Adelle (Yiming) ZHANG
Adella (Yiming) Zhang is a playwright and PhD researcher. She holds a BA in Dramatic Literature and Playwriting from the Central Academy of Drama, China, and an MA in Theatre and Performance Studies from NUS. Her creative and academic work explores youth violence, intimate relationships, crime, and the social conditions through which violence is produced and understood. Drawing on perspectives from dramaturgy, performance studies, and criminology, she is particularly interested in how theatre can approach violence without reducing them to spectacle or simple narratives of victimhood and culpability. Her plays often examine the unstable boundaries between intimacy and violence, as well as the ways in which young people negotiate identity, desire, alienation, and belonging. Her work has been presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Wuzhen International Theatre Festival, AMT Theatre in New York, and Centre 42 in Singapore.
| Research Interests/ Primary Fields |
Theatre and performance studies; paywriting and dramaturgy; youth violence; cultural and narrative Criminology; performance and criminology; harmful narratives; youth radicalisation and extremism; terrorism and political violence; digital youth cultures and subcultures; trauma and affect; transnational performance |
| Dissertation Topic/Title | Narratives of Youth Violence: Harmful Storytelling, Digital Subcultures, and Performance in Transnational Contexts |
| Dissertation Advisor | Prof. Graham WOLFE |
| Publications | Academic Publication Zhang, Y. (2023). “Analysis of the Similar Characteristics in the Works of Dickinson and Bishop.” Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences. Creative Writing |
| Modules taught | GEN2001: Theatre and Community Engagement, National University of Singapore |
| Practice | Adella’s creative practice spans playwriting, fiction writing, dramaturgy, directing, performance, and literary adaptation. Her theatre works include Femme 919 (AMT Theatre), Sweetwood (Wuzhen Theatre Festival), Gone Before Dawn (Beijing Fringe Theatre Festival), and The Vanishing Poet (Prism MINI Theatre Festival). She has also worked across intercultural theatre contexts, including collaborating and performing with the French puppetry company Mots de Tête, as well as working as a production coordinator for Milo Rau’s international production at the Aranya Theatre Festival, and collaborating on productions by KULA Compagnie, Plexus Polaire, and Katona József Theatre. |
| Other Experience and Information | Adella has worked as a research and teaching assistant at GEC Academy on projects spanning literature, film, European opera, and media studies, under the supervision of scholars from the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, the University of Southern California, and Johns Hopkins University. Her teaching has included research-based courses on twentieth-century literature, international feminist cinema, early European opera, and the impact of emerging interactive media on adolescent well-being. Her wider professional experience includes working as a workshop dramaturg for the Berliner Theatertreffen Stückemarkt project Die Benennung der Tiere – Beijing, hosted by Goethe-Institut China, and as an interpreter for international theatre practitioners including Suzana Nikolić and Tristan Sharps (Dreamthinkspeak). She has also worked in literary development for film and television, with experience in script development, adaptation, and collaboration with screenwriters, directors, and producers. She also maintains an independent digital media platform with an audience of over 78,000 followers, where she creates and shares original cultural and creative content. |