SINGAPORE — This year’s Singapore Theatre Festival will feature a mix of brand new works and restagings, led by one of the hits at last year’s Singapore International Festival Of Arts, the two-art epic play Hotel.

Now on its fifth edition, the festival will run from June 30 to July 24 at the LASALLE College of the Arts.

The line-up includes two restagings and three new productions from festival organiser W!ld Rice. The former are: Alfian Sa’at and Marcia Vanderstraaten’s Hotel, which takes a sweeping look at 100 years of Singapore history, all taking place inside a hotel; and Rodney Oliveiro’s Geylang, which takes you into the neon-lit world of the infamous district and was previously staged by the company’s youth division Young & W!ld.

The three new productions are: My Mother Buys Condoms, a “cheeky spin on active ageing” by journalist Helmi Yusof; Grandmother Tongue by Thomas Lim, which traces a man’s struggle to connect with his Teochew-speaking grandmother and was inspired by Kuo Pao Kun’s Mama Looking For Her Cat; and Riders Know When It’s Gonna Rain by Nessa Anwar, a coming-of-age story in the context of the Malay motorbike subculture in Singapore.

The latter will be featured in a double-bill with one of the three productions presented by other theatre companies — Hatch Theatrics is restaging Johnny Jon Jon’s unconventional love story Hawa. Meanwhile, Red Pill Productions is presenting Let’s Get Back Together by Kenneth Chia and Mark Ng, which is based on interviews with members of the LGBT community. Finally, Teater Ekamatra is bringing back Alfian’s comedy GRC (Geng Rebut Cabinet), which imagines a society where Malays are the majority in society.

Aside from the plays, the festival will also include a series of forums, a playwriting workshop and a Festival Club, which will feature late-night performances by drag performers, stand-up comedians, and spoken word artists and singer-songwriters.

“In this day and age, many issues surrounding race, religion, politics, sex and gender identity have become divisive and polarising. We are paralysed by fear when it comes to thinking and talking about them,” said W!ld Rice artistic director Ivan Heng, who is also the festival’s artistic director, in the media statement. “Collectively and individually, the plays invite and enable conservation and debate about today’s hot-button topics.”

Added Alfian, the company’s resident playwright and festival dramaturg: “We believe that the theatre can serve as a public forum where such issues can be freely explored, where our playwrights can reflect on the society they live in with nuance and conviction.”

The Singapore Theatre Festival runs from June 30 to July 24 at LASALLE College of the Arts. Tickets go on sale on April 18 at SISTIC. For more details, visit http://www.singaporetheatrefestival.com