Ong Keng Sen 王景生

Ong Keng Sen is currently the Artistic Director of TheatreWorks where he has created much of his groundbreaking art.  His approach to traditional arts of Asian in contemporary arts is grounded in his studies of intercultural performance with the Performance Studies Department at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, and his intellectual girth in practice comes from holding a law degree. He has led the company since 1988. Keng Sen has made his career as a performance director with sensitivity towards weaving traditional Asian arts into contemporary creation since 1997. His talent has been the ability to negotiate diverse traditional arts of Asia bringing the best traditional masters together in one performance with contemporary arts of all kind from film to dance to plastic arts to music. Hence, he has actively contributed to the evolution of Asian identities in the theatre as well as the subsequent transglobalisation of the Asian aesthetic in contemporary arts. He has consistently collaborated with different Chinese operas ranging from Beijing opera in seminal Lear (premiered in Cocoon Theater, Tokyo in 1997, subsequently travelling to Hong Kong Arts Festival as well as Theater der Welt, Berlin in 1999), to Liyuan Opera in his well-received production about the life of Buddha and Pico Iyer’s  book, The Global Soul (premiered in Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin in 2003), to Kun Opera in Awaking (Singapore Arts Festival 2008) which juxtapositioned Tang Xian Zhu, the chief playwright of Kun Opera and William Shakespeare, who both lived at the same time in different ends of the globe. His works have been presented throughout the world including Edinburgh International Festival; Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Tanzquartier Wien; Landestheater Linz (European Cultural Capital 2009); Rotterdam Schouwburg; Oslo Dansenshus; Stockholm Dansenshus; Zurich Theater Spektakel; Roma Europa Festival (Rome); Grand Theatre de la Ville Luxemburg; Idans Festival Istanbul; Cairo Experimental Theatre Festival; Panorama Rio de Janeiro; and Melbourne Festival.