https://guakhee.com chong gua khee Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:25:31 +0000 https://guakhee.com en https://guakhee.com/about-me Fri, 05 Dec 2025 08:47:58 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/about-me about me ‘Here be dragons’, a reference to uncharted areas of a map.&nbsp; ‘Here be dragons’, because my curiosity leads me to keep exploring other disciplines and new forms of performance (such as music x documentary x cooking!). <img width="840" height="1187" width_o="840" height_o="1187" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df2f893ceacaf2af5810dbc606fd2bd142966ddab02dec087194c83aa2bc5514/profile.jpg" data-mid="243349740" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/840/i/df2f893ceacaf2af5810dbc606fd2bd142966ddab02dec087194c83aa2bc5514/profile.jpg" /> Hi! I am a director and dramaturg based across Singapore and Helsinki/Finland. I am endlessly curious about so many things, but especially about how your everyday experiences are shaped by societal factors - and how you in turn shape the world around you. Common ingredients in my projects include communal cooking / eating / talking / moving / musicking, as well as an invitation to (re)imagine gentler tomorrows! say hi at guakhee@gmail.com view my full cv here formal education Course of Study (Area of Specialisation) Institution Attended Year Obtained Master of Arts (Directing) University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland 2026 Bachelor of Arts (Theatre, Honours Psychology) University of British Columbia, Canada 2014 recent works &nbsp; Title Type of Work Role Time From me to you: How shall we eat v1.0 Performance and communal meal Artistic thesis at University of the Arts, Helsinki Director &amp; Playwright Jan 2026 Will Tell Nothing Short play Näytelmätehdas(Play Factory) class at University of the Arts, Helsinki; a series of six short plays presented at Joensuu City Theatre Director Will Tell Nothing Oct 2025 Going Home / Aallot Short play Näytelmätehdas(Play Factory) class at University of the Arts, Helsinki; a series of six short plays presented at Joensuu City Theatre Playwright Oct 2025 do u dream of food too? Installation Ecological Thinking seminar at University of the Arts, Helsinki; presented at HIAP Suomenlinna Artist Jun 2025 Piggy Sparkle Chamber Opera ‘Opera as a Multidisciplinary Artistic Cooperation’ class at University of the Arts, Helsinki; presented as a trio of operas at the Black Box at Musiikkitalo Co-Director Apr 2025 CITRUS Fest: Who Cares? Festival around care practices in the arts Organised by CITRUS practices in partnership with the National Arts Council, Singapore's Arts Resource Hub, and part of Wellness Festival Singapore 2024 Co-Director Jul 2024 花瓶 (In Defense of Pretty Things) Dance theatre part of eXchAnge 2024 by Esplanade, Singapore’s national performing arts centre Co-Director Jun 2024 HOT POT TALK: Cooking Up Recipes Collective zine with migrant workers Supported by National Arts Council, Singapore Director and co-facilitator Jul 2023 Arts-Business x Business-Arts (ABxBA) Residencies Residency platform Supported by National Arts Council, Singapore Co-curator Aug 2021 – Mar 2022 HOT POT TALK: The Measure of a Meal Digital Exhibition Supported by National Arts Council, Singapore, powered by the National Youth Council, and in friendship with HOME (Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics) Director and Co-Producer Mar 2021 https://guakhee.com/latest-updates Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:04:46 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/latest-updates currently I am based in Helsinki, Finland, for my Master’s of Directing at University of the Arts, Helsinki. Right now, I am working towards&nbsp;CITRUS fest 2026 in sunny Singapore. If you’re passing by Helsinki, do reach out to say hi at guakhee@gmail.com! My upcoming travels in 2026 include Singapore 18 June – 7 Sept&nbsp; to direct Finding X, a Mandarin language performance about gender and beauty stereotypes at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (produced and written by The Solitude Movement)for my work as curator of CITRUS fest (21 – 30 August), a festival about care practices for arts workers and more Kutná Hora, Czechia &nbsp; 8 – 20 Sept&nbsp; to participate in the Kutná Hora Performing Arts Festival by award-winning theatre company Divadlo X10, as part of Continental Drift, a 3-year project between the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network&nbsp; (Singapore) and Divadlo X10 (Czechia) Warsawa, Poland; Vilnius, Lithuania 21 – 26 Sept I’ll be traveling by land from Czechia back to Finland, and am doing stopovers in these two cities to meet friends, very happy to grab coffee if you happen to be around in either city or along the route (: &nbsp; https://guakhee.com/touring-works Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:11:38 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/touring-works touring works These works were created specifically with an eye to touring. But why tour? In an increasingly polarised world, it feels urgent to gather, dialogue and take collective action on global issues like the climate crisis. Through creating works that can travel and bring attention to both the local and the elsewhere - so audiences can encounter practices in other contexts and (re)imagine other possibilities for their own here and now. Ideally, touring would include a pre-residency for me / the team to engage with local communities, workshops for the public and/or other arts practitioners over the run of the production, and sustainable travel arrangements to and from the location(s) i.e. train travel. https://guakhee.com/body-as-theatre Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:54:24 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/body-as-theatre body as theatre What does it mean to focus on the body as the site of performance? How can performances touch audiences (both literally and metaphorically) and linger past the duration of the performance itself? These projects play with music and ‘earworms’, touch and tactility, puppets, as well as the materiality of objects. selected works https://guakhee.com/cooking-up-community Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:55:59 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/cooking-up-community cooking up community Issues relating to care, dignity and the climate crisis often feel impossibly large for my monkey brain to grapple with. So I work closely with people and food, and through conversations and coming together in community, we collectively unfold our hopes and dreams into something concrete, tangible, and nourishing. Some of these projects take the form of performances/artworks, and others take the shapes of platforms or collectives. selected works https://guakhee.com/From-me-to-you-How-shall-we-eat-v1-0 Fri, 05 Dec 2025 10:28:05 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/From-me-to-you-How-shall-we-eat-v1-0 <img width="3024" height="1702" width_o="3024" height_o="1702" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ae33683accd4352706e010ba0a93583456fb894b1d64f063fbd55475b977c374/from-me-to-you_web-poster_v1.jpg" data-mid="243352741" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ae33683accd4352706e010ba0a93583456fb894b1d64f063fbd55475b977c374/from-me-to-you_web-poster_v1.jpg" /> From me to you: How shall we eat v1.0(2026) Artistic thesis for Gua Khee’s Master’s of Directing programme at University of the Arts, Helsinki, in Finland. 23 to 29 January 2026. Studio 2 - White Box. Foodie 1 Hot soup on cold days And tea in the morningsA piece of chocolate at the end of a mealThese are a few of my favourite things Foodie 2 Sure, but are the ingredients local?Organic? Fairtrade-certified? And what about vegan options? I like food too but the world’s going to shitso how do we choose what to eat? If you love eating, hate eating, or have a ‘it’s complicated’ relationship with eating, this is the show for you. Over the past year and a bit, the team has been asking people across Helsinki to share with us about their relationship with food as well as how they make choices around what they eat. We’ve then layered together people’s stories (and put some of their words to music!), so in this tongue-in-cheek music documentary performance, you’ll get a taste of different perspectives about what’s important to people, what they struggle with, and most importantly, a delicious spread of dreams around how we can collectively eat our way towards gentler worlds. Note: As part of the performance, actors will be preparing with audiences a root vegetable soup (vegan, lactose-free and nuts free; the full list of ingredients is available at the venue). The performance is about an hour, and then the space will be open for another hour for people to eat and chat. In addition to the soup, we will have dumpster dived bread, pastries and fruit, in collaboration with Aalto Foodsharing. The food will be cleaned before serving, but we cannot guarantee the absence of allergens. Lastly, do note that the performance contains mentions of a difficult relationship with eating, an animal being slaughtered, as well as vegetarianism and veganism. If you are deeply uncomfortable at any point, please feel free to leave the space, and you can always re-enter when you’re ready.&nbsp; &nbsp; <img width="4500" height="3001" width_o="4500" height_o="3001" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a306283990eda7b59e8eebead097d82ec8536387d68ac753bf2624bdbbd2c9c8/singing-2.jpg" data-mid="247423023" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a306283990eda7b59e8eebead097d82ec8536387d68ac753bf2624bdbbd2c9c8/singing-2.jpg" /> <img width="4500" height="3001" width_o="4500" height_o="3001" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b16ae6b996acb135a396aae743594fdfc0502d43cd79400e07b90851eb968c1f/singing.jpg" data-mid="247423049" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b16ae6b996acb135a396aae743594fdfc0502d43cd79400e07b90851eb968c1f/singing.jpg" /> <img width="4500" height="3001" width_o="4500" height_o="3001" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5385241982e212420590115c162dee29f00c2a604d1de523d63587d6ae20397e/TeaK---How-shall-we-eat---2825.jpg" data-mid="247423762" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5385241982e212420590115c162dee29f00c2a604d1de523d63587d6ae20397e/TeaK---How-shall-we-eat---2825.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ec6466566667fc803dd15503e7b07cf1ee987538b3137af90c3a16b23266631f/audiences-getting-food-at-the-end-of-the-performance.jpg" data-mid="247423051" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ec6466566667fc803dd15503e7b07cf1ee987538b3137af90c3a16b23266631f/audiences-getting-food-at-the-end-of-the-performance.jpg" /> <img width="2592" height="1944" width_o="2592" height_o="1944" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f2b55c4d1f87582ab0b2507523e868d4ffe2a69aa8cd9a66318ae5b7a33e692d/veggie-peel-art.jpg" data-mid="247423048" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f2b55c4d1f87582ab0b2507523e868d4ffe2a69aa8cd9a66318ae5b7a33e692d/veggie-peel-art.jpg" /> Photo credit: #1-#3 Pate Pesonius; #4 screenshot from footage by Vivian; #5 Chong Gua Khee For more information, please email hello@hotpottalk.sg. Production Info Presented by Theatre Academy, University of the Arts, Helsinki.With many thanks to the multiple interviewees for this project as well! Production Credits Direction and interviews/text curation&nbsp; Chong Gua Khee Composition and lyrics support Jussi Lukács Dramaturgical support &nbsp; Natania Prezant Scenographer &nbsp; Anna Satu Kaunisto Lighting designer Titus Torniainen Assistant scenographer and props designer Yö Heinänen Performers Maja BurggraaffMerita Salihi-Hildén Musicians Viltė Kišonaitė (Piano) Felix Hirsch (Cello) Production and publicity&nbsp; Matilda Anttila Poster design team Yesol Lim Video documentation Vivian Wong https://guakhee.com/Piggy-Sparkle Thu, 22 Jan 2026 07:33:20 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/Piggy-Sparkle <img width="2500" height="1875" width_o="2500" height_o="1875" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1ce3048e4fe7a20754590bdfd19d603be1c7c3382ffc2ab850328529ac2c4fc8/piggy-sparkle-1.jpg" data-mid="243788151" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1ce3048e4fe7a20754590bdfd19d603be1c7c3382ffc2ab850328529ac2c4fc8/piggy-sparkle-1.jpg" /> Piggy Sparkle(2025) Chamber Opera; presented as part of ‘Three Dreams of Opera’, a trio of operas created through the ‘Opera as a Multi-Artistic Collaboration’ course at University of the Arts, Helsinki. 11 to 12 April 2025. Musiikkitalo, Black Box. The mini opera Piggy Sparkle is an anarchic posthuman fable inspired by the 2020 documentary Gunda, directed by Viktor Kossakovsky. It is a speculation about what could happen after the film’s final scene in which a mother pig and her piglets are separated by human farmers. The libretto explores motherhood, longing and the verges of biology. The production mixes theater, puppetry, expressionism, naivism and postmodernism in a colourful and chaotic cocktail. <img width="2500" height="1875" width_o="2500" height_o="1875" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ab010fdd2b0a83d63ef0b0b613f3339afcb0d153d71529410c8bf415e9eafd66/piggy-sparkle-2.jpg" data-mid="243788152" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ab010fdd2b0a83d63ef0b0b613f3339afcb0d153d71529410c8bf415e9eafd66/piggy-sparkle-2.jpg" /> Photo credit: Chong Gua Khee Production Info Presented by University of the Arts, Helsinki. Production Credits Libretto Minne Mäki Fabian Gustaf Silén Music Yuto Obata Direction Chong Gua Khee Kirmo Komulainen Conductor Elisar Riddelin Multimedia Design Joona Koskela Cast Maja Burggraaff (Piggy) Caressa Betist Thenu (Chat) Fabian Gustaf Silén (Mother) Minne Mäki (Daughter) Musicians Vicent Orón Bolós (Alto and Tenor Saxophone) Iida-Maria Kuronen (Electric Kantele) Joonas William Jääskeläinen (Acoustic and Electric Guitar) Maissi Uusitalo (Percussion) Tuomas Salokangas (Piano) https://guakhee.com/Songs-for-Tomorrow Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:25:31 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/Songs-for-Tomorrow <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c401a5ff95c57aa68cd7c063c4750a3bbca7f6399d09b57ac5cfd215b3e3ade0/277_20190704_BSN_Carnival.jpg" data-mid="247423810" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c401a5ff95c57aa68cd7c063c4750a3bbca7f6399d09b57ac5cfd215b3e3ade0/277_20190704_BSN_Carnival.jpg" /> Songs for Tomorrow(2019) Music theatre; Restaging, as part of BOTH SIDES, NOW 2019 | 两面之间 2019. 3 to 7 July 2019. Grass patch next to SAFRA Mount Faber (Telok Blangah). Nurse. Son. Patient. Mother. Friend. Caregiver. What happens if we look beyond singular labels and instead see one another as individuals with intertwining identities and complex stories to tell? What songs would we sing for each other? What songs would we want for ourselves? Through material gathered from interviews with healthcare workers, caregivers and patients, this music theatre performance surfaces their struggles but also their hopes about living and dying. <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9da07421069e57c906c17462c17d1ab3892e724da33e7e6547dadc803d4f1917/ZNR_2303.jpg" data-mid="247423805" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9da07421069e57c906c17462c17d1ab3892e724da33e7e6547dadc803d4f1917/ZNR_2303.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1608c9a0435e584c605c2e69727ca4c88e568f413f890edc300844fca64b707d/ZNR_2156.jpg" data-mid="247423811" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1608c9a0435e584c605c2e69727ca4c88e568f413f890edc300844fca64b707d/ZNR_2156.jpg" /> Photo Credit: Both Sides, Now Production Info Co-produced by Drama Box and ArtswokPresented by Lien Foundation and Ang Chin Moh FoundationIn collaboration with Yishun Health (Wellness Kampung) and Goodlife! Supported by Tote Board, Living Matters Production Credits Playwright Kok Heng Leun &nbsp; Director Chong Gua Khee&nbsp; Music Director &nbsp;&nbsp; Elaine Chan Spatial Designer Wendy Chua Light Designer&nbsp; Genevieve Peck Production Stage Manager Lam Dan Fong Stage Manager&nbsp; Victoria Wong Assistant Stage Manager Alethea Koh Cast Inch Chua, Ric Liu, Nur Suhaili Binte Safari Wijaya https://guakhee.com/Tea-Time-Love Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:00:15 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/Tea-Time-Love <img width="3508" height="4961" width_o="3508" height_o="4961" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/308fcfa5bf6db3bf021876a4153ed75210420a5d8ddc42ab50057746234e9b8e/poster_promo_tampere.jpg" data-mid="247422912" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/308fcfa5bf6db3bf021876a4153ed75210420a5d8ddc42ab50057746234e9b8e/poster_promo_tampere.jpg" /> Tea / Time &amp; Love(2026) 19 April 2026 at 13:00. Nekalab Event Hall, Tampere, Finland.&nbsp; Tea/Time &amp; Love brings together intercultural music and theatre in a piece about tea and love. As audiences journeys through 3 brews of a specially curated tea by a tea master, an impossible love story unfolds in a teahouse. The performance features live kantele, koto, shakuhachi and guqin, infusing the soundscape with both Western contemporary and Eastern traditions. In our modern world shaped by urgency and disconnection, this multisensorial work proposes a moment of pause: to sit, to listen, to taste, to feel. Through music, tea, and story, Tea/Time &amp; Love invites audiences to reflect on how we relate to ourselves and each other. Menimeri is a multidisciplinary collective composed of Chong Gua Khee, a Singaporean theater director-dramaturg, Lola Barraud, a French visual artist/writer, and Jin Oh, a Singaporean Western-trained composer with a traditional background in Guqin (Chinese zither). Together, we create works that weave together different cultures. Image Credit: menimeri Production Info Development support by Teostos Cultural Foundation, Sibelius Fund and Kansalais Foorumi.Presented as part of Tampere Biennale 2026. Tea sponsored by Tea House TeeMaa. Production Credits Direction Chong Gua Khee Script and Visual Design Lola Barraud Composition and Guqin player Jin Oh Shakuhachi Kiku Day Koto Ayumi Shinomoto Kantele Senni Vesanen Voice acting Emil Lietzin Houlind, Malviina Lehtinen Tea master &nbsp; Moon Clermont Sound engineer Saku Liimatainen https://guakhee.com/Tactility-Studies Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:21:09 +0000 chong gua khee https://guakhee.com/Tactility-Studies <img width="2500" height="1663" width_o="2500" height_o="1663" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ca847d413c9943b6d2409b9949e4096e1be419fac41d4962d61a4386006d668c/Copy-of-Tactility-Studies--1.jpg" data-mid="243789032" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ca847d413c9943b6d2409b9949e4096e1be419fac41d4962d61a4386006d668c/Copy-of-Tactility-Studies--1.jpg" /> Tactility Studies(2018 – ongoing) Visit Project Website Tactility Studies: Soft Bodies (work-in-progress showing) 7 Dec 2019. Dance Nucleus. Tactility Studies: Pandemic Distances 18 Oct 2020. Objectifs. Tactility Studies: Hold to Reset&nbsp; 14-23 May 2021. The Blue Room, The Arts House. Tactility Studies: Where Our Lost Things Live 9-11 Sep 2022. The Glassroom, The National Gallery of Singapore. Tactility Studies: A Sense of Body Oct – Dec 2023. Children’s Biennale, National Gallery Singapore. Tactility Studies: nesting, resting, 123!Aug – Sep 2024. Singapore Night Festival. Tactility Studies (2018-ongoing) is a long-term performance project jointly manifested by theatre and dance artists Chong Gua Khee and Bernice Lee. Emerging from their exploration of ‘the body as theatre’, each iteration of Tactility Studies is an invitation to audiences to open up their bodies as sites and spaces for performance – to be soft, to wobble, to stretch and uncoil. In turn, Tactility Studies conjures experiences where touch is both transgressive and reparative, pleasurable and profound. In playing with these tensions, each iteration is deeply responsive to the times and worlds we inhabit, in hopes of generating and expanding new affective discourses around touch and consensual intimacies. Since 2018, Tactility Studies has been incubated at and supported by Dance Nucleus, Singapore. Traces of the project’s process from its beginning to 2020 are collected in Tactility Studies: Exercises in Archiving, as part of Dance Nucleus’ online exhibition CIRCUIT #1 in 2020, which was a collection of artefacts by Singaporean independent artists working with contemporary performance. Photo Credit: Joseph Nair Production Info Incubated at and supported by Dance Nucleus from 2018-2021. Production Credits Co-Directors Chong Gua KheeBernice Lee Dramaturg Corrie Tan