World Premiere of Nine Years Theatre's Three Sisters 三姐妹 to be Streamed at Singapore International Festival of Arts

Singapore International Festival of Arts will present Three Sisters a??a??a??, a commissioned world premiere from Nine Years Theatre, an award-winning Singapore Mandarin theater company, and Siti Company, a leading New York-based theater ensemble celebrated internationally. Streaming online June 5-20, 2021, Three Sisters a??a??a?? is an epic bilingual adaptation based on Sarah Ruhl's version of Anton Chekhov's play, re-imagined as a memory-scape of Irina, the youngest sister. This hybrid work, which was conceived and directed by Nelson Chia and Darron L West, features Nine Years Theatre company actors performing alongside cinematic projections of Siti Company members. The story is told through a juxtaposition of live bodies and virtual presence which heightens the tragi-comedic elements of these Chekhovian characters. Video-on-Demand for the play is from June 5-20, 2021, and tickets are priced at $15 from https://www.sifa.sg/.

Three Sisters a??a??a?? marks a milestone in the fifteen-year relationship between Nine Years Theatre and Siti Company. Founded by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, Siti Company's production of Death and the Ploughman, which was presented at the 2006 Singapore Arts Festival, was a pivotal moment for Nine Years Theatre's artistic director, Nelson Chia. Adopting both the Suzuki Method of Actor Training by Suzuki and the Viewpoints method developed by Bogart into Nine Years Theatre's training regimen, Three Sisters a??a??a?? not only marks a long-awaited reunion of kindred artistic spirits, but also represents Chia's journey as an artist and director coming full circle as he works alongside his former mentors. With SIFA as a backdrop to this incredible relationship, Three Sisters a??a??a??is a testament to the festival's vision of being a space where artists from all over the world meet and collaborate.

"The coronavirus pandemic forced Siti Company and Nine Years Theatre to collaborate and innovate in brand new ways," said Anne Bogart, Co-Artistic Director of Siti Company. "The result is a dramatic journey for audiences that is both theatrical and ground breaking in terms of technology and storytelling. Before the pandemic, the two companies shared a great curiosity about Anton Chekhov's remarkable play Three Sisters and also about how joining forces would exponentially heighten the experience of ensemble acting and creation. All of the necessary changes and adjustments have only amplified the mission and the results have intensified the experience of the intimate tapestry of Chekhov's play."

Darron L West, who co-directed the show, observes that, "All the Chekhov's characters suffer and confront obstacles in their lives, but, when it comes down to it, there is hope and humor, even inside deep despair. These characters, with their flaws and their grace, pick themselves up over and over again and keep bravely moving toward a future that is unknown. We humans are tenacious survivors, and like Chekhov's characters from a century ago, our lives are difficult and happy and mysterious and strange. Our process through all its obstacles truly encapsulated the essence of Chekhov's play."

"We thought the year 2020 was strange, we suspected 2021 to be stranger, but we certainly didn't expect this work - many years in the making - would today become a hybrid version," said Nelson Chia, Artistic Director of Nine Years Theatre, "But because of our training, the spirit to embrace challenges and to be fearless and creative is in the DNA of both companies. What turned out is an opportunity for us to experience something very new, and to share this new experience with the audience. This, in my view, can only make us stronger, together."

Three Sisters a??a??a?? marks the first public performance of Siti Company's 30th anniversary finale season. Additional partners for other productions in the season will include La MaMa in New York, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, and UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance.

Please visit https://www.sifa.sg/ for more information.

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