Singapore Theatre Company (STC), formerly known as Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT), is a non-profit professional theatre company founded in 1993. It is located at the KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT at 20 Merbau Road, Singapore. The current artistic director is Gaurav Kripalani[2] while its managing director is Charlotte Nors.
On 31 January 2024, the SRT announced its name change to STC.[3] The decision to change name was due to incompatibility of the name Repertory theatre as the company is not a repertory theatre in nature and that the general public do not know what it is.[3] The name change drew criticisms from the Singaporean theatre community, such as children's theatre company Act 3 Theatrics and multilingual theatre company The Theatre Practice.[4] Criticisms were mainly about the company taking on a name that it seeks to represent itself as the national theatre company while it is not.[4] Kripalani, the artistic director of STC, rejected the criticisms as the name change was to remove the words repertory theatre from the company and had no other intentions.[4]
On 8 February, the company decided to change to another name, yet to be determined, after the community feedback. The new name is expected to be revealed before its next performance in August.[5]
Organisation
The SRT group has five divisions:
Main Stage
The Little Company (TLC)
The Young Company (TYC)
Stage Two
Inclusive Young Company (iYC)
SRT also conducts regular Education and Development programmes, as part of its Learning and Engagement (L&E) Department as well as fundraising activities.
Main Stage
SRT caters to different audience segments, ensuring that a variety of performances are available with each season showcasing eight to ten plays and musicals.
Forbidden City: Portrait of An Empress is one of the musicals staged by SRT[6] in 2002 at the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay as part of its opening festival. It was restaged in 2003, 2006 and is slated for another restaging in 2017. Other original musicals by SRT include A Twist of Fate (1998).
SRT produced The LKY Musical (2015) for Metropolitan Productions.
Shakespeare in the Park
SRT has been presenting Shakespeare in the Park as part of its theatre tradition for close to two decades at Fort Canning Park. The first staging was in 1997 with Hamlet. Shakespeare in the Park subsequently became a biennial event from 2007 with A Midsummer Night's Dream, and has been an annual affair since 2011. In 2016, Romeo and Juliet was the ninth Shakespeare in the Park production, which attracted close to 30,000 attendees.[citation needed]
In 2017, Shakespeare in the Park production was put on hold due to a lack of funding.[7] A crowdfunding campaign, SOS (Save our Shakespeare) Campaign, was launched by SRT to raise funds to produce a show.[7] in 2018. SRT managed to raise enough funds to stage Julius Caesar at Fort Canning Park in May 2018.[7]
2013: Together with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, SRT presented 3 Titans of Theatre: Shun-kin, Musashi and The Suit, directed by three legendary directors, Simon McBurney, Yukio Ninagawa and Peter Brook respectively.
2015: SRT co-commissioned Peter Brook's new play – Battlefield, based on the end of the Indian epic, The Mahabharata. Battlefield premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, followed by an international tour that premiered in Singapore.
The Little Company
The Little Company was founded in 2001 as a division of SRT. Three to four shows are staged annually for children aged three and above, with one being a Mandarin production. The shows reach up to 70,000 children and adults annually.
The Young Company is a two-year educational and performing platform for 16 to 25 year-olds. Twenty young people are selected from open auditions to form the core of the company and receive practical training in all aspects of theatre. The Young Company also launched a playwriting programme for youths in 2012.
The KC Arts Centre, home to the Singapore Repertory Theatre at Merbau Road, Robertson Quay.
KC Arts Centre - Home of SRT
The KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT is located along the Singapore River at Robertson Quay along 20 Merbau Road. The 380-seat theatre is a hub for the performing arts. This remains the only fully furnished venue run by a theatre company in Singapore.
The KC Arts Centre is named after the Kewalram Chanrai Group in recognition of their donation to SRT.
Education and development
Education programme
Student Education Fund
The SRT Student Education Fund (SRTSEF) was set up in 2012 to reach young minds who may not otherwise have the opportunity to come to the theatre. The fund fully subsidises student tickets to any production by the SRT Group, as well as covers transport costs for them, where needed, to and from the performance venue.[9]
The National Arts Council and SRT has a shared focus on developing the young arts industry.
Conceptualised in 2013, the SRT Residency Programme has four Singaporean individuals who are offered an 18-month position in a learning environment. They are mentored by SRT and its creative team, focusing on industry's areas of expertise such as direction, stage design, producing and musical composing/arranging. The programme provides a monthly stipend to assist the Resident for the duration of the skill development programme.[citation needed]
Friends of SRT is a donor programme that offers benefits for donors that include complimentary tickets and backstage tours.
The Theatre Ball
The Theatre Ball is a fundraising event for SRT[10] to continue to offer meaningful, high calibre theatre to a diverse audience and focus on grooming and nurturing the next generation of actors, directors and designers. In 2016, proceeds from the Theatre Ball went to a variety of initiatives including the SRT Student Education Fund.[citation needed]
