Alvin Tan

Who is Alvin Tan?

Alvin Tan is Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage and co-Artistic Director of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Under Alvin, TNS has grown from a society in 1987 to one of Singapore’s most prominent and respected theatre companies. He initiated the Company's Theatre For Youth Branch, the annual M1 Singapore Fringe Festival and the Marine Parade Theatre Festival. He has a BA from the National university of Singapore, a Diploma in Education from the Institute of Education, and an MA from the University of Birmingham. One of the leading proponents of devising theatre in Singapore, Alvin has directed more than 40 plays, which have been staged in Singapore, Malaysia, Glasgow, Cairo, Busan, Seoul, Melbourne, Birmingham, London, Dublin, Cairo, New Delhi, Hungary and Romania. Some of these landmark productions include Lanterns Never Go Out, Still Building, Pillars, Galileo, Koan and godeatgod. He was also involved in Diaspora in Scotland, for which he co-directed goteatgod with 7:84, a Scottish theatre company.

In 1997, Alvin was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. The following year, he was conferred the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council.