BIOGRAPHIES
Lawrence Khong: Lead Actor & Executive Producer
Lawrence is perhaps Singapore’s first magician who brought world-class magic entertainment to our local theatres. His insatiable passion and enterprising spirit to experiment greater and grander magic coupled with a rich artistry in magic had translated into various fine mega-magic productions, namely ‘Magic of Love’, ‘An Evening of Enchantment’, ‘The Spook Show’, ‘The Great Escape’ and ‘From Illusion to Reality’. Co-produced and directed with Priscilla under their father-daughter magic label, Magic of Lawrence & Priscilla, he has raised and set the bar for homegrown entertainment for musical and theatre goers. His ambitious, inspiring and inventive style of magic has also earned partnerships and nods from internationally acclaimed maestros of magic. One such master illusionist is Jeff McBride, who started his close collaboration with Lawrence on ‘Magic of Love’. After seeing his acclaimed work in ‘From Illusion to Reality’, he raved, “It is a huge show that impressed the professional magicians in Las Vegas, and I knew at that time that this man has a vision, a big vision for one of the most spectacular magic shows ever produced.”
Lawrence is the creative brain behind his self-founded entertainment production house, Gateway Entertainment, which produced and promoted his magic productions to worldwide audiences and also made various revolutionary films for the local viewers. Under Lawrence, Gateway Entertainment has also pioneered several novel initiatives such as Project SMILE that have impacted the community at large in Singapore and the Asian region. He also founded and chairs TOUCH Community Services, a registered non-profit welfare organization which aims to serve the underprivileged and needy in Singapore. In recognition of his various contributions to the community, Lawrence was conferred the prestigious PBM Medal at the 1998 Singapore National Day Awards Ceremony. In 2007, he was selected as a finalist for the SIP-Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year, another mark of distinction for his remarkable efforts as a social entrepreneur through Project SMILE. That same year, TOUCH Community Services also clinched the Outstanding Non-profit Organization Award, which recognizes best practices in the management of volunteers and donors, including fund-raising practices, in a non-profit organisation. Undeniably a man of numerous talents, Lawrence’s many hats may perhaps arise from the combination of an almost sublime understanding of the artistry and his uncompromising stance in serving the community.
To top it off, at age 55, Lawrence, who has more than made his mark in the local and international scene, earned another coveted title of becoming a national polo player, a sport which he has been passionately practising for the past 15 years, when he was chosen to represent his country in the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in 2007. Lawrence, together with his team mates, proudly clinched the silver medal for Singapore. He also became one of the local sportsmen voted by Singaporeans to be Team Singapore’s Top 20 Sports Idol.
Priscilla Khong: Lead Actress & Executive Producer
Born into a legacy of magic, Priscilla is today an internationally acclaimed professional female magician in her own right. Besides inheriting her father Lawrence’s talent and passion for magic, and receiving training from him since young, she has also the privilege to learn from the legendary master magicians – the Great Tomsoni, Jeff McBride, Haruo Shimada, Jonathan Pendragon, and many more – where she deftly garnered the best skills of the trade and developed her own magic career.
Amazing everyone in her debut in the ‘Magic of Love’ in 2001, her love for magic has gone beyond performing on stage. As the Creative Director, Priscilla passionately works on the development of each show from its inception to the actual performance. With a trained eye, she designs the visuals of each performance, making it sharper than before through crafting and refining each routine and finally threading it all together with complementary music and props that appeal to a global audience. Trained in dance forms such as jazz, hip hop and ballet, Priscilla is able to infuse choreography and precision of movement into each magic act, making the final performance an all-sensory “MTV Magic” experience.
In addition, she maintains her sharp magic skills by conducting classes for aspiring magicians in the duo's very own School of Magic. Believing in the power of magic as a universal communication tool that transcends across all ages and cultures, Priscilla has pursued Project SMILE passionately since 2002 in her bid to bring joy to others’ lives. As the principal trainer and key driver behind each project, she has coached students, youths and adults in Singapore, Shenyang, Shanghai, Tokyo, Kota Kinabalu and other cities by combining magic with lesson objectives. This is to ensure that at the end of the class, each individual will walk away having acquired the magic techniques and also a set of life skills through service learning. This July, 500 youths from Singapore whom she is responsible for training will join another 500 from China to go on an expedition in various parts of China, and to share the joy and wonder of magic with the less fortunate there.
Dwayne Tan: Actor
Dwayne graduated from the American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York. He started his acting career in the 10th anniversary of Beauty World ten years ago and was recently in the 20th anniversary production as Frankie Wong. He has performed on stage (Boom Boom Room, Igor's), in plays (Eston, Sparkleshark) and musicals (Forbidden City, Gingerbread Man), as well as on television (Incredible Tales - Banana Tree Spirit, Singapore Shakes) and in films (Enchanted, Avatar).
Being a finalist on Singapore Idol led to his self-produced EP, Moments Alone. He is also known for being the voice behind many cartoon series characters like Joey in Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Sunday morning show on the arts radio station Passion 99.5FM from 2000 to 2003.
Some of Dwayne's recent US credits include the national tour of the popular Random House children's book series, Junie B. Jones (June-July 2007) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (July-August 2007) in New York. He also plans to teach and write more in the near future. He also maintains his own website at dwaynetan.bravehost.com
Jason Chan: Actor
Jason graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), in Sydney, Australia, in 2001. On graduating he became one of the hosts for Playhouse Disney Australasia and soon after was cast as ‘Cam Watanabe’/ Green Power Ranger in the American children’s TV series "Power Rangers Ninja Storm". In Singapore he has been involved with numerous television productions including: “Six Weeks”, “House of Harmony”, "Pawn of Love", "The Secret Lives of Sorry Stars", "Parental Guidance" (season 1&2), "Heavenly Fathers", "9 Lives" and "Mental". He has hosted several shows and is currently the new host of "The Arena". Jason debuted here in theatre in the lead role of ‘Chris’ in Action Theatre's “The Admiral’s Odyssey” and went on to perform as Clifford Bradshaw in Toyfactory's "Cabaret" and Lysander in SRT's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".He has recently completed work on three feature films: "The Leap Years", "Sing to the Dawn" and "Dance of the Dragon" (with Jason Scott-Lee, Faan Wong and Jang Hyuk) - all three are due for release in 2008.
Jason is also a practising doctor – having graduated from the West Australian School of Medicine in 1994. He worked in various hospitals in Western Australia before furthering his studies and obtaining a Fellowship in General Practice in 1998.
Felina Khong: Producer
A graduate in Theatre Management from Brigham Young University (USA), Felina is one of Singapore's forefront show producers with a repertoire of successful, critically acclaimed musicals, indoor and outdoor events under her name. Some of these projects include The National Heritage Board's Festival Opening at the Singapore Parliament House (2001) and the hit musical Cabaret starring Asian superstar Fei Xiang (2006). Following that in 2007, she went on to produce the wildly successful annual Chestnuts series, FORBIDDEN CHESTNUTS and the box-office Chinese musical hit, If There're Seasons....On the commercial level, she has produced events and special programs for companies and government statutory boards such as Blancpain, Canon, Community Chest of Singapore, DHL, Mount Faber Leisure Group, Mediacorp Enterprise, Virgin Mobile, Swatch, Singapore Telecommunications and Hong Kong Land. In 2006, Felina was awarded the Arts Central FRONT Award as one of the local young arts practitioners to look out for in 2007. Currently, Felina heads the Entertainment Division of Sirius Art, an advertising, marketing and media consultancy firm.
Loretta Chen: Artistic / Stage Director
Loretta received her BA (Hons) in Theatre from the National University of Singapore (NUS) completed her Master’s in Theatre where she topped her class at the prestigious Royal Holloway College, University of London. She is the first Singaporean to be awarded a Full PhD Scholarship and Research Fellowship in the School of Theatre at UCLA. Loretta is now Associate Lecturer at LaSalle-SIA; Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and is completing her doctoral candidacy at NUS. Academia aside, Loretta heads a creative consultancy helming projects such as the inaugural President’s Design Awards and also works as an actor, host and director.
Some of her works staged in London include Everyman; Caryl Churchill’s A Mouthful of Birds and Harold Pinter’s One for the Road amongst others. Loretta is one of the few local bilingual directors. She helmed a cast of 35 men in 13 Shaolin, a Singapore-China collaboration and made her directorial debut in the Mandarin theatre circuit with Toy Factory in 2004 when she directed 24 Pieties which brought home the highest box office takings for the company that year. In 2005, she directed Ten Brothers, considered by the media as a “definite success”. The production garnered 4 nominations at the Life Theatre Awards including Best Director. She also directed two sold-out seasons of The Vagina Monologues and The Swimming Instructor. In 2007, her controversial project 251, nominated for 2 Life Theatre Awards, shot her to international acclaim and was hailed as “ground-breaking power & grace”. Loretta also directed the “heartwarming and lovingly done” Postcards from Rosa, starring veteran actor Neo Swee Lin. Some of her other more recent works include Sing to the Dawn and Theatre Idols.
Loretta is currently Treasurer of the Association of Singapore Actors (ASA) and Associate Artistic Director of Action Theatre.
John Thompson: Magic Director
John Thompson (The Great Tomsoni) got his start in show business as a musician and musical arranger. His comedy magic career started in the Nevada casino venues as a supporting act. When his wife and partner, Pamela Hayes, also an actress and comedienne, joined the act, the billing became 'The Great Tomsoni and Company'. The Great Tomsoni and Company has been the recipient of many awards, including Stage Magician of the Year, Society of American Magician's 'Superstar of Magic' award, Academy of Magical Arts' highest award, the 'Performing Fellowship'; Prince Rainer's 'Prix S.B.M.', Magiques de Monte Carlo – Europe's most prestigious magic award, just to name a few.
John, in the capacity of magic technical adviser, consultant and coach, has invented and presented a variety of unique optical illusions. Many of his original illusions and special effects techniques have been featured in theme parks, the Smithsonian Institute, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and hundreds of trade shows, including the White House Conference on ‘The Industrial World Ahead Congress’. He has written, developed and provided material for world-famous magicians, Siegfried and Roy, Penn and Teller, Doug Henning, magic's newest rising star, Lance Burton, and many more. John has also been a consultant for Criss Angel's hit magic television series, ‘Mindfreak’, since the first episode. He has received the most prestigious Masters Fellowship Award from the Academy of Magical Arts.
Jim Steinmeyer: Magic Consultant & Playwright
The New York Times calls Jim Steinmeyer the "celebrated invisible man—inventor, designer and creative brain behind many of the great stage magicians of the last quarter-century." Recognised for his extensive, innovative creations in magic, a recent profile concluded that Jim was "defining illusions in contemporary magic" and is "the best living originator of stage illusions." Jim Steinmeyer not only has written extensively on his illusions as well as his research into the history of magic, he has worked with virtually every leading magician around the world and produced magic on television.
Jim is responsible for popular illusions featured by professional magicians around the world, and special effects in theatrical shows from Broadway to Las Vegas. Through his designs and his writing on historical magic, he has been credited with creating the "defining illusions in contemporary magic"-- deceptions featured by Doug Henning, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, Harry Blackstone, Orson Welles, The Pendragons, Lance Burton, Mark Kalin and Jinger and many others.
Jim currently holds three U.S. patents in the field of illusion apparatus, including a new version of the famous "Pepper's Ghost" mystery that he has applied in a variety of situations, and has also served as an expert witness in this field.
Joanie Spina: Magic Choreographer
As principal performer, choreographer, and artistic consultant to David Copperfield for 11 years, Joanie has redefined magic with the introduction of Broadway and Hollywood production elements into this ancient art form. Critics worldwide noted that the results of her collaboration with the world's most respected conjurer had raised the stature of magic to new heights in the eyes of the public and ensured the viability of the art form into the 21st century.
Equally comfortable on stage or television, Joanie had choreographed and performed countless routines with Copperfield, including his provocative ‘Water Levitation’, where amid a torch-lit, Amazon-like rainforest, she levitated above streams of water while doing a quivering horizontal dance to pounding drum beats. She also rendered style and grace to Copperfield's ‘Flying Illusion’ by giving it a fluidity that convinced millions that humans were destined to fly. Las Vegas – home to some of the world’s best entertainment shows, is also very familiar with Joanie where she has performed at its two world-famous hotels, Caesar's Palace and the Riviera Hotel.
Iskandar Ismail: Music Composer
Well-known for his musical compositions and arrangements for Singapore’s National Day Parades for a good 14 times and counting, Iskandar Ismail needs no introduction to the locals. With an illustrious record of music masterpieces, this accomplished and much sought-after composer, producer, music arranger, music director, conductor and orchestrator has to date worked with many local and foreign artistes, including Dick Lee, Jimmy Ye, Jacintha Abishegenaden, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Chang Hui Mei and Sandy Lam. He has also served as the Music Director/Composer on the 1st WTO Show in 1996. Iskandar’s theatre credits include creating orchestral arrangements for a number of Singapore musicals such as ‘Chang and Eng’, ‘Hot Pants’, ‘Kampong Amber’, ‘Sing to The Dawn’ and ‘Twist Of Fate’. He has also arranged and orchestrated the music for the much acclaimed Dick Lee’s/Jackie Cheung’s musical ‘Snow.Wolf.Lake’ in 1997 in Hong Kong, ‘Admiral’s Odyssey’ and ‘Man of Letters’.
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