Waiting For Audience

Festival Off Avignon 2026
Théâtre Transversal, Avignon, France

This July, Nine Years Theatre will present its original production Waiting For Audience at Festival Off Avignon 2026 in France — one of the world’s most prominent theatre festivals.

For Singapore Mandarin theatre, this marks a rare and significant opportunity to share its voice on an international stage — connecting with global audiences through a distinctly Singaporean work.

Waiting For Audience has steadily grown from a local production into a work recognised beyond Singapore.

The play was first presented at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2024, and returned in SIFA 2025 with an upgraded version, continuing to engage audiences through its playful yet thought-provoking exploration of theatre itself.

In 2025, the production was invited to perform in Milan, Italy, where it received the Special Mention of the Public Jury Award at the 16th Premio Internazionale Il "Teatro Nudo" di Teresa Pomodoro.

In 2026, Waiting For Audience garnered nominations for Best Script, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Lighting, Best Sound, and Best Multimedia at The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards, taking home the award for Best Sound.

Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024
Work-in-Progress Presentation

Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025
Full Production Premiere
· Garnered nominations for Best Script, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Lighting, Best Sound, Best Multimedia
Awarded Best Sound
— The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2026

Teatro No'hma, Milan June 2025
Premio Internazionale Il "Teatro Nudo" di Teresa Pomodoro
· Awarded Special Mention, Public Jury

Festival Off Avignon 4–25 July 2026
Théâtre Transversal

“The marvel of this work is how lightly it wears the many weighty themes in the script. It is, simply, a laugh-out-loud funny and sweetly tender valentine to theatre lovers.”
— Ong Sor Fern, The Straits Times

“The result is a witty, intelligent, and poetic production, carried by the physical energy and interpretative power of the two brilliant leads, Nelson and Mia, who are united by such deep rapport that they become a single soul on stage.”
— Mattia Sebastian Giorgetti, Sipario.it
Translated from Italian

“Nine Years Theatre (NYT)’s Waiting For Audience arrives as such a gift, presented with generosity and finesse by two of the finest practitioners in the Singapore Mandarin-language theatre scene, the power couple of Nelson Chia and Mia Chee.”
— Idelle Yee, Critics Circle Blog

An old theatre reaches its last performance night.
Two actors—A and O—find themselves sharing the stage.
They bicker,
they compete,
they create,
they wonder,
and they

              wait…

and wait,

              and wait.

“We exist because they exist.”
“Every play has a beginning / And an end / Life is the same.”

But will the audience ever come?

Playful yet meaningful, Waiting For Audience challenges us to rethink the bond between performers and spectators, drawing inspiration from physical theatre, clowning, absurdist humour and Chinese crosstalk.

Waiting For Audience invites us to step into the story and play a key role in completing a unique theatre experience, to join in the celebration of the power of live performance to connect what is on and off stage. Don’t miss this bold creation by Nine Years Theatre founders Nelson Chia and Mia Chee.

*Waiting For Audience was staged as a work-in-progress at the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024, and later commissioned by Arts House Limited for the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2025.