Nelson Chia - Cultural Translator, Ensemble Builder - discipline, luck and hard work

Aug 27, 2026

Nelson Chia is portrayed as a theatre artist focused on transcultural translation and the disciplined craft of ensemble building. Through Nine Years Theatre, he relocates Western classics into different cultural contexts without seeking seamless adaptation, instead embracing the frictions that generate new forms. His approach links artistic identity with actor training, drawing on influences, workshop encounters, and a commitment to classic plays in Mandarin. The narrative traces his shift from planned military service to theatre studies and development as performer and director.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time15 min

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Nelson Chia: cultural translator, ensemble builder

Cultural relocations and ensemble discipline

Discipline, luck and hard work

From audition to theatre studies

Learn (/learn) In-depth (/learn/in-depth) Theatre Music Dance (/learn/in-depth/theatre-music-and-dance) Nelson Chia: cultural translator, ensemble builder Theatre, Music & Dance Nelson Chia: cultural translator, ensemble builder By Corrie Tan As part of the Asian Theatremakers series Nelson Chia in O/ending the Audience at Esplanade's Huayi 2017. You know a Nine Years Theatre production when you see one. There’s the smell of precision about it, from the calibrated ensemble to the period-perfect set pieces. Every single performer seems to be breathing in and out in perfect sync. The language is exact, the direction exacting. The company has made signiNcant strides since it stormed onto the Singapore stage with its debut production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the 2012 edition of Esplanade’s Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts (/festivals-and-series/huayi-chinese-festival-ofarts/2018) . The Chinese-language translation of the American classic was the company’s Nrst provocation: What does it mean to take a location-and period-speciNc play and not only translate it, but situate it in a diTerent cultural context? The company’s artistic director Nelson Chia has never intended for these cultural relocations to be smooth or seamless. He is interested in the frictions they produce and the new forms they create. Under his tenure, Nine Years Theatre has become synonymous with these cultural and linguistic experiments, but also for its focus on actor training and what it means to build a disciplined ensemble of performers with a shared theatrical and physical vocabulary. While Nine Years Theatre has evolved in its breadth and scope, these pillars of the company have not changed since its inception. When Chia established Nine Years Theatre with his wife, company director Mia Chee, they were clear from the start about its focus on the transcultural and training the actor. Chia told me in an interview in late 2011: I like doing these western plays because I Nnd that there is always a weird tension in doing transcultural work... You may ask me – are they Americans? No, they’re not. Are they Chinese? No, they’re not. So what are they? Well, they are people speaking Mandarin, living in a world that is similar to New England, but not. They may not be any of these things. Or they may be all of these things. After a while the stage will take on a logic of its own. He later continued: I’m very interested in the status of the actor and the work of an actor ... When the Esplanade asked me what I wanted to do for Huayi , I thought, I want to do classic plays. We have new plays, platforms for new plays to be staged and written, but I thought, actors need classic plays – as well as the audience. Classic plays, once in awhile, give actors the boost to move up. They pose a certain kind of challenge […] I wanted to do a classic play in Mandarin. This ambition has persisted throughout the years, sculpting a theatre company that has not only sought to reinvent the classic and build a new kind of ensemble, but also established a Mandarin theatre company with a strong, unshakable identity and a willingness to adapt in an evolving, multilingual theatre industry. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, part of Huayi 2012 . Photo by Jack Yam. Discipline, luck and hard work Chia didn’t start out in the theatre. The son of a housewife and a businessman, he was hardworking and disciplined as a student, which made him a good Nt for the uniformed groups in secondary school. His plan was to eventually sign on as a regular with the Singapore navy. He appreciated the steady promotion up the ranks and believed it was a career that suited him. Then in 1993, his younger sister spotted an audition notice by Toy Factory Productions, a bedgling theatre company at the time, and coaxed Chia into accompanying her. Lim Chin Huat from dance group Ecnad was leading the audition. Copy his movements? I could do that, Ch

FAQs

How does Nelson Chia approach cultural translation in theatre?

He aims to situate plays in different cultural contexts, not by making relocations smooth, but by using the frictions they create to generate new forms.

What role does actor training play in Chia’s work with Nine Years Theatre?

Nine Years Theatre is tied to actor training and building a disciplined ensemble with a shared theatrical and physical vocabulary.

What sparked Chia’s shift toward theatre instead of his earlier plans?

A family member encouraged him to attend a theatre audition, leading to an early experimental stage experience and a later decision to give up scholarship and navy plans to study theatre.

Aug 27, 2026

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