Our Principal, Our Mentor, Our Guiding Light

Kuo Pao Kun (b.1939 Xiaoguo village, Hebei, China - d. 10 Sep 2002, Singapore), was a playwright, director, producing plays in both English and Chinese. He is considered one of the most significant dramatists in Singapore and a pioneer of Singapore theatre. Many of his works, produced over four decades of creative work, have been translated into Malay, Tamil, German, Japanese, Arabic. And many, too, have been produced and performed by theatre companies in Singapore and abroad.

Kuo is widely regarded as a pioneer in Singapore theatre. His performing arts school and theatre company have nurtured and produced many performing arts practitioners over the years. Kuo himself taught a whole generation of directors, including Action Theatre’s Ekachai Uekrongtham, Theatreworks' Ong Keng Sen, The Necessary Stage's Alvin Tan and WildRice’s Ivan Heng.

When he converted The Substation into an arts centre in 1990, it provided an avenue for local arts practitioners and audience alike which transcended language and discipline. The four arts institutions which he founded - the Practice Performing Arts School, The Theatre Practice, The Substation and The Thetare Research Programme – have become major arts institutions in Singapore. Through his role in these institutions, Kuo has inspired a whole generation of Singapore artists.

Awards
1989 : Cultural Medallion
1993 : ASEAN Award for Performing Arts
1997 : Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (knighthood of arts and letters), France
2002 : Excellence for Singapore Award.

He passed away in late 2002 and is dearly missed by everyone one of us from TETC, not to mention all the hearts and souls he has touched through his outstanding Singaporean dramatic works and academic writings.