Thursday, February 25, 2016

GO SEE 'THE WEIGHT OF SILK ON SKIN' AT DAMANSARA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE' LIVE MONOLOGUE SHOW! STARRING THE ONE AND ONLY DOMINIC LUCIEN LUK FROM SABAH WHICH IS NOT SURPRISING AS HE IS THE ONLY ONE AND ONLY ACTOR IN THIS 1.5 HOUR MONOLOGUE. THE DIALOGUE IS QUITE RISQUE AND PROVOCATIVE WITH SOME UNCHILD-FRIENDLY WORDS SO DO NOT BRING YOUR AGED GRANDMOTHER. RM 55 PER PERSON, FREE SEATING AT BLACK BOX AT DAMANSARA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE.

KEE@FSWMAG.COM


Heartfelt desires, concealed.
Insecurities sealed deep in our sub conscious.
Dress up, speak up and man up, be the man your audiences want to see.

Monday Show Entertainment with the support of Theatrex Asia presents “The Weight of Silk on Skin” where renowned actor Dominic Luk and collaborator Richard Chua alongside other theatre artists will attempt to bring the world of John Auyong to life in the Damansara Performing Arts Centre black box from 26th to 28th February 2016.

DATIN JANE LIEW THE OWNER OF DAMANSARA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE AT EMPIRE DAMANSARA, RICHARD CHUA THE DIRECTOR OF 'THE WEIGHT OF SILK ON SKIN' AND DATO KEE HUA CHEE THE WORLD'S MOST FABULOUSLY FANTASTIC BLOGGER
WE NEED PEOPLE LIKE DATIN JANE LIEW WHO PROMOTES AND SUPPORTS MALAYSIAN ACTORS AND THESPIANS! SHE RUNS AN ANNUAL LOSS WITH DAMANSARA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE JUST AS TAN SRI FRANCIS YEOH SUFFERS YEARLY LOSSES WITH KL PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE! THANKS FOR SUPPORTING!
 TOP ACTRESS PEARLY CHUA, WEI HOCK AND RICHARD CHUA
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John Au Yong.

A prime example of a man representative of many successful middle-aged men around us. They are well-dressed, well-spoken, well-cultured and well-off but what lies beneath the polished façade of theirs, the need for genuine affection.

Be successful, they said. Always be; the ones who survived on the top of the food chain. What ransom have they paid to the tigers to remain where they are remains a mystery. It boils down to a woman.

This monologue will shed some light through Richard Chua’s direction and Dominic Luk’s performance, as well as the environment jointly created by set designer Waylon Ling and lighting designer Ng Wei Hock.

Theatre director and academic Richard Chua has initiated this project with musical theatre practitioner Dominic Luk to flesh out the softer side of alpha-male in our contemporary urban society. Most importantly there is a need to show how alpha-male views love, desire and dominating what they really want.

“Most men talk with their heads (no pun intended). These voices tell them what to do and deceive them into believing that these intentions from their hearts. The real voice in their heart is usually small and weak, but the most truthful. We want to show that on stage,” said director Richard Chua.

“This show captivates the essence of the alpha-male through the lens of a man who owns every physical possession he could possibly want and need, but the actual thing he cannot yet fully own is the woman he so strongly desires to possess. The portrayal of the sensitive yet very strong-headed John Auyong is what will make this piece challenging for me as the actor, but very powerful to the audience,” said monologue actor Dominic Luk.

A theatre practitioner not unfamiliar to controversial themes, Richard Chua has worked on theatre productions that focus on gender, identity and notably the challenges of human choices when it comes to the personal. 

His past productions shown in Singapore and Taipei involving themes on sexuality and sexual choices within the family have been played to many audiences. His presentation and interpretation of Huzir Sulaiman’s iconic script would be his latest attempt at excavating the nuanced in human life.

Fresh from his performance in the seminal production Angels in America, Dominic Lucien Luk will challenge himself in playing a monologue about this alpha-male John Auyong, of which both are equally challenging. As an actor, this is a chance to become a better actor. Dominic Luk will also attempt to break the conventional wisdom and perception of a typical alpha-male in our contemporary urban society.

Production Details

Date: 26 – 28 February 2016
Time: 8.30pm nightly on 26 and 27 Feburary 2016; 3pm (Afternoon matinee) on 27 and 28 Feburary 2016.
Venue: The Black Box, Damansara Peforming Arts Centre
Tickets are available at http://www.dpac.com.my
Price: RM55 per ticket
Ticketing hotline: 010-768 4491 (Mobile)
Email enquiries: bookmytix@gmail.com



About Damansara Performing Arts Centre

DPAC is an organisation dedicated to promoting the arts in Malaysia, through learning, practising, and appreciating arts. DPAC aims to further promote public awareness on the importance of art-forms that enrich our lives while shaping today’s world. DPAC has a proscenium theatre, a black box, an experimental theatre, an indoor theatre-foyer and several dance studios. 

They are all equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. These facilities cater to the professional practices of different performing arts practitioners in various forms.  Focusing on performing arts and dance, DPAC aims to be Malaysia's leading live stage, uniquely devoted to broadening and raising performance standards in Malaysia by organising quality educational programmes, and presenting quality programmes such as D for Dancing, Dancer’s Training Programme (DTP) and DPAC Dance Company (DDC) from both local and international performers

Furthermore, DPAC’s very own initiated productions include DPAC Arts Festival (DAF), d’Next Artist Project (dNA) and d’MOTION International Dance Festival. For more information, please visit www.dpac.com.my.


About Monday Show Entertainment

Monday Show Entertainment is a Malaysian company focusing on musical theatre education and productions. Monday Show Entertainment established a professional
training program for young adults in June 2012, called “The Monday Show” comprising of about 30 young semiprofessional and experienced performers who aim to sharpen their skills in singing, dancing, and acting. 

Based in Subang Jaya, Monday Show conducts a training program specifically tailored for those who are already performers on stage and who want to learn and study musical theatre and gain exposure through being on stage in shows and musical productions.
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Creatives
Richard Chua
Collaborator (Direction)


Richard Chua (RIGHT) works collaboratively in the theatre. He is keenly interested in exploring intimate theatre, a way of working that not only makes theatre more mobile, and also closer to the audience, both intellectually and emotionally. 

Many of his small and intimate works have travelled to different cities: New York, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia. The fringe theatres in these cities never failed to inspire him. Works that have travelled there have also generated discourse, to which as a theatre academic, he enjoys immensely. 

He also edits an Asian online performing arts magazine Theatrex Asia (http://www.theatrex.asia). He is currently a member of the International Association of Theatre Critics.

Dominic Luk
Performer
as John Auyong



Dominic Luk is the co-owner and creative director of Monday Show Entertainment, a company focusing on the education of musical theatre in KL. Dominic enjoys performing, and has acted in shows like A Language of Their Own, Broadway Bites, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Angels In America Part 1 & 2. Dominic also directs musicals. 

His directorial credits include Tick Tick Boom and Havoc on Harmony Lane. Dominic has also been in advertisements for brands like Legoland, Ribena, and SHARP.

Dominic studied music and performing arts at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore, and later on got his Master of Arts in Musicology and Gender Studies at Brandeis University in Boston with further training in choral studies at the Harvard University Music Department. 

Dominic loves teaching, and currently is a part-time lecturer at UITM and UPM. He also conducts musical theatre workshops and master classes on a regular basis, teaching singing and acting for musical theatre performers.

Ng Wei Hock
Lighting Design

Since 1996, Wei Hock has been involved in performing and designing for theatre. Starting off as a dancer, performer, and director, he has presented experimental theatres, both written by him and others, both in English and Mandarin. 
Multidisciplinary he is, Wei Hock Ng is also skilful in the area of technical theatre. He has worked with major arts centres in Malaysia, notably The Actors Studio Theatre, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC), PJ Live Arts, and Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC). 
Familarity in the technical set-up and specifications within these arts centres has also fed his lighting designs, making effective lighting designs with limited number of lighting equipment. 
With this sense of economy and professionalism, he has effectively contributed in many theatre productions in Malaysia: Rhythm Percussion Concert (2010), PJ Laugh Fest (2011), Rhythm II (2012), Adam and Eve (2012), The Producers (2013), Merrily We Roll Along (2014), Seussical the Broadway Musical(2014), Exposed (Merrily We Roll Along2015 Monday Show Entertainment), Femme Fatale (2015 Viva Vertical), Dance With Your Heart Programs (2015 Dua Space Academy), Go To Hell (2015 Dramatic Art Society) to name a few. 
His artistic work 2015 Small Theatre Project (under the Dramatic Art Society) has also gained recognition by reviews in major Chinese daily in Malaysia Sin Chew Jit Poh and national radio BFM on the top theatre pieces in year 2015.

 PEARLY CHUA, WEI HOCK AND DIRECTOR OF THE WEIGHT OF SILK ON SKIN, RICHARD CHUA
 PEARLY CHUA IS FAMOUS FOR HER EPIC ROLE IN 'EMILY OF EMERALD HILL' IN WHICH SHE MANAGED TO SHED TEARS ON CUE EACH NIGHT! BET SHE HAD TO SIT ON NEEDLES OR DURIAN THORNS! 'EMILY' IS ALSO A MONOLOGUE
 COLIN, DATINDDII AND DATO KEE HUA CHEE

 DATIN JANE LIEW AND RICHARD CHUA

 DATIN JANE THE OWNER OF EMPIRE DAMANSARA AND DAMANSARA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, RICHARD CHUA AND DATO KEE HUA CHEE

 THE STAGE
 NO CHANGES THROUGHOUT SHOW AS THIS IS MONOLOGUE
 ADRIAN WONG AND WIFE AMBER CHIA

 DATO KEE HUA CHEE IS THE ONLY ONE IN UNIVERSE WHO CAN MAKE AMBER CHIA LOOK PLAIN
 PLAIN JANE AMBER CHIA WITH PSYCHEDELIC PSYCHO DATO KEE HUA CHEE
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The Weight of Silk on Skin
Programme Book Content

1)    From us to you… /Richard Chua

"There is a John Au Yong in each and every one of us. We strive to become richer in our own different ways, not just materially, but spiritually too. 

However, no matter how successful and wealthy we are, we make difficult decisions every day. Solving work problems is easy, but personal ones – a totally different matter altogether.

Each personal problem comes with an important question: Is finding solutions the real difficult part of the equation, or the choices we have to make from options available to us? To us, the latter proves to be more difficult, as we have encountered in the rehearsal room. 

We came up with solutions, and each of them had consequences. Weighing one consequence against another determines the final possible solution to the problem. 

As Dominic and I spent time with John Au Yong walking through the final hours before he could be mentally and spiritually ready to meet the woman of his life – Anna, most probably the only woman in John Au Yong’s life to have initiated a break-up with him – we find it more and more difficult to find peace within ourselves, to listen to that one single inner voice within us at every single specific point in our life.

As we prepare for John’s final exit from his spiritual abode, many friends have come to our aid to present this piece of meaningful theatre to all of you. 

Jomeco, from which the beautiful custom-made wooden furniture pieces came from; Sense Lite, the beautiful lighting fixtures; Ted Baker, suits and apparels that make the masculine look of John Au Yong in good taste; Graceful Piano, from which John Au Yong’s internal music could come to life; Overjoy, the pre-show party filled with exquisite food to warm the stomachs of our guests, to name a few. 

Friends in the Malaysian media – BFM, The Edge Financial Daily, The Star, The Daily Seni – for sharing John Au Yong’s story with you before this production run while inviting you to our intimate and reflexive theatre. 

We would also like to thank Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) for their partial sponsorship towards the rental of the theatre space under their DPAC Venue Sponsorship 2016. 

Last but not least, we would like to specially thank our good friend, the ever talented composer Onn San for the gift of the piece of music The Piano, which all of you will encounter in the play.

We hope you will enjoy playwright Huzir Sulaiman’s beautifully written text as much as we do.

Have a great evening."

Richard Chua (Direction) and Dominic Luk (Performance)
The Weight of Silk on Skin (2016)
Malaysia 

2)    The solo journey of being John /Dominic Lucien Luk

"Playing a role like John Au Yong is not easy. To embody his depth and to walk in his very expensive shoes -- is what I consider to be a huge milestone for a young actor like myself. The experience has been overwhelming, and the journey has been rewarding. 

To be able work with a team of visionaries who kept believing in me every second of the way, is what, in all seriousness, made this much easier for me. 

I initially walked into every rehearsal feeling like the world was on my shoulders, because doing a monologue like this is indeed a huge undertaking. There were times when I felt lost - and being an actor who always had the luxury of having other actors on stage to interact with, I had to eventually learn to conquer the stage on my own. 

Once I had crossed that bridge, each rehearsal then became an empowering experience. I opened up to the world of John Au Yong, as though he had welcomed me into his space with open arms. 

And now, all I can do is hope that you embrace that world that has been created for you, for John, and for me as the actor."

3)    The idea behind John’s abode /Waylon Ling

Director Richard Chua emphasizes on the importance of theatre showing the bare essentials. This idea resonated with me, for I love minimalist design, especially in my profession of interior design. 

Less is more (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) is a challenging motto to follow, for deep thinking is needed to find the most essential core element in design. 

While designing the set of The Weight of Silk on Skin, to me, the core element that defines the character John Au Yong is the Dieter Ram turntable. The turntable is John’s personal space, especially after his break-up with Anna. 

The simple design of the turntable attempting to contain John Au Yong’s complex emotions is an intriguing design strategy. Every designer would have heard of Dieter Ram and his definitive rules to good design. 

From Innovation, to usefulness, to aesthetics, to understandable, to unobtrusiveness, to honesty, to long-lasting, to details, to environmental friendliness and finally to lesser design – every element points to one central value – Clarity. 

Together with Richard’s quest to showing the bare essentials on stage, I hope that my design could provide greater clarity to John’s journey within the most intimate 90-minutes of an audience member’s time."

4)    Lighting up John’s life /Wei Hock N.

"Lighting in the theatre anchors on the only two possibilities: Illumination and Shadow-play. It is akin to Night and Day, one of the music pieces used in the play, performed by legendary Frank Sinatra. 

A lot of people tell me that there is just so much lighting design could do. The director is the guide to what a lighting designer can or cannot do. To me, it is about bringing the best of the play through lighting. In night and day, similar things appear different, each taking a different persona. 

In my design, I focus on highlighting, obscuring, augmenting and multiplying the issues and character John Au Yong’s emotional state at different points in the performance. Metaphors are integral to theatre design and direction. 

The colours in lighting are emotional states. What’s exciting is how colours could be used to construct a narrative to complement the playwright and director’s narratives in the theatre. 

As all three elements move in parallel with each other, there is a need to find a common base for all to effectively and honestly speak to each other."


5)    Production Team

Producer: Dominic Lucien Luk,
Director: Richard Chua
Actor: Dominic Lucien Luk
Playwright: Huzir Sulaiman
Set Designer: Waylon Ling
Lighting Designer: Wei Hock N.
Set Builder: David Wong
Production Manager: Soh Chong Hong
Stage Manager: Yip Boh Kuan
Asst. Stage Manager: Simon Lee
Lighting Operator: Alison Khor
Make-up Artist: Bryan The, Aaron Kerk
Front of House:  Fathimath Nuha, Angela Chong, Brendon Tan, Caryn Gan, Julia Chan, Vzoe Ho, Chew Biyi Jill, Thong Jia Min, Subatra
Graphic Designer: Dannson Yap
Official photographer: Wong Horngyih


6)    Sponsored by
·         Dpac (logo)
·         Jomeco (logo)
·         Sense Lite (logo)
·         Ted Baker (logo)
·         Graceful Piano (logo)
·         Overjoy (logo)


Jaslyn Niow
Kien Chan
Wong Chee Yong, Real Pixel Studio
Cecilia Tan
Dannson Yap 
Onn San 
Bryan The
Aaron Kerk
Amber Chia
Benjamin Toong
Christopher Ling
Angela Chong Li Xian

All students of the KDU entertainment arts programme

Foo Jong Wee
David Ng (Graceful Piano)
Karen (Speed Guide)
Chew Keng Kiat
Quek Ser Ming
Junainy Bin Jamali

Juliet Lavania Kaur, Metros Events
Mae Chan, The Edge
Dinesh Kumar Maganathan , The Star
Lim Soon Heng, BFM
Pouline Koh
Loo Chong Hang
Dr Hon Wei Min
Lim Pei Wen
Jann Wong
Traysom Teoh
Cheryl Teoh
Desmond Teoh

The Weight of Silk on Skin was first produced by Wild Rice in collaboration with Checkpoint Theatre and opened at the Drama Centre Theatre, Singapore, on 3 August 2011.

 SHOWTIME WITH FABULOUS ACTOR DOMINIC LUCIEN LUK FROM SABAH WHO IS DISHY, DASHING AND EASY ON THE EYE WHICH IS VITAL AS HE IS THE ONLY ACTOR!
 DOMINIC LUCIEN LUK HAS SEXY BODY TOO WHICH HELPS AS WE DISSECT HIS BODY PARTS
 DOMINIC HAS MAT SALLEH BLOOD AS HE LOOKS LIKE ZANE KAMAT WHO IS HALF MAT SALLEH AND HALF MALAY
 AMAZING HOW DOMINIC CAN TALK WHILE KILLING HIMSELF WITH BACK PRESSES
 I WOULD HAVE PASSED OUT



MY CANON SX 710 H.S CAN ZOOM ALL THE WAY TO DOMINIC LUCIEN LUK'S TOES! AMAZING! 














 LOOKS LIKE ZANE KAMAT! 

 NICE PROFILE

























TIME FOR A CUPPA LIVE ON STAGE, LUCKY HIM 






















DOMINIC LUCIEN LUK LIGHTS UP HIS OWN FACE USING HANDPHONE AS TORCHLIGHT! SELF-SUFFICIENCY! 



 MY CANON CAMERA CAN ZOOM 30 TIMES! GO BUY ONE THIS INSTANT! ONLY RM 1,400!
























TOO BAD HE DID NOT STRIP TO HIS UNDERWEAR 




 THIS IS ALL WE GOT TO SEE
 THIS IS THE ONLY EROTIC PART. HE SHOULD WEAR G-STRING UNDIES





 IF NO WOMAN IS AROUND, ANY DUMMY WILL HAVE TO DO LOR




















 NAK HABIS

 KUDOS!

 DIRECTOR RICHARD CHUA CONGRATULATES DOMINIC LUCIEN LUK!







 Q AND A SESSION


















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