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| Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Theatre > The Mismatched Girl > Interview with playwright Yang Ming Date: Monday, 2 July 2007Time: About 2.45 - 3.15pm Venue: Essential Brew Cafe, Holland Village Annabelle: Could you give us a brief, non-spoiler introduction to your project, The Mismatched Girl? Yang Ming: The Mismatched Girl is a whimsical and simple play about a little girl with a penchant for wearing mismatched slippers. Her sole pleasure in life is to watch the lights of HDB flats. One day an old man "accidentally" join her in this "mischievous" pleasure. This shared activity forges a special bond between them. The whole setting is very local. There are a few themes. First is faith; next is renewal of the past, particularly the painful past. Annabelle: How do you feel now that words which began on paper have now made the jump onto the stage? Yang Ming: I feel really, really good. Because I am not part of a theatre company nor own one, I'm inevitably asked at social events, "What are the plays that you have staged?" It's a pity if you write plays but don't stage any of them. It has always been my dream to stage my own play. To me, true passion will drive you to actually stage your own play, not just talk about it. And that is not easy. I started writing The Mismatched Girl in June 2005 and finished it in September 2005. I then went through a series of disappointments in the process of finding a director. My friend Gemia was the first person I approached but she wasn't free. The fourth and final one really took the cake because we were so close to getting things done when everything fell through. I was so disappointed - this was in 2006 - because we were really so close. Finally, at the end of 2006, I asked Gemia if she was still interested and she said "Yes". I think I remember her saying that she admired my faith and perseverance, and my determination to stage it! Annabelle: What else drives you to keep on with the production process, even in the face of disappointments? Yang Ming: I always hang on to hope. The road has been tough but each day, I still believed, "One day I'm going to get it staged." The TAGS Mentoring Scheme indirectly evolved out of this: Artistic Director Donna Ong gave me advice and helped me with proposal writing; Dawn Fung helped me to get contacts, took care of administrative stuff, and mentored me in many aspects. Annabelle: Is the storyline of The Mismatched Girl linked to personal experience, or is it pure imagination? Yang Ming: You can say it was pure imagination. I was talking to a friend on MSN and I got bored waiting for a reply, so I just randomly typed something and out came a monologue! Annabelle: So what inspired you to believe in that initial sketch? Yang Ming: I found it interesting and I continued playing around with it. I was on my way home one day when I saw a girl with mismatched slippers, and thought, "Why don't I build my character around this?" Another time, I was on my way home from a performance and was on an expressway when I noticed that the HDB lights were so beautiful! I thought, "What if the girl who wears mismatched slippers also watches the HDB lights? Maybe there's a story behind this girl." Annabelle: Okay... so what is it that you actually enjoy about the playwriting process? I'm sure there's a lot of drafting, re-drafting and re-drafting. Yang Ming: Yes. I think I made five or six re-drafts! I made changes along the way according to feedback I got from Andrew Choo, Dawn, my director, the actors...they made points about character depth, how relevant the story was to the audience, the realism of the dialogue, and originality. The process was really long. At one point of time my director and I were meeting till about 11pm every week! And I learned that in playwriting, you cannot take short cuts. (laughs) I really enjoyed working with all these various people and learning what it really is to be a playwright. You can't just write a play and then junk it to a director and say, "OK! You direct it!" In the past, I thought it was like this! I also enjoyed how I was pushed and believed in by the people I worked with. It's something I'm very happy about, and that I thank God about. I'm thankful too that the actors and director don't doubt my ability or question the way I write. Annabelle: What's your favourite line or scene from the play, if there is one? Yang Ming: I have two favourites. One is, "Remember a ten-year-old who never wants to sleep early?" spoken by the old man. The second, spoken by the little girl, is "I don't want. If I'm an astronaut, I can see all the stars glittering in the universe... like the HDB lights!" Annabelle: As a Christian artist, where do you see God's part in this production? Yang Ming: He's in every single part of this production. He is a mentor and a teacher. It was a tough journey letting Him in and learning to trust or even realising His part in it. I wanted to do a lot of things in my own way, and sometimes He said, "No." At times when things were tough I would ask questions like, "Lord, where are you? If You are here, how come this isn't working out?" My director and I believe that God is faithful: If He has gone before us, let's have faith that He will bring us through this storm. And all these things will come to pass. Annabelle: That's great! So did you always plan to include the themes of faith and hope, like you mentioned earlier, or did they become part of the play because of your journey with God? Yang Ming: The theme came first. I've always thought of "the journey" as involving faith, hope and redemption, and this is my second major experience of having faith, believing God, and seeing Him come through. It's been a very hard road to walk. I think most people would just give up, but it's all about having faith. Having faith, believing, and hanging on. Annabelle: Would it be accurate to say that you believe that God is fully behind this production? Yang Ming: Yeah. (laughs) God really blesses us with lots of little things every time we prayed. Annabelle: Would you like to share a few particular ways in which you see His hand in the, proceedings? Yang Ming: We had been on the hunt for a good rehearsal space for the longest time. We tried looking all over Singapore, but every door was closed to us. I can't remember how many hours were spent in prayer and how many tears were shed over this. Suddenly, last week, the NAC decided to give us a really good space, and at a lower rate than at all the previous places we'd checked out! Also, when we decided we wanted to stage the play at the Substation, it was fully booked. I didn't know that people booked performance sites one year in advance - it's almost like planning a wedding banquet! We prayed and asked the Lord for a good slot in August. We wanted a Friday and a Saturday, because that's when people are free. And in the end, God blessed us with the place. There was a lot of tension and stress while praying and waiting for sponsors but in the end, things went well despite some disappointments. Annabelle: How did you handle those disappointments? Yang Ming: When I first started out on this project I had a lot of fire, I was very enthusiastic and excited. Then after a while things got difficult. I was very deeply disappointed. I started to ask myself, "Where am I going from here?" I sometimes got angry and vented my frustrations on people. At several points - and the worst was in June - I felt like I really couldn't do it anymore. I really, really felt like giving up. I told some friends that I really wanted to give up, "I cannot take it any more, there's no money, I think I'm going to be bankrupt soon!" But a few of my friends kept saying, "Don't give up! It's just a test of faith. We're all behind you!" Friends like Donna would make the effort to write letters and pray with me, and others would pray things like, "This production will not be cancelled!" I asked myself, "If I were to give up now, would I be letting all of them down?" I think prayer and God's Word were the main things that helped me recover. We were already so close to getting the play staged! I told myself that I really, really wanted to get up and believe, and have faith and hope in God. I knew that in trusting Him, all these things would come to pass. Annabelle: Thanks for sharing. Are there any other practical lessons that have been learned from your experience that would help other aspiring playwrights? Yang Ming: You have to be strong. Passion is also important not just in writing plays, but in pursing the entire process. And always be humble. Listen to people who are willing to help you, even though the advice may appear irrelevant or unimportant at times. (Laughs) Lastly, don't vent your frustration on people. Learn to calm yourself down even in the face of difficulties, slowly get up and do it again, step by step. Annabelle: Do you think that the experience would have been different if you were not a Christian? Yang Ming: If I weren't a Christian I think I would have given up a long ago! I wouldn't even have found a director. I'd have a poor-man mentality, believing that nothing would work out. I'm not the daughter of artists who would pave the road for me. But as a Christian, deep inside you know that all things are possible. You must have hope. Life is all about having hope. You may have a lot of problems and troubles, but there's always hope somewhere. You need to have the childlike faith to believe. Annabelle: So, any plans for the future after this? Yang Ming: Write more plays I think! I'm going to start schooling in August, so I’ll have to concentrate on my studies. I'll still be working on my next play though I hope it will be a breakthrough piece. Hopefully, I'll be able to sell it to a company, maybe win some awards... (laughs) Annabelle: Cool! Sounds good. Are you going to do any more solo productions? Yang Ming: I think I will one day. I did tell Dawn that I never want to do this again, because it's "so horrible" getting funding and all that kind of thing but I'm sure I'll do it again. It's tough, but it's enjoyable. It depends how you see it. When I was in playwriting class in school, I had 30-40 classmates. How many of them have really gone into full-time playwriting, much less embarked on a solo project? Annabelle: Any last words? Yang Ming: Throughout this experience of staging my own play without any affiliation with any theatre companies, I have come to know God's goodness and grace. At times I've felt like Peter, walking on water with my wavering faith. Yet through this struggle, I finally know and have tasted the Lord's goodness and faithfulness. To me, that is priceless. Many times, my frustrations with monetary issues made me bitter and angry towards people I encountered. I guess that is a part and parcel of pursuing my dreams and goals, and I thank God for friends and family who supported me continuously despite my shortcomings. To all of you: thank you! More information on Yang Ming's The Mismatched Girl can be found on themismatchedgirl.blogspot.com. You may also email Yang Ming at yangming@createlevoyage.com
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