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I aim to make work that provides  hope, healing and encourages positive and proactive change.

Henrik Cheng headshot 1.jpg

This is me

Surprising tidbits about me
An Asian American (I am based in Singapore at the moment so many assume that I am Singaporean) 
Born and raised in NYC. (People wonder why I left if I am in theatre)
A former US Marine (my first job people get confused as how I got into theatre after, but they aren’t that different)
An animal handler (I worked with dogs mostly but the most exotic I ever got to handle was a brown bear)
Only taken on two full time positions in my life. I have been freelancing in theatre since 2006. (I was with a brand experience agency in 2019 and the Marines we covered)
Enjoy dialing in coffee (If you know what this means then I am sure we got lots to talk about)
Love gongfu tea and own tea cakes that I need to let ferment some more (If you know what this mean we definitely got lots to talk about)
Making art and tech pieces (In the fullness breath of what it means to make art and what is considered tech)
Sees every individual tied to a project a collaborator (Everyone has the responsibility of our individual role, but each one of us brings a larger wealth of experience that is beyond what any role could ever limit)

Currently Working On

Concept Phase 

All working titles and all looking for collaborators!

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  • “We” - A work based off of the first dystopian novel written by Yevgeny Zamyatin that inspired many famous dystopian future novels. Prompt: what would a “United Nations” look like on a planet where the world of “We”, “1984”, “Anthem”, “Iron Heel”, and future derivatives.

  • “Tape Head” - A work centered on the usage of cassette tape and player heads a dismantling of the cassettes into a fantastical set, where reconfigured and mobile tapehead players are set on their course by the performer.  Semi exploration of the tech but more of a exploration of “revisiting”/”replaying”/”stopping” recorded materials possibly linking itself to memories and how a narrative is formed with the advancements of archival options.

  • “Meme Grammar” - A work that teaches the grammar of memes. It aims to highlight how language is a growth of shared understanding and the grammar formed by image and text has grown the cultural language of the era where everything is happening “now”
    and its resonance

  • “Ace” - You’re familiar with mistaken identity comedies, well this is one centered on the queer identities that are erased due to who they are partnered with; Ace, Bi, Pan, and smattering of gender dysphoria, of course.

  • “Stargazing and Star charts” - A work that centers on fate and connections when the possibility that our eyes are actually star charts and as two gaze into each other (depending on their bond) types of space travel is made available.

 

Baby projects 

They are young and need to be fed please help!

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  • “The Excorcist’s Demon Tattoo” - In a world where demons are turned into tattoos and can only be contained on an exorcist’s body. It hasn’t been sustainable, there must be a new way. If trauma had a form what would we do with it?

  • Coffee/Film/Print Development Project - A craft led piece being built with the intention of on stage film and print development in front of a live audience. It is an exploration of how perceptions and narratives are formed tackling rape and sexual assault culture. 

  • Paper Folding/Airplane Project - A craft led piece centered on folding paper planes and their many iterations, text to be discovered some possibilities are hopes and dreams.

  • “Latch” - A WIP script written by Samantha Chia. A piece where a young police investigator has been assigned into her first station. She thought that criminals and suspects were her biggest concerns but finds there are things she has to protect herself against.

Musings

“The Eternal Jukebox”

For when your favorite song isn’t long enough

 

I happened upon this via tiktok and I am fascinated.

I liken the experience of attending a live performance and the artists performing, choosing to alter the performance in this “communal gathering” as compared to the familiar studio recording which is often a private headphone listening experience.

This moment is unexpected as you are vibing and singing along, then the artists shift their performance of the song slightly to create an “only here, now, and with you moment” with the audience, inviting the audience to be aware that this is a “living” performance. 

 

A possible tool for new projects:

Music collaging structured by “computer program/generated aesthetic”

  • A possible derivative exploration of a piece of music as a part of research giving the devisers a new entry point to the starting material.

  • Recording a monologue track with musical underscoring (new creation or found music) and using this tool to “shuffle” the monologue and explore the derived monologue created.

  • Creating choreography to a musical track (new creation or found music) annotate the “beats” found and track the branches to see the options/challenges of transforming the choreography to the new score with the option of changing the score to now suit the new choreography.

 

Try out the webapp yourself - The Eternal Jukebox

 

A song I found that works incredibly well is Everlong - Acoustic Version by Foo Fighters

Eternal Jukebox Everlong - Acoustic Version by Foo Fighters Default Tuning
And example of some tuning with Everlong- Eternal Jukebox Everlong - Acoustic Version by Foo Fighters Example Tuning

They have a “how to guide” to the tuning process here - How to Tune

And finally if you are curious as to how it works here is the - FAQ

Musings
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