Level Up! Fest 2025: Learning Festival for Drama CCA Educators and Teachers

November is the month for Drama Educators to Level Up!

Level Up! Fest 2025 is a learning festival specially curated for the Drama CCA Instructors and Teachers-in-charge. It will address some of the sector’s competency gaps, advance capabilities of educators and encourage the development of holistic Drama CCA experiences for students in today's world.

This year, Level Up! Fest is proud to introduce the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) as one of our programme partners this year, and to continue our partnership with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE).

Gain fresh knowledge and strategies from 4 dynamic workshops, each led by seasoned freelance drama educators or experienced lecturers from NAFA, LASALLE, and ITI. Learn directly from practitioners who bring both academic expertise and professional industry experience to the room. 

SDEA Members and NAFA, LASALLE and ITI Students and Alumni will be able to enjoy a 20% discount on registration fees on individual workshops.

Join us this November for your opportunity to Level Up!

Festival Schedule

Sessions

Vocal Expression for the Performing Artist

24 November | 9:30AM – 12:30PM | NAFA Campus 3

Facilitated by Gavin Leahy

Register Here

For an actor the voice is one of the key tools of expression. Students need to become aware of how they use their voice to learn how to make full use of it to communicate a range of different characters, ideas, and emotions. This workshop will investigate how the voice works and provide a range of practical tools to help develop and enhance quality and range and build the skills required to apply the voice effectively in performance. 

About the facilitator: Gavin Leahy

Gavin Leahy comes from Australia, where he trained as an actor and as a voice teacher/coach. Since graduating with an MFA from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Gavin has been working at NIDA as a lecturer in the Voice department on both BFA and MFA programs. He was seconded to work in the theatre departments of the University of Pretoria and the Tswane Institute of Technology in South Africa. Gavin is a certified  Lessac Kinesensic trainer. 

As an actor in Australia, Gavin has performed in shows including Every Brilliant Thing, The 39 Steps, I Am My Own Wife, God of Carnage, Other Desert Cities, William Finn’s Elegies, Evita, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Assassins, A New Brain, and The Boy from Oz. He has toured both nationally and internationally in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, The music of the Night, and Encore Mr. Producer. 

Gavin’s directing credits include productions of Proof and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. As a dialect, voice and text coach, Gavin has worked throughout Australia on Metamorphosis, Master and Margareta, Carking It, Ironbound, Women Of Manhattan, The Lieutenant Of Inishmore, Brigadoon, The Changeling, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Salem, The Yellow Wallpaper, Another Country and Scorched. 

Room Full of Ideas - Breaking Down the Devising Process 

24 November | 2PM – 5PM | NAFA Campus 3

Facilitated by Koh Wan Ching

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So many things can spark inspiration — a good book, a passing thought, a moving experience. How can we take these ideas and mould them into a cohesive performance piece? 

This workshop invites educators and practitioners to develop methods and processes with which to devise performative work. 

Participants will be encouraged to bring source materials and experiment with different ways to engage with their material. They will develop devising strategies through group discussions, as well as create work collaboratively on the floor.

Note to attendees:

1. This is a practical, hands-on workshop 
2. Come dressed in comfortable attire suitable for movement 
3. Bring a source material to use as a starting point for creative work  
   (For example, a text passage, poem, song, news article, photo, object, or story. We will explore how to create movements, images and moments inspired by these sources.)

About the facilitator: Koh Wan Ching

Koh Wan Ching has worked as a theatre-maker with several companies including Drama Box, Nine Years Theatre, The Necessary Stage and Wild Rice. She has performed in and presented work at festivals in Asia as well as the Singapore International Festival of Arts (2015, 2021, 2023) and the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (2018, 2019, 2021). From 2008–2012, she was part of the theatre collective A Group Of People (AGOP), which focused on experimental and collaboratively devised works. 

Her work builds upon her practice in physical and movement studies. Wan Ching holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Theatre Studies from the National University of Singapore, trained with SITI Company and the Suzuki Company of Toga and is a graduate of the inaugural SITI Conservatory Program. She is currently a faculty member and Head of Acting at the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI).

Page to Persona: Teaching Plays for Youth  

25 November | 9:30AM – 12:30PM | LASALLE McNally Campus

Facilitated by Aswani Aswath, Regina Chua, and Adeeb Fazah

Register Here

Are you looking to refresh your lesson plans with materials that are relevant to your students? Would you like to learn hands-on activities that can help tap on your students’ physicality and voices as they strive to bring characters to life? How can you, as a drama teacher, work meaningfully with plays?   

 In this workshop, join our facilitators as they navigate the process of theatre making using texts from SDEA’s recently published Plays for Youth anthology. You will learn to use contemporary scripts that tackle topics like identity, social media, mental health and body image issues as a springboard for dynamic discussions and inventive scene work. By the end, you will be equipped with ready-to-use lesson plans for the upcoming year!

About the Facilitators

Regina Chua

Regina Chua is a passionate theatre arts practitioner-educator who believes in the transformative power of Dramatic Arts, as it holds the key to unlocking confidence and creativity from within the individual, whatever their age. 

Having graduated from LASALLE, College of the Arts in 2006 with a Diploma in Theatre Arts, her desire to nurture the artistic expression of others pushed her to seek pedagogical excellence. Her commitment to understanding the diverse learning needs of individuals across different age groups has seen her obtaining a Specialist Diploma in Arts Education from NIE-NTU in 2016, a Certificate in Teaching Arts in Early Childhood Environment from SEED Institute in 2018 and an Advance Certificate in Learning and Performance 2.0 (ACLP 2.0) from Institute of Adult Learning (IAL), SUSS in 2023. An experienced arts educator, she has conducted over 1000 workshops for learners spanning the ages of four to sixty-four, across over 200 institutions from pre-schools to institutes of higher learning, mainstream to special education, government to corporate entities, both locally and internationally. She is always interested in making learning as accessible and fun as possible. 

Regina is a proud member of Singapore Drama Educator Association (SDEA) and is currently serving as its Treasurer for the 2025-2027 term.

Adeeb Fazah

Adeeb Fazah is a theatre director, producer, playwright and performer. He is the artistic director of The Second Breakfast Company. He is also a drama educator, and a committee member of the Singapore Drama Educators Association. 

Storytelling Through Light and Space – An Introduction to Set and Lighting Design

25 November | 2PM – 5PM | LASALLE McNally Campus

Facilitated by Terence Lau

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This workshop introduces participants to the fundamental principles of set and lighting design, demonstrating how these elements contribute to storytelling, mood, and character development in theatre. The focus is on conceptual understanding and creative problem-solving using non-technical methods and simple materials.  

Learning Objectives 

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

• Understand the core functions of set and lighting design. 
• Identify key elements within set and lighting design and their impact. 
•  Develop conceptual designs for a given scenario. 
•  Collaborate effectively in a group to create and present a visual design. 

About the Facilitator

Terence Lau

Terence Lau is a technical theatre professional and educator with over two decades of experience in Singapore’s theatre and dance scene.   

With a Masters in Arts Pedagogy and Practice, he is currently a lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, teaching in the Diploma in Technical Theatre and Production Management program. His teaching and research focuses on exploring diverse pedagogical methods, styles, and philosophies, with a strong advocacy for sustainable practices and the subculture within the technical theatre industry.

Registration Fees

Festival Pass holders enjoy access to all 4 workshops (O.P. $100)

Register for the Festival Pass here