WILD RICE, one of Singapore’s renowned theatre company, is all set to open the door of its latest 350-seat theatre at the Funan lifestyle complex.
Although the official opening will be taking place in September 2019, but the company will be having a Housewarming Season in July 2019 itself, ahead of the grand launch.
Housewarming Season is a programme that will showcase three sold-out-smash-hits from the 2018 Singapore Theatre Festival, and a new production by the rising talents of Young & WILD, WILD RICE’s award-winning youth division.
The programme which will be happening over six weeks in July and August, gives the company a chance to test out its new facilities, including Singapore’s first thrust stage – inspired by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s iconic Swan Theatre.
Ivan Heng, WILD RICE’s Founding Artistic Director, shared a memory on his Facebook page on 21 March (Thursday), saying how he, along with Randy Chan (member of the Board of Directors) and Tony Trickett (Executive Director) – who is also Heng’s husband – started their journey on wanting to build an iconic destination theatre in Singapore three years ago.
In his caption, he wrote, “On this very day, 3 years ago, Tony, Randy and I made a presentation to 4 CEOs from CapitaLand’s Development Management Committee and sealed our partnership building a 350-seat theatre at the new Funan”.
In the presentation, he revealed that they shared their vision to create one-of-a-kind destination theatre in the Republic, as well as their fund-raising strategy to raise S$15 million. Following that presentation, they went on further to draw the architectural plans for the theatre, with submission to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and National Arts Council.
“We agreed at that meeting that if all goes to plan, out theatre would open in July 2019. We are happy to report that we are on track to welcome our first audiences on 4 July,” he expressed.
He ended his post by saying how incredible the journey was for those who were involved, and thanked all for the support and encouragement that he had gotten.
For those interested, tickets for the Housewarming Season are now available on SISTIC. For more information, visit: wildrice.com.sg
