Faces
Selva is one of the accomplished theatre directors of Singapore. Till to date he has written, directed and acted in more than 80 plays in English and Tamil including overseas productions. Selva started off as an actor in the 1980s and soon progressed to writing and directing his own plays. He has acted and directed numerous Tamil and English theatre and TV productions.
Selva graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Class-Honours) majoring in Media Arts and Drama from Deakin University, Melbourne with the support from National Arts Council, Singapore in 2005.
The honourable title of ‘Kalai Chemmal’, was bestowed on Selva by Singapore Indian Artiste Association (SIAA) on 25 September 2010.
Selva is not a new comer to stage or to the film industry as he was awarded the Most Popular Celebrity award by Singapore’s Media Corp Television’s Vasantham Central in April 2001.
His accolades include receiving the Distinguished Artist Award from the President of Singapore, His Excellency S R Nathan in 2000. He was also nominated for Best Actor Award at the 1997 ‘Pesta Pradhana’ award ceremony by Singapore Television 12 Network for acting in the first ever-Tamil sitcom in Singapore “Amali Thumali”.
Selva has a list of Programmes he has worked on the local Television and recently he was featured in Malaysian Television RTM in the programme Vannamayilgal, as notable artiste from Singapore. The documentary highlighted Selva’s Theatre and Dance ventures over the years.
From 2005 to 2006 Selva worked in Deakin University, Melbourne as a tutor teaching tertiary level students for numerous semesters. He has also satisfactorily completed the Professional Development Program for Sessional tutors, in Australia.
From 2007 to 2008 Selva had been steering a mid range arts organization that have been in existence from 1988 in the various strategies and business plan necessary for future development and sustainability in Singapore.
Selva has created various genre of theatre performances for public viewing over the past 30 years in Singapore and in Australia. Selva was invited by NIE Singapore, to teach trainee teacher to approach teaching with a difference using theatre both for Tamil and English Language teachers.
Research is an area that Selva showed keen Interest, where much experience was gained in working closely with an academic unit in dealing in the area of Corporate Citizenship and Social Responsibility, Australia. I have written a research paper on the development of Tamil Theatre in Singapore, as part of my thesis, and planning to publish it as a reference book.
Selvas has worked on a collaborative research assignment commissioned by the National Arts Council and National Library Board Singapore, to research on cultural medallion recipients and archive the valuable contribution to the Arts scene in Singapore for NLB NORA Project.
From 2009 till 2011 Selva had the opportunity of teaching Drama and Theatre studies in an International School in Singapore. His creative teaching styles together with my dramatic presentation techniques have help students understand the subject with interest. I am qualifies to teach IGCSE Drama and IB Theatre studies courses.
On a professional level Selva continues to stage productions and tours with production, recently in 2011 travelling to Sri Lanka and India in the intention to exchange creative ideas and collaborative partnership ventures with overseas arts ministries.