Beyond her formal arts education in LASALLE College of the Arts, theatremaker Deonn Yang is also a self-proclaimed graduate of the ‘School of The Necessary Stage (TNS)’, beginning with an online playwriting workshop conducted by Haresh Sharma in 2020, during the COVID era. That led to her applying for Playwrights’ Cove in 2022, also by TNS, before presenting her show Why Be Good When You Can Be The Best? during the 2023 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. And that same year, Deonn went on to become an Associate Artist with TNS, going on to assistant direct multiple shows for them, before finally, being ready to present a full-length, professional production, as both director and playwright, in the form of White, All White this October.

“I’ve been very blessed to have had all these platforms to help me develop as an artist,” says Deonn. “While I’ve been doing both acting and directing, I’ve been leaning more towards directing lately, and appreciating how it’s been giving me a bigger, more overarching view of the bigger picture of things and how it all comes together. As an actor, I’m more focused on my character and how they see the world from their limited point of view, and just coming in and saying ‘ok, I’m going to try my best’. But as a director, I feel like I’m learning how to lead more, and create the environment of care and community that I want for others, that makes them want to be there and put in the work together as a team.”

In many ways, White, All White also reflects that concern with care for others. Originally presented as a dramatised reading during Playwrights’ Cove 2022, White, All White follows three generations of women living under a single roof. What they do share is a common love for each other, that is, until an unexpected financial misadventure puts their relationship to the test. “The play came about from the central figure of the mother, who is played by Koh Wan Ching in this production,” says Deonn. “From there, I thought about her relationships with these other people – her mother, her daughter, and how I could explore them onstage. I was excited – women onstage are often given so few roles beyond more stereotypical grandmothers, mothers, ingénues, and animals, and I wanted to find all the hopes and dreams that made up everything in-between beyond being defined by that role.”

White, All White marks the second play Deonn has written not intended for amateur productions (she also works as a drama instructor at a local school), after her 2023 M1 Singapore Fringe play, and was also a way for her to continue finding her voice as a playwright and the issues she was concerned with. “As a caregiver, Wan Ching’s character allows me to explore the passing of the baton, where the roles are sometimes reversed in other ways, and whether she can be someone beyond her responsibilities. It also comments on a degree of class and privilege as well – can you still have the same desires and have an identity even if you don’t earn the same amount as someone else?” she says. “A lot of my friends are all looking forward to their December holiday plans, like whether it’s seeing snow in Japan or a trip to the Swiss Alps. It all seems so easy, but for some people it’s not as accessible. So how then can one still achieve their desires? That informs the character and the choices she makes.”

“I think that this really is letting me explore a lot more of my own voice – it’s a lot quieter than my Fringe play, but it’s still very representative of me – the conflict-avoidant side that is,” she adds. “That was also a concern that came up during writing when I realised that there was very little conflict between the characters, or that characters resolved their differences very quickly. So in subsequent drafts, they had an opportunity to play out their confrontations a little more.”

That was a factor that was clear even to the cast, who noticed it was quite a different type of play from other works they’ve seen or performed in before. “There was something about this play that really struck Haresh Sharma when he read it – it was the fact that it was so subtle, where struggles and tensions were always beneath the surface and primarily left to one’s imagination because these women’s lives are so ordinary and quiet. There are almost no no major climaxes, no big ups and downs, and a lot of bittersweetness, and unsaid things, things they don’t dare to say, which creates a kind of soft beauty,” says Koh Wan Ching. “I myself appreciated how Deonn’s script explored the notion of caregiving and how it is not just one-directional, and in your moments of need, you’ll receive care back as well, from the person you’re taking care of. A lot of this comes from the understanding that we share something, the sense of suffering, and that’s what’s special about the play.”

“Specifically, my character is the one that talks about ‘white, all white’ in the play, and Deonn asked me what I thought that whiteness was and how I would express it. This is a single mother living with her own mother, doing well under the circumstances, providing as best as she can for both her mother and daughter but doesn’t think so,” she adds. “Maybe looking at it from the eyes of other people, it’s hard to celebrate her strengths and who she is in the environment she’s in. So, she sees herself as smaller than she actually is. I initially had trouble figuring out how to articulate this character, but when I realised this, it helped me access that side of her. In terms of my family background, education background, I’ve often not been made or taught to feel smaller than I am. So this is something I’m trying to look at and bring to the audience as well — a lot of us are doing fine, but we don’t often tell ourselves that.”

One would imagine that such a play can be difficult to appeal to a general audience, considering it feels more suited to an arthouse film than the stage, but Deonn is not worried about that, and believes that there is a place for it in the local theatre canon. “The nature of the play is a lot more vulnerable and delicate. There are many other plays that have a lot of drama and excitement, but my play offers an alternative, this space to let everyday life play out onstage, and for others to have that experience of bearing witness to that and simply watching it,” says Deonn. “I feel quite lucky to write my own things and have creative control to live out these ideas. I haven’t written anything big that’s meant to be directed by myself, and it’s a little more stressful. But I’ve been very happy with the collaborative process and letting the script evolve and change after entering the rehearsal room, and really getting the chance to just take a step back and reflecting on how it all comes together.”

“I’ve worked with Deonn before and I’m the kind of director who tends to yell at people a lot, but comparatively, she’s much more gentle, always taking care of the room and asking how people are doing today,” says Wan Ching. “The whole cast – myself, Coco Wang, Goh Guat Kian and Jodi Chan, we all know Deonn is a new director and are willing to go along with how she chooses to lead us. There is pressure for sure, and it gets a little messy and chaotic in the rehearsal room sometimes, but we’re all here to work through the creative process together, even when it doesn’t work because we’re willing to try things.”

With Deonn being a phenomenal example of growth when given the space and opportunity to do so, we ended off by asking both Deonn and Wan Ching (as Head of Acting at the Intercultural Theatre Institute) about the future of actors and theatremakers graduating from arts schools. “In the broader sense of things, there’s a need for more support in the middle. We have good training programmes, but we need more support for people creating work, more residencies, fringe platforms, and more platforms in general, or it all stops after the training,” says Wan Ching. “And then when you don’t get cast, it stops there – how else can people continue to be active theatremakers? Who is going to produce emerging playwrights’ work? One company can only have so many associate artists at the end of the day, so at ITI, we’re trying to provide some space as well to facilitate new work and theatremaking. And it’s so important because we need to see these young theatremakers use their art form to express and comment on the things that matter to them.”

“It’s been eight years since I graduated, and one thing I always think about is how Edith (Podesta) told us that if we fail, we should fail gloriously. And during my time in school, I always refused to do that, to even fail. And I think, I admire the youth today and how they have so much drive to make things coming out of school, and we do need to support more of that,” Deonn concludes. “It’s about daring to get out there and doing something you want to, and making the most of your limited time and any opportunity that comes along.”

Photo Credit: The Necessary Stage

White, All White plays at the Esplanade Theatre Studio from 24th to 27th October 2024. Tickets available from BookMyShow