[NEWS] The Finger Players will pivot from the rotational Artistic Directorship to a collaborative leadership model

The Finger Players will still be the same in that we would continue to experiment and explore the way we present and create Puppetry works. We are now clearer about the priorities of the company which the Creative Leads will look after, as they chart the company’s programming in consultation with the Core Team.

As part of building a sustainable succession plan, we are also developing our arts managers. We are constantly looking at the growth of our office team and adjusting their scopes based on their personal growth alongside the company’s needs. Tan Xiang Yi who has been with The Finger Players for 6 years, will now take on the portfolio of the Company Manager.

Myra Loke will continue leading the company but now in the capacity of the Executive Director, and what this means is that she would be looking after more of the artistic and organisational growth, and bringing The Finger Players closer to our vision of being the centre of research and development of Puppetry.

As of the release of this statement, the office team now comprises:
Executive Director: Myra Loke
Company Manager: Tan Xiang Yi
Publicity and Partnerships Manager: Ong Xue Min
Outreach Manager: Yazid Jalil
Programme and Administration Manager: Chloe Ong

Oliver Chong and Loo An Ni (Creative Leads for Research & Practice) will be working on publishing a Puppetry Methodology Book which serves to consolidate two decades of the company’s puppetry experience into a tangible resource for the next generation of artists, theatre-makers, and educators.

The company will continue experimenting with the puppetry language through creative exchanges and collaborations. In June 2026, the Southeast Asia international collaboration (2024-2026) will reach its final artistic phase with the staging of Here, reflecting Chong Tze Chien’s exploration between puppetry and movement, particularly the martial arts, Silat.

The Finger Players will provide structured apprenticeship programmes for practitioners to hone their puppetry skills under the tutelage of puppet masters. In preparation for the community show Hands Up! (2026), puppeteer-performers will have to undergo 3 months of intensive training and rehearsals in Traditional Chinese Hand Puppetry taught by Tan Beng Tian.

The Little Players, the Outreach wing of The Finger Players, will join the Main Season stage with annual offerings that address pressing issues among young audiences. Premiering with Why U Bully Me? (directed by Ellison Tan and dramaturgy by Sindhura Kalidas) slated for November 2026, the show will touch upon topics of bullying.

The Finger Players will expand its digital content offerings, starting with a collaboration with Vedic Metal band RUDRA. This is the second time the company is collaborating with RUDRA after Transplant (which won Oliver Chong the Best Director award in the ST Life Theatre Awards 2025) and we are very much looking forward to the unimaginable collision between puppetry and Vedic metal music.

The crux of the rotational Artistic Director model is such that every 3 years, there will be a new perspective of puppetry being explored through the change in Artistic Director. This model was something new to the company and industry when it was first introduced in 2019 and was meant to be an experiment. The experiment will not work if any Artistic Directors continue or stay on for multiple cycles.

Meanwhile, the Core Team has also reflected that instead of having an Artistic Director to try to oversee many things at one go, they can divide and conquer, to ensure a more dedicated and focused growth towards the priorities of the company. And that’s why the collective leadership model and the Creative Leads is borne. This feels right for TFP at this moment.

The Core Team is a group of practitioners, artists, and managers who are invested in the development of the company. This team of people plans the direction of the seasons each year and the Creative Leads will take over.

They will work closely with the Executive Director and the office team to carry out the programmes. Since its inception, the Core Team Members have always been involved in TFP’s projects in different ways, ensuring that the values of the company are always aligned.

“What stays with me most are the creative processes behind works like Every Brilliant Thing, Transplant, Cat and the Faceless Maiden (Puppet Origin Stories @ ONE-TWO-SIX: Only Puppets in the Building), and Tall Tales: Bananas & Ang Ku Kuehs.

I think of the long hours in the office, workshop, and rehearsal studio with colleagues and collaborators, working through challenges after challenges together. Just as memorable were the dinners, drinks, karaoke, and the moments of camaraderie that held the team together over those three years.” – Oliver Chong

Moving forward, Oliver’s focus will shift toward independent creation, pedagogy, and international collaboration. One recent project is a Singapore-Taiwan co-commission with Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group, Tall Tales: Bananas & Ang Ku Kuehs, co-written and co-directed with Wang Chia-Ming. It premiered at Esplanade Huayi Festival in 2026 and will tour to Taiwan in 2027. He is also developing the Puppetry Methodology Book as well as new interdisciplinary performance works.

The Finger Players has built not only a body of work, but also a rich set of practices, methods, and artistic values that deserve to be documented. This book is a way of recording that knowledge and sharing it with future puppeteers, theatre-makers, students, and scholars.

The biggest challenge is that much of the company’s knowledge lives in practice such as rehearsal decisions, design experiments, physical instinct, and craft learned through doing.

A second challenge is finding coherence without forcing everything into a single method. The Finger Players is a collective practice shaped by multiple artistic voices. The task is to articulate the shared ethos while preserving the plurality of approaches that define the company.

It is also important to say that there is no single “TFP Method.” The company’s practice has evolved through multiple artists, each with distinct approaches. The book gives form to that diversity, preserving what has been learned while creating a foundation for future work.

“[I wish] to share our work with a wider audience, in hopes that people familiar with puppetry will gain a deeper insight to our methods, and people new to puppetry will have a point of reference to start from.” – Loo An Ni

“I hope the book serves as a resource for future puppeteers, theatre-makers, students, and scholars, while also introducing a wider local and international audience to The Finger Players’ work and methodologies.

More than that, I hope it helps reposition puppetry in the public imagination, not as something marginal or child-oriented, but as a serious theatrical language capable of political inquiry, allegory, and visual experimentation.” – Oliver Chong

The Creative Leads in Education & Engagement will focus on shaping the creative direction of The Little Players’ programmes. They work closely with collaborators to bring each project to life, with the aim of creating meaningful puppetry experiences for young audiences.

For Ellison Tan and Sindhura Kalidas, being a Creative is not a full-time role. The title serves merely as a shorthand for ease of communication and identification. Rather than overseeing day-to-day operations, they will continue to maintain their independent arts practices.

Since The Little Players is both an artistic an educational platform, there are three key objectives in mind:

First, we want young audiences to encounter puppetry in a way that goes beyond entertainment. We want them to be able to connect emotionally to what they see, and to question and imagine worlds beyond their own.

Second, we are keen on developing programmes that support social and emotional learning, particularly around themes that may be difficult to understand and/or talk about. Puppetry is a powerful tool for this.

Third, we want to grow The Little Players’ reach and relevance, engaging a wider range of audiences without compromising on depth and care.

“Ellison and I have both spent many years working with young people, and we also have children in our lives whom we care deeply about. I’m always interested in creating work that I would want the young people around me to experience, something that speaks to what bothers them, excites them, and, most importantly, what makes them feel seen. This role feels like a meaningful opportunity to contribute to The Little Players’ ongoing work in creating accessible, thoughtful, and engaging experiences for young audiences.” – Sindhura Kalidas

“The Finger Players Core Team is part of the DNA of the company, and having started as an apprentice in 2013, I am inevitably familiar with the vision and mission of the company. This, coupled with my independent artistic practice, is how I envision coming in to support the company.” – Ellison Tan