Lessons From Abroad: A Sharing Session on Exchanges, Festivals and Cross-Collaboration

Lessons From Abroad is a Theatresauce initiative to gather arts practitioners and theatre makers who went abroad and/or worked overseas in 2024. The session is a space for them to share their lessons, insights and knowledge gained from these overseas experiences. 

This event is made possible thanks to our marketing partner CloudJoi and our venue partner Cosmic Theatre Hub. 

The event features a group of panelists each representing a different experience. In alphabetical order:

• Adriana Nordin Manan sharing about the Yokohoma International Performing Arts Meeting (YPAM), Japan
• Dexter Zhen, Jazzie Lee Jin Jye & Mia Sabrina Mahadir sharing about the Asian Youth Theatre Festival (AYTF), Thailand
• Dhinesha Karthigesu sharing about the Cifas Producers’ Academy, Belgium
• Kelvin Wong sharing about The Unsilent Mode Project, multiple locations
• Lim Sheng Hui sharing about the Stockholm Fringe Festival, Sweden

Part of Theatresauce’s 2025 season, Lessons from Abroad is the second of several initiatives of 2025 as the company prepares to celebrate its 10th year anniversary in 2026.  

Agenda
8PM: Registration & Networking
8:30PM: Presentations on Learning Exchanges, Performing Arts Markets and Cross-Country Collaborations 
9:30PM: Panel on Foreign Festivals + Taking Shows Abroad
10PM: Open Q&A with all Panelists

Venue
Level 6, Cosmic Theatre Hub

More Information
theatresauce.com
Facebook/Instagram: theatresauce

About the Panelists (in alphabetical order)

ADRIANA NORDIN MANAN juggles eight professions: writer, translator, playwright, researcher, curator, dramaturg, educator, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Protagonist Studio, a consultancy providing services in writing and writing-adjacent areas. In her artistic career, she is the founding Artistic Director of Cocoon Creative Lab, Protagonist's creative arm that works in new works incubation and cultural exchange through language. In 2024, Adriana was invited as the Malaysian representative to the JF-YPAM Invitation program for Professionals in Performing Arts in Yokohama, Japan. She has a Masters in Politics from New York University (2014). Photo Credit: SueAnne Koh

DEXTER ZHEN is an actor and theatre practitioner with an interest in acting, movement, directing, and teaching. He seeks to create works that delve deeply into the raw human psyche. Dexter received his acting and movement training in California, United States, and his directing training through Theatresauce’s Emerging Directors Lab (EDL). He has worked with Theatresauce, The Actors Studio/KLPAC, KongsiKL, lowercase laboratories, howls collective. Dexter represented Malaysia on behalf of Theatresauce at the 2024 Asian Youth Theatre Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Education: University of California, San Diego. B.A. in Linguistics. IG: @dexterzhen

DHINESHA KARTHIGESU (He/They) is a multi-disciplinary storyteller, theatre maker and facilitator. As a Malaysian Indian artist of Tamil and Malayalee descent, his work explores queerness, migration, masculinity and identity. Dhinesha is an alumni of Theatresauce's Emerging Directors Lab of 2020-2022 and is currently a Fellow in Singapore for T:> Works’s Artistic Directors Academy from 2024-2025. As the current Artistic Director for Theatresauce, he is focused on championing minority and underrepresented Malaysian stories. In 2024, Dhinesha was chosen to represent Malaysia for the Cifas Producers' Academy in Brussels, Belgium. www.dhinesha.com 

JAZZIE LEE JIN JYE is a multidisciplinary theatremaker and co-founder of lowercase laboratories. She was the publicity and poster designer for Theatresauce from 2021–2023. Her recent works: Beware: Si Oompur Lumpur (performer/art director/producer), Forget Me Not (director/scenic designer), titus andronicus (costume designer/stage manager), At Times, The Moon Peeks Through The Window To Say Hi (actor), KAKUREGA (stage manager), Saturn Return (set designer), Come Home and Eat (projection designer), both of them were me (director/set designer). As a member of the autism spectrum, she finds making art an avenue for her to process the world. Photo Credit: Chloe Liew

KELVIN WONG is a theatremaker, producer, and educator. He was Resident Director at The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre and the Artistic Director of Theatresauce, a director-focused collective which he founded in Kuala Lumpur. He is an MFA graduate from The Theatre School at DePaul University, Chicago, and has taught with Sunway University, Malaysia. Kelvin is currently a second-year PhD candidate with the Universities of Exeter and Bristol. He is funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWWDTP). k.wong2@exeter.ac.uk Photo Credit: Murasaki Haru

LIM SHENG HUI is an actor, director, and writer deeply connected to nature and committed to using eco-dramaturgy to inspire meaningful conversations and actions toward a more symbiotic future. After making her directorial debut with "Symbiocene," she founded the Terrafunk Theatre Collective. She was thrilled to have a reimagined version, “Into the Symbiocene”, nominated for Best Dance & Physical Theatre and Best Innovation in Performance Award at the Stockholm Fringe Festival 2024. A graduate of Vassar College, New York, with a BA in Drama with Honours, Sheng is also dedicated to animal welfare, rescuing and rehoming vulnerable stray cats in her spare time.