Kris Vanessa Teo Xin-En is a Singaporean Chinese settler based in Moh’kins’tsis, Treaty 7 territory // Calgary, Alberta. Teo is a playwright, performer, director, producer, and co-artistic director at Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre.
Drama
我的名是张欣恩 (Gimme Chance Leh)
Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2025.
e-book (Access restricted to members of the university community)
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Kris, a young diasporic Chinese woman, attempts to reconcile her upbringing between Canada and Singapore. In doing so, she comes face to face with herself as she pulls apart the tactics she uses in an attempt to fit into two wildly different cultures. Weaving in and out of English, Mandarin, and Singlish, Kris uses storytelling to navigate beauty standards, body image, family, food, and an unexpected friendship with a Chicken Rice Uncle.
Deftly unravelling stereotypes and addressing the universal through Kris’s determined persistence and heartwarming sense of humour, 我的名是张欣恩 (Gimme chance leh) is about celebrating difference and existing in the in-between.
Links
Publisher Playwrights Canada Press
Beaudette, Teghan. “This Heartfelt Audio Play Explores the Cultural Whiplash of Growing Up Between Calgary and Singapore.” CBC Arts, posted 15 Dec. 2020, last updated 12 Jan. 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/arts/canadacouncildigitaloriginals/this-heartfelt-audio-play-explores-the-cultural-whiplash-of-growing-up-between-calgary-and-singapore-1.5806454, Accessed 2 May 2025.