Alvin Tan
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Alvin Tan is Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage (TNS) and co-Artistic Director of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Under Alvin, TNS has grown from a society in 1987 to one of Singapore’s most prominent and respected theatre companies. He initiated the Company's Theatre For Youth Branch, the annual M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (previously M1 Theatre Connect and M1 Youth Connection) and the Marine Parade Theatre Festival. He has a BA from the National university of Singapore, a Diploma in Education from the Institute of Education, and an MA from the University of Birmingham. One of the leading proponents of devising theatre in Singapore, Alvin has directed more than 40 plays, which have been staged in Singapore, Malaysia, Glasgow, Cairo, Busan, Seoul, Melbourne, Birmingham, London, Dublin, Cairo, New Delhi, Hungary and Romania. Some of these landmark productions include Lanterns Never Go Out, Still Building, Pillars, Galileo, Koan and godeatgod. He was also involved in Diaspora in Scotland, for which he co-directed goteatgod with 7:84, a Scottish theatre company.
In 1997, Alvin was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. The following year, he was conferred the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council. Alvin is also strongly involved in civil society work, representing Singapore in numerous conferences and workshops around the world. Alvin was invited to participate in the World Culture Forum Alliance in Sao Paolo and the Conference of Asian Foundations and Organisations In Barcelona, as well as 2005's World Culture Forum in Jordan.
In December 2005, Alvin directed Boxing Day: The Tsunami Project, a response to the tragedy of 2004, as well as Separation 40 with Kuala Lumpur theatre group Dramalab's Zahim Albakri, which won three 2005 BOH Cameronian Arts Awards including Best Director. More recently, Alvin co-directed a collaborative project entitled Mobile, with artists from Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Mobile was a commission of the Singapore Arts Festival 2006 and had its world premiere in Singapore in June 2006. Mobile toured to Kuala Lumpur for a three-night run at The Actors Studio in Bangsar, and will be travelling to Japan for performances in March 2007. Alvin directed The Necessary Stage’s latest main season production, Fundamentally Happy held at The Necessary Stage Black Box in September 2006. The play will tour to Malaysia for stagings at The Actors Studio in January 2007, before being reprised as part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2007 at the National Museum Gallery Theatre.
