ITI Launches 25th Anniversary Celebrations With Graduation Showcase “No Particular Order” by Joel Tan

Brought to you by Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) and SW Strategies.

The Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) marked the start of its 25th anniversary celebrations with a bold production of No Particular Order by acclaimed Singaporean playwright Joel Tan.

Directed by pioneering theatre-maker Jean Ng, the graduation showcase is being staged from 1 to 3 May 2025 at the Drama Centre Black Box, performed by four graduating actor-students from Singapore and India.

Transforming Through Theatre: A Showcase Of Courage, Craft, And Collaboration

Told through 18 non-linear vignettes and featuring 43 characters, No Particular Order explored the unsettling rise of authoritarianism and the moral dilemmas faced by individuals caught in its shadow.

From quiet acts of resistance to the hidden costs of silence, the play was a powerful reminder of how systems of power infiltrate everyday life.

“We wanted the final-year production to be transformative, not just artistically but personally,” said Koh Wan Ching, Head of Acting at ITI.

“This production was centered around three core ideas: transformation, connection, and care. It required our students to draw deeply from their training, lived experiences, and emotional landscapes.”

This year’s graduating cast, Aditi Venkateshwaran, Kunal Dara, Sanat Mehta, and Surendran Ananthan, was trained under ITI’s Professional Diploma in Intercultural Theatre (Acting), where they were taught in an environment that integrated traditional techniques and contemporary practice.

Their performance demonstrated the depth of this training, as they embodied roles ranging from revolutionaries to ordinary citizens caught in extraordinary times.

Over three months of intensive rehearsals, director Jean Ng guided the students through a collaborative and exploratory process.

Each actor rotated through multiple roles before the final casting, deepening the ensemble’s understanding of the play’s diverse perspectives.

“I think in the world that we live in, it’s all the more important to make art,” said Jean Ng, Director.

“Because art holds a mirror upright to the world. Okay, this is what’s happening, this is us. Art is also capable of imagining, imagining change, imagining a whole different world.”

Why No Particular Order?

No Particular Order was chosen for its bold thematic resonance with the world today and offered the graduating cohort an opportunity to confront timely questions of power, complicity, and moral courage.

Originally written in the wake of Trump’s election in 2016 and informed by the global rise of authoritarianism, the play remains deeply relevant amid today’s shifting political landscapes.

According to Koh Wan Ching, the decision was guided by a desire to challenge students both artistically and ethically.

“We all share the common aspiration that theatre must be socially relevant and make a difference to life as it is lived by ordinary people,” she said.

“We wanted the ensemble to be challenged not just as practitioners, but as human beings.”

No Particular Order was not merely a capstone for the graduating cohort, it was an artistic declaration of ITI’s enduring ethos: that theatre is inseparable from life and its complexities.

The performance embodied ITI’s foundational belief that theatre must engage society meaningfully and provoke thoughtful reflection.

Scenes within the production ranged from surreal to deeply grounded, from scenes including a man assembling ingredients for a stew as catastrophe loomed overhead, to a mother tending to flowers while a car horn blared, to crows circling overhead amid gunfire.

These, cumulatively, created a theatrical world that was both fractured and eerily familiar to ours.

“I think I was interested in how, I mean, in the study of power and the rise of authoritarianism, it tends to center on the big corridors of power, of people in charge, of the strong men,” said Joel Tan, Playwright.

“I was interested in seeing how the distortions trickle down and affect everyday life, ordinary people. And, you know, some of these people in the play are revolutionary, some of them have nothing to do with politics at all, but everybody’s sort of caught up. Because that’s what society means, right?”

The production forms part of ITI25, a celebration of ITI’s 25th anniversary that includes

performances, dialogues, and outreach events. As the institute looks ahead, it remains committed to nurturing global theatre-makers who are not only skilled performers but also thoughtful contributors to society.