weish's critcally acclaimed musical Secondary was a major frontrunner at The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2025, nabbing a whopping six nominations, the most of any play this year.
The results of the prestigious awards have been recently been announced, and Checkpoint Theatre's largest effort to date has triumphed in the biggest category, claiming the grand prize of Production of the Year.
In our interview with weish, the playwright and musician shared, "The process of writing, composing, and music directing was so joyful. Not without intense frustration and obstacles, but ultimately some of the best times of my life, mainly because the entire team poured so much love into it. It wasn’t just a job to anyone. I think that was the most moving and deeply affirming thing.
Inspired by weish's past experiences as a literature teacher, Secondary was a witty and moving exploration of Singapore’s education system from the perspective of both faculty and students. The production featured 15 original songs written and composed by weish.
As weish explains, the massive production was an inspiring team effort, "From co-producers and arrangers PK Records to costume designer Max Tan, choreographer Hafeez Hassan, stage manager Saffa’ Afiqah and every member in every department… they deeply cared about the show, fussed over all the little things and gave us their best work. Huzir Sulaiman provided the discipline, inspiration and guidance I needed over a three-year development as my dramaturg, and as our director injected so much life and flavour into the text on the rehearsal floor. Marc Garbriel Loh gave me lots of great ideas for songs, jokes, plot lines, and did so many big and small things as Assistant Director. Some actors even spent their off days voluntarily sending me videos of themselves experimenting with new ways to read a scene, or exploring new vocal tones and textures."
Notably, The Finger Players' Transplant, which featured music from Vedic metal band Rudra, also claimed Best Director win for artistic director Oliver Chong.
Read the full results here.
