Our Team

Huzir Sulaiman is the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre.

Huzir Sulaiman is the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. He oversees the company’s development of new work, including plays, audio experiences, video, and comics.
Recent directing includes Session Zero (2021); Vulnerable (2021); Two Songs and A Story (with Joel Lim, 2020); Thick Beats for Good Girls (2018); and FRAGO (2017).

A critically acclaimed and award-winning playwright, his Collected Plays 1998-2012 was published in 2013. Recent plays include Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner (2019); and The Last Bull: A Life in Flamenco (2016). His plays have been translated into German, Japanese, Polish, Indonesian and Mandarin.

Huzir has taught playwriting at the National University of Singapore’s University Scholars Programme; at the NUS English Department; the School of the Arts; and other institutions. His essays and commentary pieces have appeared in The Star, The Straits Times, and The Huffington Post.

Huzir was educated at Princeton University, where he won the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize, and is a Yale World Fellow.

Huzir is in a class of his own.

TODAY, SG

Few people…deserve to be called “creative genius” as much as Huzir Sulaiman does…

Kakiseni.com, MY

Director Huzir Sulaiman approaches [the] text with the precision of a sculptor and the sensitivity of a poet.

Arts Equator, SG

Claire Wong is the co-founder, Joint Artistic Director, and Producer of Checkpoint Theatre.

Claire Wong is the co-founder, Joint Artistic Director, and Producer of Checkpoint Theatre. Trained in both Asian and Western performing arts, Claire obtained her Master of Fine Arts (MFA, Theatre Arts) from Columbia University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the National University of Singapore and was formerly a litigation and corporate lawyer.

As a theatre director, Claire recently directed Adib Kosnan’s Keluarga Besar En. Karim (The Karims) (with Joel Lim, 2021); Zenda Tan’s Eat Duck (2019); Huzir Sulaiman’s Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner (2019), a commission of Singapore International Festival of Arts; Dana Lam’s Still Life (2019); and Faith Ng’s Normal (2017, 2015). As an actress, Claire has performed in landmark Singapore productions and international arts festivals. She co-wrote and performed Recalling Mother which played in Singapore, New York, Brisbane, and Adelaide.

Actress and Director Claire Wong leads the way with excellence.

The Straits Times, SG

Kudos to Wong for drawing out the potential of the text, even down to the smallest details… not only stunning but truly generous.

The Flying Inkpot, SG

…an actress with immense stage presence, charisma and talent…

The Business Times, SG

Faith Ng is a playwright, educator, and Associate Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre.

Her plays include The Fourth Trimester (2022), which won Best Original Script and Production of the Year at the Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2023, A Good Death (part of Esplanade’s The Studios 2018), Normal (2017, 2015), For Better or For Worse (2013) and wo(men) (2010).

A Young Artist Award (2018) recipient, she has been the artist-in-residence for Lasalle’s MA Creative Writing programme since 2019 and was the writer-in-residence for the Singapore Creative Writing Residency (2014). Her collection of plays, Faith Ng: Plays Volume 1, was published in 2016. Her play Normal continues to be read in schools.

Manesh Zaveri is the Senior Finance and Development Manager at Checkpoint Theatre.

He is also a Chartered Accountant from England & Wales and Singapore with more than 30 years working experience in various industries and roles, from a humble book-keeper to Chief Financial Officer.

A solid finance professional and business partner with strong ethical values and integrity, he is able to work through operational and financial business challenges and manage change effectively to drive business process improvement, efficiency and cost reduction resulting in bottom-line improvement.

An entrepreneur at heart, Manesh co-founded and manages his own consultancy while supporting the business of his clients. He works with Checkpoint Theatre to further its outreach in Singapore’s art and theatre industries.

Izz Sumono is the Senior Production Executive at Checkpoint Theatre.

Izz Sumono has worked primarily in stage management for theatre productions and live events, and is Senior Executive of Production at Checkpoint Theatre. A Victorian College of the Arts graduate, Izz began her career in the industry as a dresser. This sparked her passion to pursue production and backstage work, and she honed her skills under Esplanade’s Stage Management Training Programme. During the pandemic, she has had the opportunity to navigate the art of live-streaming digital works, but her first love will always be live productions. Recent credits with Checkpoint Theatre include Session Zero (2021), Keluarga Besar En. Karim (The Karims) (2021), Eat Duck (2019), and Normal (2017). Izz likes to be challenged, and feels that no show is a ‘simple’ show, no matter how small.

Jayne Lim is the Marketing & Communications Senior Executive at Checkpoint Theatre.

Jayne’s interest in theatre and the arts stems from a keen fascination with how art gives voice to multi-faceted, ever-evolving perspectives, and thus paves the way for discourse, dialogue, and potential change. A graduate of the National University of Singapore (NUS) in Theatre Studies, she has at various times been a performer, director, technical crew member, and educator, and continues to advocate for and be inspired by the immense talent of local artists in Singapore.

Chaney Chia is the Development & Engagement Executive at Checkpoint Theatre.

A graduate of SOTA (Theatre) and LASALLE (BA(Hons) Arts Management), Chaney is an actor and arts manager. He made his professional acting debut with Zenda Tan’s Eat Duck (Checkpoint Theatre, 2019). Deeply fascinated with the arts and an avid believer in its power of reminding us how to live, he deeply values immersing himself in the intersection between its existence and its administration, exploring its myriad of possibilities and practices.

Tricia Tan is the Marketing & Communications Executive at Checkpoint Theatre.

Having grown up with theatre, Tricia’s immense love and respect for the art form is rooted in the belief that it fosters compassion, engagement and healing. A graduate of Goldsmiths, University of London (BA (Hons) Drama & Theatre Arts), she developed a strong interest in arts administration while studying theatre-making during her time there. She hopes to create open, collaborative spaces for artists, audiences, and everyone in between to share their stories.

Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips is a writer, performer, Associate Artist and the Publications & Communications Executive with Checkpoint Theatre.

She was also conferred as a Young ASEAN Storyteller in 2022. Cheyenne’s writing revolves around the environment, culture and identity. Her writing and performance credits include A Literary Trail of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (2022), Vulnerable (2021), an eight-part podcast, and A Grand Design (2020), an audio experience with Checkpoint Theatre, as well as In The Twine: A Tapestry of Stories (Singapore Writer’s Festival 2018) and For The Record (Centre 42’s Basement Workshop Residency 2017). Cheyenne is also a licensed Tourist Guide and has hosted eco-literary walks around MacRitchie Reservoir in collaboration with the Public Utilities Board (PUB) as part of Singapore Water Month 2018. 

Cheyenne was the Editor of singpowrimo.com, an online literary journal by SingLit Station. Her other writings can be found in the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (QLRS), Contour: A Lyrical Cartography of Singapore (Poetry Festival Singapore, 2019) and Who Are You My Country? Writing about Identity, Past and Present (Landmark Books, 2018). She writes a weekly newsletter: Field Notes From The Poetic Scientist and runs a bi-monthly spoken word competition called Outspoken.