Dear Elena

Whatever happened to us?

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Dear Elena was nominated at the "Life! Theatre Awards 2020":

Best Lighting Design — Faith Liu Yong Huay

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Four students drop a birthday surprise on their teacher Elena, but the true intention of their visit is unveiled when they attempt to persuade her to hand over the key to the safe where their exam papers are being kept. For the sake of their academic progress, they must falsify their scores; for the sake of their futures, excuses are made to justify their actions. The teacher finds herself in a predicament when her students begin coercing her. To stop them from making further mistakes, Elena stands firm and refuses to compromise. They are stuck in deadlock as night draws in, and the students suggest a shockingly deplorable deal as their last resort.

Dear Elena Sergeevna, the original play from which this production is adapted, has been staged in many different translations around the world since the 1980s, and it is known as one of the most powerful contemporary classics. Filled with dynamic tension in the plot, coupled with the lyrical text, the play asks hard questions about humanity unflinchingly.

Directed by four-time award-winning director Nelson Chia, the NYT Ensemble reimagines this classic work and injects it with contemporary ideas through both textual and physical vocabularies.