In July this year, Chinese language theatre company Drama Box organised an interactive play titled "The Lesson". According to Drama Box, the play was centered on the below scenario:

The city has made plans for the development of an old housing estate. However, there is little space left and therefore an existing facility in the area must be demolished. What will stay, and what will go? 

The audience participated in a group decision-making process and voted on who to eliminate, thereby learning about the "costs, risks, stakes and sacrifices that come with creating a community" in the process.

Here are some photos of the event:

NYC appropriated Drama Box's concept

It does seem like a really fun way of engaging audiences. So fun, in fact, that Singapore's National Youth Council (NYC) allegedly took Drama Box's concept behind the play, and structured it for their activity named For Your Consideration on Sept. 4 without prior permission.

According to a Facebook post by Drama Box on Sept. 7, they only learned about the NYC public engagement programme that emulated its play after the event was over.

Plagiarism aside, Drama Box's Artistic Director Kok Heng Leun, who is also a Nominated Member of Parliament representing the arts sector, took issue with how NYC appropriated the programme for an agenda that "perpetuates prejudices and discriminations", prompting a hard-hitting 889-word response which you can read below:

Kok explained that the social experiment organised by NYC put four characters in the spotlight - all of whose fate in the community are uncertain since there was no space for all of them in a relocation exercise:

1. A single mother wth 2 kids
2. A married lesbian hoping to adopt a child here
3. A single elderly
4. A newly married female graduate who just started working.

To Kok, this scenario (knowingly or unknowingly) paints these four characters as candidates that were left out because they do not fit the norm, perpetuating discrimination against "elderlies, single parents, married couples without children and gay couples" - which was not the intent of "The Lesson". 

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NYC issues apology

The CEO of NYC issued an apology on Facebook regarding the matter:

In response to our queries, NYC gave us the following response:

NYC takes a serious view towards IP and copyright issues. NYC has reached out to Drama Box to acknowledge and apologise for failing to consult and acknowledge their work. There is much NYC can learn from the Arts community in using these modalities for deep authentic engagement with young Singaporeans on complex issues. NYC has reached out to facilitate a meeting with Drama Box and hopes to collaborate with various Arts groups to co-curate and co-deliver programmes that can positively impact our young people.

Apart from the response, NYC also clarified that the stories in their social experiment were meant to reflect "changing beliefs towards marriage and parenthood, emerging trends of single household units, and shifting priorities in life goals" as found in the recent National Youth Survey.  

Additionally, the activity was meant to highlight that any decision made to relocate any member of the community would affect everyone in the community.

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Top image is of an edition of "The Lesson". Image via Drama Box Facebook page.