Board of Directors

Paul Anthony Drayson is a Board Member of Checkpoint Theatre.

Born in Esher, England, Paul Anthony Drayson studied at Cranleigh School. He enrolled on the Chartered Accountancy programme and qualified as a member of the Scottish Chartered Accountants. Appointed as a travelling auditor with British American Tobacco (BAT), Paul worked in Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. He subsequently joined Contactor Switchgear in Wolverhamton in the United Kingdom.

Paul was appointed an accountant with The Straits Times Press in Singapore and subsequently the Financial Controller of the New Straits Times in Kuala Lumpur. He returned to Singapore to rejoin The Straits Times, and was later appointed Chief Financial Controller of Singapore Press Holdings. On leaving SPH, Paul worked with other companies.

Huzir Sulaiman is a Board Member and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre.

Huzir has three decades of multidisciplinary creative practice, ranging from creative consultancy for large organisations to award- winning work in theatre and film, with a particular focus on training, education, and mentorship.

Consultancy engagements include high-level executive coaching for DBS in Singapore and Hong Kong, Credit Suisse, and Orbium; editorial services for Temasek Holdings (writing a 60,000 word history of the organisation for internal use), the Malay Heritage Foundation, and the National Library Board; research for Samsung Asia; and experience design for the National Museum of Singapore and the Burj Khalifa observation deck in Dubai (serving as the Creative Director).

Huzir oversees the development of new work at Checkpoint Theatre, and directs productions for audio, video, and theatre. A critically acclaimed and award winning playwright, his Collected Plays 1998-2012 was published in 2013.

As a screenwriter, he won Best Screenplay at the 2018 Malaysian Screen Awards for Dukun. His essays and commentary pieces have appeared in The Star, The Straits Times, and The Huffington Post.

Most recently an Adjunct Associate Professor with the NUS University Scholars Programme, Huzir has also taught playwriting at the NUS English Department, SOTA, Yale-NUS College, NYU Tisch Asia, and NTU. He has served on the Cultural Medallion Specialist Panel, the Singapore Biennale Advisory Committee, and the Young Artist Award Specialist Panel.

Huzir was educated at Princeton University, winning the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize, and is a Yale World Fellow, having undergone Yale University’s highly selective public policy and leadership training programme.

Phan Ming Yen is a Board Member of Checkpoint Theatre.

An independent producer, writer and researcher, Phan Ming Yen has been involved in Singapore’s music scene variously as a music critic, journalist, writer, arts manager, producer and educator for the past 30 years. He has written on music in 19th century Singapore and also on the Syonan Symphony Orchestra during the Japanese Occupation for Cultural Connections, the journal of the Culture Academy of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and a contributing writer to Singapore Soundscape.

Aside from his ongoing research on music during the Japanese Occupation, Phan is at present setting up a heritage and documentation centre on the history of a prominent tin ore dealer in Perak, Malaysia. Phan’s fiction and poetry have been published online in Quarterly Literary Review Singapore and by Ethos Books and appeared as a featured writer in the 2016 and 2022 editions of the Singapore Writer’s Festival.

Teo Teck Weng is a Board Member of Checkpoint Theatre

Teo Teck Weng is a director of Hong How and Tong Eng Group, which are award-winning real estate developers with projects across different sectors including landed housing, condominium, apartments, offices, retail mall and warehouses. Teck Weng was formerly a journalist with The Business Times. He has been a champion of local drama groups since 1985.

Claire Wong is a Board Member and Joint Artistic Director, and Producer of Checkpoint Theatre.

As Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre, Claire is responsible for the company’s artistic vision, strategies and programmes, and oversees the company’s business, operations, legal and regulatory matters. Claire often produces and directs the company’s productions, and also writes and performs for the stage and camera.

Claire graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Law (Hons). She was admitted to the Singapore Bar and practised as a litigator and a corporate lawyer. She worked in Sydney at Freehills and in Singapore at Allen & Gledhill, Helen Yeo & Partners and Rodyk & Davidson (now known as Dentons Rodyk).

She has performed in, and helmed, numerous productions to critical and popular acclaim in Singapore and in major international arts festivals and in cities in Europe, USA, Australia and Japan. Claire’s work has received nominations and awards over the years at the annual ST Life! Theatre Awards.

Claire was an Adjunct Fellow at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. As a consultant, she provides corporate leadership training and creative consultancy services. She has served on various National Arts Council award and scholarship panels, and is a mentor for the Young Women’s Leadership Connection.

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

Annabelle Yip is a Board Member of Checkpoint Theatre.

She is a corporate lawyer with over 30 years’ experience. She is a Senior Consultant at Wong Partnership LLP and was the Joint Head of the Corporate Governance & Compliance Practice until March 2022. Annabelle is an independent non-executive director of UOL Group Limited, a leading Singapore-listed property and hospitality group. She is also a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

Annabelle was previously Vice President (Corporate Services) and Head of Legal and Risk Management of Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited (now known as SATS Limited), and a board member of The Substation Limited, a registered arts charity and Institution of a Public Character in Singapore and of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited, a subsidiary of AIA Singapore Limited.

Annabelle graduated from the National University of Singapore. She is admitted to the Singapore Bar. She obtained her LL.M. from King’s College London, University of London, specialising in Corporate and Commercial Law.

Dr. Joanne Yoong is a Board Member of Checkpoint Theatre.

Joanne Yoong is the Founder and Chief Executive of Research for Impact, Singapore. Joanne is an applied microeconomist and interdisciplinary researcher. She holds multiple faculty appointments – Visiting Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Honorary Senior Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Adjunct Faculty, Department of Economics, Singapore Management University. She is the author of over eighty peer-reviewed articles in leading economics, medical and public health journals. Her work includes the evaluation of healthcare policy and practice as well as the economic assessment of new health technologies.

Joanne has worked on projects around the world including Singapore, the United States, India, China,

Ghana, Kenya, Cambodia, Indonesia and Iraqi Kurdistan. She is an experienced educator at the university and professional level. Joanne received her PhD in Economics at Stanford University as an FSI Starr Foundation Fellow after an early career in financial services and her AB summa cum laude in Economics and Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton University.