Nora Samosir is a Singaporean actress of Indonesian descent who won a 2002 Life Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has been active in the Singapore theatre scene since 1979 and has worked in television and film. Some of her more notable performances include ''The Swallowed Seed'' (2002) and ''Revelations'' (2003)

Background

Samosir is of Indonesian descent and speaks English, Malay and Indonesian fluently. Her professional training is in acting and voice production, which she also teaches at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

. She studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, and graduated from York University, Toronto, Canada with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and has multiple qualifications in vocal training and voice studies. She is a member of the Association of Singapore Actors, the Singapore Drama Educators Association, and currently a lecturer in the School of Dance & Theatre at LASALLE, where she lectures in Acting and Musical Theatre.

Career

Samosir has done extensive work in Singapore with such groups as

Singapore Repertory Theatre Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) is a non-profit professional theatre company founded in 1993. It is located at the KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT at 20 Merbau Road, Singapore. The current artistic director is Gaurav Kripalani while its managi ...

(SRT), Action Theatre, The Necessary Stage (TNS), Cake Theatre, Black Tent Theater, Music and Movement, and TheatreWorks (TW), as well as performing at venues such as National Museum of Singapore, Dublin Fringe Festival, National Theatre Festival (at the National School of Drama in Delhi), Asian Theatre Festival at Kyungsung University in Busan, Lyric Theatre, Festival of Perth, TheatreWorks Retrospective Festival, Kuala Lumpur,

Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, and National Institute of Education.

Selected notable theatre appearances

*''Asian Boys Volume 1'' (2000) with The Necessary Stage *''Destinies of Flowers in the Mirror'' (2009) *''Temple'' (2008) with Cake Theatre *''120'' (2007) with the National Museum of Singapore *''Doubt'' (2006) *''Queen Ping'' (2006) with Cake Theatre *'' The Vagina Monologues'' (2004) with The Arts House *''Revelations'' (2003) with TNS *''Pulse Version Theatre'' (2003) with TheatreWorks *''Proof'' (2002) with Action Theatre *''Fruit Plays'' (2002) **''Human Heart Fruit'' by Stella Konand **''The Swallowed Seed'' by Jean Tay

Filmography

*''Singapore Shorts Vol. 2'' (Asian Film Archive's) (2008) *''Imelda Goes to Singapore'' (2008) *''Shanghai Lily'' (1999) *''Passionflower'' (1986)

Partial television

*''Masters of the Sea'' (1994) *''Shiver'' (1997) *''Ah Girl'' (2001–2002) *''Guru Paarvai'' (2004) *''Stories of Love'' (2008)

Criticism and praise

In considering her role in ''Doubt'' (2006), Richard Lord of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore wrote that her portrayal of Sister Aloysius was unsympathetic and led to the audience believing in the innocence of Father Brendan as played by Lim Yu Beng. When speaking of her award-winning role of Claire in ''Proof'' (2002), Daniel Teo of Inkpot Reviews praised her performance and her precision, while Richard Lord of QLRS felt she exaggerated her character, but had shown better work in performance earlier that year." The following year in his review of ''Revelations'' (2003), Lord gave a mixed review of the production's "faulty structure", yet approved of Samosir's performance. In 2003, Samosir was involved with ''Pulse'' (2003), an experimental series of 3 interlinked plays loosely based on an urban woman's diary. The series was reviewed by Matthew Lyon of Inkpot Reviews, who felt her performance in the second of the three was "the strongest of the whole series."

Awards

*2002 Life Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Claire in Action Theatre's 2002 production of "Proof".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samosir, Nora Singaporean actresses Living people Indonesian emigrants to Singapore People of Batak descent Year of birth missing (living people)