{"id":10020,"date":"2022-04-01T16:25:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T08:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/?p=10020"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T08:27:21","slug":"10020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2022\/04\/01\/10020\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Write Track"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Provocative, trailblazing romp about homosexual culture in Singapore, and a Bollywood-esque coming-of-age tale of a young boy growing up in India. These\u00a0productions proved to be metaphorical forks in the road for Mr Myle Yan Tay, showing him that an involvement in the arts was on the cards. The first, W!LD RICE\u2019s 2013 production of Alfian Sa\u2019at\u2019s\u00a0Dreamplay: Asian Boys Vol. 1<\/em>, was, in his words, \u201ceye-opening\u201d. \u201c[It] made me realise how diverse Singapore\u2019s artistic landscape could be, and how its theatre scene was not bound by the same rules as those of Singaporean society.\u201d The second, Checkpoint Theatre\u2019s 2015 production of Shiv Tandan\u2019s\u00a0The Good, the Bad and the Sholay,<\/em>\u00a0helped him understand the work he wanted to make. \u201cArt that is funny, poignant, energetic and culturally specific.\u201d These formative experiences have placed the 28-year-old actor, writer, director and Associate Artist at local theatre company, Checkpoint Theatre, firmly on track as one of Singapore\u2019s rising\u00a0creatives.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

OPENING DOORS<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>

In search of a broad liberal arts education and an understanding of the world before pinning down a career path, Mr Tay had enrolled at Yale-NUS College to major in Global Affairs. By the time he graduated in 2019, he had already begun telling original stories and building an impressive body of work. He wrote and directed\u00a0Overtime: An Original Musical,<\/em>\u00a0about a man who works at the Ministry of Competency, and his best friend, Alex, a playwright who can\u2019t write plays; and also wrote and directed\u00a0Master Race<\/em>, a full-length play that imagines a\u00a0future Singapore where people can undergo a scientific procedure to change their race. He also wrote several short plays \u2013\u00a0Growing Up Green, Post-Human<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Bank Job\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 which were performed at\u00a0Yale-NUS College.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The covers of Mr Tay\u2019s comic books, each presenting a unique perspective of Singapore.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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To date, Mr Tay\u2019s creative mind has also birthed reviews on online arts, culture and politics journal F Newsmagazine; and comic books\u00a0Putu Piring<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Through the Longkang,<\/em>\u00a0both published by Checkpoint Theatre. The former is about a man who returns to his childhood haunt with his favourite snack; the latter is a three-part horror adventure series about a teenager who unwittingly finds himself in an otherworld after climbing into a drain to retrieve his football. Both publications, created in collaboration with illustrator Shuxian Lee, have been well-received. Notably,\u00a0Putu Piring<\/em>\u2019s first print run of 250 copies sold out quickly, leading to a second\u00a0run\u00a0of\u00a0500. His reviews are also hosted on his own site,\u00a0myleyantay.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I don\u2019t think it\u2019s about reconstructing the arts to make people view it as essential. It\u2019s\u00a0about making it such that Singaporeans see art as enjoyable.<\/span><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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HELLO, PROVIDENCE<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>

Mr Tay recalls how his mother took him to \u201ca lot of plays\u201d while he was growing up and how his parents were \u201cbig readers who also got me interested in writing\u201d. The\u00a0more they went to the theatre, the more he understood what he enjoyed and did not. Checkpoint Theatre\u2019s Joint Artistic Director Mr Huzir\u00a0Sulaiman has also been a driving force since they met in 2016, when he taught an interdisciplinary performance class during Mr\u00a0Tay\u2019s freshman year. Mr Huzir, whom he now counts as a colleague and friend, encouraged him to take on the challenge of putting on the assistant director\u2019s hat for Checkpoint Theatre\u2019s production of Lucas Ho\u2019s\u00a0FRAGO<\/em>. Soon after, Mr\u00a0Tay auditioned to perform in Checkpoint\u2019s production of\u00a0Eat Duck<\/em>\u00a0and was subsequently invited to be a full-time\u00a0executive.\u00a0<\/p>

Currently based in the United States, where he is completing his Master\u2019s in Fine Arts in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Mr\u00a0Tay says his Yale-NUS College days have helped shape his artistic journey. \u201cI can\u2019t overstate how essential [the school] was to my development as an artist and as a person. The facilities and resources allowed me to experiment with my artistic practice as a writer and director, which, in the early years, led to a lot of failures,\u201d he says. \u201cThese helped me learn how to improve on past mistakes \u2014 and importantly, understand that art is more than just its end product. It\u2019s about the process, the people you meet and the connections that deepen.\u201d He adds that the Yale-NUS College community was pivotal in helping him connect with not just splendid and talented artists but generous and kind people. It was there, he says, that he experienced a robust creative writing programme that both encouraged him to keep writing and to constantly seek improvement. His lecturers, Professor\u00a0Robin\u00a0Hemley and Ms\u00a0Pramodini Parayitam, also led him to consider writing as a possible career\u00a0path.<\/p>

But it wasn\u2019t just the creative classes he took that made the biggest impact. \u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in political science, but Yale-NUS College helped me realise that I could merge my intellectual curiosity with my artistic passions,\u201d he says. \u201cMost of my work remains about politics in some way.\u201d He is thankful for those opportunities, which he doubts he would have had elsewhere. \u201cMore than anything, I learnt at Yale-NUS College that if trying and failing is the worst thing that can happen, then it\u2019s worth a shot anyway,\u201d he adds. \u201cI know for a fact I wouldn\u2019t have pursued this path without Yale-NUS College, and I\u00a0wish that other young people could have that same\u00a0experience.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

AN EYE ON THE FUTURE<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>

One of the biggest challenges he sees facing Singapore artists today is how Singaporean society views the arts. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s about reconstructing the arts to make people view it as essential. It\u2019s about making it such that Singaporeans see art as enjoyable,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been thinking about \u2014 how to make work that is challenging but also rewarding to experience.\u201d He cites time management as another challenge: \u201cSo many Singaporean artists have to work in two industries at once to maintain their creative practice. And when that happens, it becomes harder and harder to prioritise their artistic drive.\u201d He does not think Singaporean artists can change the country\u2019s financial landscape and make it possible to live off an artist\u2019s wage. Yet they can be \u201caware of which segments of the population have more difficulty with accessing the arts and make sure the gates stay open for\u00a0all\u201d.<\/p>

While deepening his skills and \u201clearning how to write for new audiences and in new mediums\u201d at SAIC, Mr\u00a0Tay is collaborating with writer-activist Mr Kristian-Marc James Paul (Yale-NUS \u201919) and former journalist Ms Mysara Aljaru on an upcoming anthology with Ethos Books about minority race experiences in Singapore. He is also developing multiple works for Checkpoint Theatre, including a graphic novel and an upcoming play that looks at the experience of minority males in Singapore, which Checkpoint hopes to stage in 2023. Mr Tay remains unsure of his plans after he completes his master\u2019s degree. The\u00a0pandemic has made him reconsider what long-term planning should look like because he knows how easily the world can change and how important it is to be flexible. \u201cRegardless of where I\u00a0am, I hope to be writing and teaching in the media and genres of plays, prose, comic books, science fiction, horror, thriller and political drama,\u201d he shares. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Cover visuals of\u00a0Through the Longkang<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Putu Piring\u00a0<\/em>courtesy of Checkpoint Theatre, illustrated by Shuxian Lee.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Storyteller, stage actor and scribe \u2013 Mr Myle Yan Tay (Yale-NUS \u201919) is the local arts scene\u2019s practitioner to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10020"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10050,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10020\/revisions\/10050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}