Nora Samosir

Last updated

Nora Samosir
Born
Nora Anny Samosir

Singapore
Occupation(s)Actress
educator
Years active1979–present

Nora Samosir is a Singaporean actress of Indonesian descent who won a 2002 Life Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress. [1] [2] She has been active in the Singapore theatre scene since 1979 and has worked in television and film. [1] Some of her more notable performances include The Swallowed Seed (2002) [3] and Revelations (2003) [4]

Contents

Background

Samosir is of Indonesian descent and speaks English, Malay and Indonesian fluently. [1] Her professional training is in acting and voice production, which she also teaches at the National University of Singapore. [1] She studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, and graduated from York University, Toronto, Canada with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and has multiple qualifications in vocal training and voice studies. [5] She is a member of the Association of Singapore Actors, [1] the Singapore Drama Educators Association, [6] and currently a lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore, where she lectures in Theatre Studies and teaches voice production, teaching 'Introduction to Theatre and Drama', 'Praxis in Theatre and Performance Theory', and 'Voice Studies and Production'. [7]

Career

Samosir has done extensive work in Singapore with such groups as Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT), Action Theatre, The Necessary Stage (TNS), Cake Theatre, Black Tent Theater, Music and Movement, and TheatreWorks (TW), as well as performing at venues such as National Museum of Singapore, Dublin Fringe Festival, National Theatre Festival (at the National School of Drama in Delhi), Asian Theatre Festival at Kyungsung University in Busan, Lyric Theatre, Festival of Perth, TheatreWorks Retrospective Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Adelaide Festival of Arts, and National Institute of Education.

Selected notable theatre appearances

Filmography

Partial television

Criticism and praise

In considering her role in Doubt (2006), Richard Lord of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore wrote that her portrayal of Sister Aloysius was unsympathetic and led to the audience believing in the innocence of Father Brendan as played by Lim Yu Beng. [12] When speaking of her award-winning role of Claire in Proof (2002), Daniel Teo of Inkpot Reviews praised her performance and her precision, [23] while Richard Lord of QLRS felt she exaggerated her character, but had shown better work in performance earlier that year." [16] The following year in his review of Revelations (2003), Lord gave a mixed review of the production's "faulty structure", yet approved of Samosir's performance. [3] In 2003, Samosir was involved with Pulse (2003), an experimental series of 3 interlinked plays loosely based on an urban woman's diary. The series was reviewed by Matthew Lyon of Inkpot Reviews, who felt her performance in the second of the three was "the strongest of the whole series." [15]

Awards

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Broadbent</span> British actor (born 1949)

James Broadbent is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He's received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.

The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by Singaporeans. It is written chiefly in the country's four official languages: English, Malay, Standard Mandarin and Tamil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn Gage</span> American actor, writer and director

Carolyn Gage is an American playwright, actor, theatrical director and author. She has written nine books on lesbian theater and sixty-five plays, musicals, and one-woman shows. A lesbian feminist, her work emphasizes non-traditional roles for women and lesbian characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Wong</span>

Claire Wong is a Malaysian actor, director, producer, and filmmaker. She is the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director and Producer of Checkpoint Theatre. Wong writes, directs, produces, and acts for the stage and for the camera. She has received training in both Asian and Western performing arts and obtained her post-graduate degree, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA), from Columbia University. Wong's recent producing and directing credits include: Huzir Sulaiman's The Last Bull: A Life in Flamenco , Occupation (2012) and The Weight of Silk on Skin (2011); Faith Ng's Normal , For Better or for Worse (2013) and wo(men) (2010); Joel Tan's The Way We Go (2014). Her play Recalling Mother which was co-written and co-directed with Noorlinah Mohamed, recently played at Esplanade's The Studios and at the Brisbane and OzAsia Festivals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore International Festival of Arts</span>

Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. It is organised by Arts House Limited for the National Arts Council. The festival is usually held in mid-year for a stretch of one month and incorporates theatre arts, dance, music and visual arts, etc. Besides local participants, many of the events are by international artists.

Michael Therriault is a Canadian actor. He attended Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Sheridan College in Oakville, and was a member of the inaugural season of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training in Stratford, Ontario.

Koh Buck Song is a Singaporean writer, poet, and country brand adviser. He is the author and editor of almost 40 books, including seven books of poetry and haiga art. He works as a writer, editor and consultant in branding, communications strategy and corporate social responsibility in Singapore. He has held several exhibitions as a Singaporean pioneer of haiga art, developed from a 16th-century Japanese art form combining ink sketches with haiku poems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Arts Council, Singapore</span>

The National Arts Council (NAC) is a statutory board established on 15 October 1991 to oversee the development of arts in Singapore. It is under the purview of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The NAC provides grants, scholarships, awards and platforms for arts practitioners, as well as arts education and programmes for the general public.

Ong Keng Sen is a Singaporean director of the theatre group TheatreWorks, which was founded in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvin Pang</span>

Alvin Pang was named 2005 Young Artist of the Year (Literature) by the National Arts Council Singapore. He holds a First Class Honours degree in English literature from the University of York and an Honorary Fellowship in Writing from the University of Iowa's International Writing Program (2002). In 2020, he was awarded a PhD in Writing from RMIT University, and appointed to the honorary position of Adjunct Professor of RMIT University in 2021. For his contributions, he was conferred the Singapore Youth Award in 2007, and the JCCI Foundation Education Award in 2008. He is listed in the Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daren Shiau</span>

Daren Shiau, BBM, PBM, is a Singaporean novelist, poet, conservationist, and lawyer in private practice qualified in Singapore, England and Wales. He is an author of five books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ng Yi Sheng</span> Singaporean writer

Ng Yi Sheng is a Singaporean gay writer. He has published a collection of his poems entitled last boy, which won the Singapore Literature Prize, and a documentary book on gay, lesbian and bisexual Singaporeans called SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century in 2006.

Tan Tarn How ) is a Singaporean playwright and senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore). His plays have been staged in Singapore and Hong Kong, and have won numerous awards. In 2011, Epigram Books published a collection of six of his plays.

<i>Rafta, Rafta...</i>

Rafta, Rafta... is a comedy by British Pakistani playwright Ayub Khan-Din adapted from the 1963 Bill Naughton play, All in Good Time. The play is set in the working class English town of Bolton, and examines a story of marital difficulties within an immigrant Indian family. Ishwar Dutt is a first-generation immigrant and patriarch of the family. He has a troubled relationship with his newlywed son Atul, whose married life with Vina Patel has got off to a rocky start. The play deals with setting out and resolving these various conflicts.

Neila Sathyalingam was a Singaporean classical Indian dancer, choreographer and instructor of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. An alumna of Kalakshetra in Madras under the tutelage of Srimathi Rukmini Devi Arundale, she emigrated with her family to Singapore in 1974. In 1977 she and her husband founded the performance arts company Apsaras Arts, which has staged performances throughout the world. She was the company's artistic director and continued to teach dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Badham</span> Australian writer and social commentator (born 1974)

Vanessa "Van" Badham is an Australian writer and activist. A playwright and novelist, she writes dramas and comedies. She is a regular columnist for the Guardian Australia website.

Nelson Chia is a Singaporean theatre director, actor and lecturer. He is the co-founder of Nine Years Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuo Pao Kun</span>

Kuo Pao Kun was a playwright, theatre director, and arts activist in Singapore who wrote and directed both Mandarin and English plays. He founded three arts and drama centres in Singapore, conducted and organised a number of drama seminars and workshops, and mentored Singaporean and foreign directors and artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janice Koh</span> Singaporean politician

Janice Koh is a Singaporean actress and a former Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Kwek</span> Singaporean filmmaker

Ken Kwek is a Singaporean screenwriter, director, playwright and author. His short film compendium, Sex.Violence.FamilyValues, was banned by the Singapore and Malaysian governments in 2012. His first feature film Unlucky Plaza premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. His second feature #LookAtMe premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival in 2022, to critical acclaim. He has written several full-length plays, including the #MeToo drama, This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls, which premiered in Singapore in 2019. He is also the author of several best-selling children’s books including Kelly and the Krumps, which won the Hedwig Anuar Book Award in 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "actors' directory: Nora Samosir". Association of Singapore Artists. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  2. 1 2 "The 3rd DBS Life! Theatre Awards 2002". Singapore Press Holdings Limited . Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 Lord, Richard (July 2003). "Thinking Global, Acting Local". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore . 2 (4).
  4. 1 2 Lord, Richard (July 2003). "Thinking Global, Acting Local – Singapore shows up at the Singapore Arts Fest". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore . 2 (4).
  5. "A Workshop on Respiration, Phonation, and Articulation" (PDF). National University of Singapore. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  6. "Our members". Singapore Drama Educators Association. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  7. "Faculty of Arts & Social Studies". National University of Singapore. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  8. "Stage: musical & opera". IS Magazine. 20 March 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  9. Chia, Adeline. "Flawed reflections". Straits Times . Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  10. Toh, Amos (19 June 2008). "Urgent Devotion". The Flying Inkpot. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  11. "120, Presented by National Museum of Singapore: A new production by TheatreWorks/Ong Keng Sen". National Museum of Singapore. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  12. 1 2 Lord, Richard (April 2006). "Shadows of the Doubt". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore . 5 (3): 2.
  13. Yi-Sheng, Ng (12 May 2006). "The Palace of Wisdom". The Flying Inkpot. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  14. Lord, Richard (January 2005). "Negotiating Parts Unknown". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore . 4 (2).
  15. 1 2 Lyon, Matthew. "The Heart of the Matter". The Inkpot . Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  16. 1 2 Lord, Richard (January 2003). "Maps, Maths and Other Madness". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore . 2 (2).
  17. Lord, Richard (July 2002). "Action Speaks Louder With Words – Of soups, fruits and suits". Quarterly Literary Review Singapore . 1 (4).
  18. 1 2 "DVD Review of Asian Film Archive's Singapore Shorts Vol. 2". Twitch Films. 17 November 2008. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  19. "Classic dramas Triple Nine and Masters Of The Sea are coming to Netflix in November".
  20. Kwok, Amos. "Shiver" . Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  21. 1 2 "MY LIFE IN THEATRE".
  22. "NUS Arts Festival 2014 | Festival Picks - White Rabbit Red Rabbit". www.nus.edu.sg. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  23. Teo, Daniel (22 November 2002). "One is the lonliest number". The Inkpot . Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  24. Tan, Tarn How (1993). The lady of soul and her ultimate "S" machine. Sirius Books. p. 85.
  25. Chong, Tze Chien (2002). PIE to SPOILT: a collection of plays. The Necessary Stage. p. 253. ISBN   9789810476670.
  26. Sa'at, Alfian (2001). A history of amnesia: poems. Ethos Books. p. 86. ISBN   9789810437077.
  27. Chiang, Michael (1994). Private parts and other playthings. Landmark Books. p. 295. ISBN   9789813002777.