and specialist in traditional Southeast Asian theatre, author of numerous books, articles, papers and monographs. A founder-director of the Asian Cultural Heritage Centre, and a US East-West Centre scholar with a PhD from the University of Hawaii.





 

NIKI CHEONG

Digital media advocate, one of Malaysia's top bloggers and Twitterers, former deputy editor of The Star's youth platform R.AGE and columnist of The Bangsar Boy. Now pursuing his masters at King’s College in London, under a UK Chevening scholarship.





 

EDDIN KHOO

Writer, journalist, translator and director of the Centre for the Study and Documentation of Traditional Performance, and also a UK Chevening scholar.







 

DR SUSAN PHILIP

Academician specialising in teaching drama, and active researcher of Malaysian and Singaporean theatres; holds a PhD from Australian National University.






 

LEE JIA PING

Jia Ping has over 10 years of stage and production managing experience, which she gained from working with the best theatre companies in KL and the UK.






 

AU SOW YEE

An experimental film/video artist whose works and film performances have been shown in Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy and USA. An MFA holder from the San Francisco Art Institute, recipient of the inaugural Krishen Jit Astro Fund award in 2006.






 

ISAZALY MOHAMED ISA a.k.a ZALEE

Certified Apple Pro trainer, awardwinning filmmaker and editor, and digital technology advocate, is involved in film and television production in Malaysia and Singapore. A former child actor who practically grew up on production sets in Singapore, Zalee also heads the research and development department at production house Kino-i in Kuala Lumpur.

DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATOR

SHARMILA SUBRAMANIAM, BA in Mass Communication, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.








 

TECHNICAL ADMINISTRATOR

RAJESH KUMAR SUBRAMANIAM

Rajesh is a qualified sound engineer with extensive experience as front-of-house engineer for local and international concerts, as well as a professional touring drummer who has performed with local and international artists at international festivals and events. In the field of media production, he has engineered, mixed, and produced commercials for television and radio. He has recorded and served as a mixing engineer for local artistes such as Siti Nurhaliza, Mawi, Zainal Abidin and Ning Baizura. In 2008, Rajesh received the Green Award from AdAsia for Best Musical Director for a Green Product, in recognition of his work on a public service announcement video. Most recently he won the Astro Vellithirai Best Short Tamil Movie 2010 contest with his production team Indian Kung Fu. Rajesh is also the founder of video and multimedia production house, ZigZag Productions.

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