5ToMidnight International

We are a growing fellowship of artists, facilitators, philosophers, and seekers—held together by shared questions, not fixed answers.


Mission

To create a space where individuals can develop existential resilience, reconnect with their playful agency, and engage in transformative practices that lead to personal and communal growth.


Vision

A world where individuals embrace the beauty of life through play, foster deeper connections, and cultivate the skills to navigate complexity with grace and purpose.


Ethan Hsieh

Artistic Director & Founder

Ethan is the creative and philosophical heart of 5ToMidnight. As Artistic Director, he weaves together theatre, ritual, psychology, and systems thinking to design the architectures of transformation that define TIAMAT. Over the past decade, he has developed TIAMAT through deep practice-as-research across Asia and Europe—working at the intersection of actor training, 4E cognitive science, post-Jungian depth work, and the many tangled threads of being human.


Equal parts performance-maker, teacher, and systems designer, Ethan crafts pedagogies for everyone from first-time participants to facilitators-in-training—always with an eye toward what’s possible when practice meets presence, and presence meets fellowship. Whether he's facilitating a group ritual, sketching a theory map, or building new pathways for character development, virtue cultivation, and existential resilience, Ethan's work is grounded in one animating principle: transformation is artful and relational.

He currently splits his time between Singapore and the UK, and also serves as Platform Manager and Business Development Lead of John Vervaeke's Lectern.

Ricardo van Mildert

Executive Director

Ricardo steers the long arc of 5ToMidnight—keeping one eye on the numbers and the other on the horizon. As Executive Director, he leads our business strategy, brand identity, and long-term positioning, ensuring TIAMAT’s integrity is matched by its sustainability.


With a background in marketing and spiritual leadership, Ricardo balances the visionary with the viable: shaping high-level partnerships, managing organisational risk, and weaving psychological safety into every layer of the work. He's also responsible for refining our external presence—translating the complexity of TIAMAT into a clear, compelling invitation to the world.

At heart, he’s here to make sure the people who most need this work—leaders, educators, policy-makers—actually find it. And that when they do, they’re met by a system ready to hold them.


Futurist in form, facilitator at heart. Sharp in a crisis, generous in a circle.

Ellie Chan

General Manager

Ellie Chan is a practitioner-researcher working at the intersections of care studies, environmental thought, and embodied practice. With a background in dance, social-ecological systems, and interdisciplinary research, she brings a unique sensitivity to how emotion, cognition, and behaviour weave together in the work of transformation. A weaver, builder, healer, and disrupter, she holds multiple perspectives without flattening complexity.


At 5ToMidnight, Ellie keeps the organisation grounded and growing. She leads our operations across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan—balancing grant applications with theoretical frameworks, team coordination with virtue ethics, and spreadsheets with serious play.


She’s also laying the academic foundation for TIAMAT, bridging practice and research to grow it into a rigorous, publishable framework for transformation. Whether she’s designing cross-cultural workshop formats, facilitating high-stakes conversations, or quietly holding a circle, Ellie models the virtues TIAMAT exists to cultivate: clarity, care, and the courage to remain in relationship.


Aspiring facilitator. Reluctant diplomat. Thinks with her body—and walks with a well-thumbed notebook.

Rens Tesink

Persons & Places Coordinator

Rens is the quietly buzzing engine behind many of 5ToMidnight’s workshops, retreats, and collaborations across the UK, Netherlands, and Czech Republic. From booking venues and wrangling logistics to forging new community partnerships, he makes the magic happen.


When he’s not building partnerships or coordinating events, you’ll find him training his facilitation skills—bringing with him a deep care for psychological safety, a fierce sense of fairness, and an orientation towards alleviating unnecessary suffering. He will also of course be bringing his signature laugh.


With a background in both astronomy and contemporary theatre, Rens brings a rare blend of clear-sky thinking and embodied mischief to everything he does. He creates spaces where people feel gently invited into transformation. 


If you’re an individual, venue, or organisation (in the Americas, Europe, or Africa) curious about partnering with us—Rens is your person. Reach out and say hi.

Ben Koh

Engagement & Experience Coordinator

Ben is the boots-on-the-ground heart of 5ToMidnight in Singapore, holding everything from social media strategy to airport pickups with equal parts precision and play. He supports the day-to-day movement of TIAMAT—online and offline—translating big pedagogical ideas into bite-sized insights that actually land.


Behind the scenes, he’s shaping marketing efforts, managing logistics, and making sure workshops run smoothly across borders. But his work doesn’t stop at operations. Ben is also an emerging facilitator, deeply committed to practising what he supports—from self-checking without the echo chamber, to creating spaces where others can do the same.


With one foot in the theatre world and the other in practical inquiry, he’s on a long arc toward building a world where people can facilitate themselves—ethically, creatively, and in service of something bigger.

Collaborators & Fellows


TIAMAT has grown through the voices and hands of many.

We’re in ongoing dialogue with theatre-makers, cognitive scientists, philosophers, wisdom practitioners, and fellowship organisers.


Some of our extended fellowship includes:

  • Dr. John Vervaeke — Cognitive scientist and researcher and philosopher; frequent collaborator and beloved mentor.
  • Dr. Gregg Henriques — Professor of Clinical Psychologist and licensed psychotherapist; makes sure we're playing in ways that are safe and evidence-based.
  • Taylor Barratt — Our momdad, facilitation mentor; ensures we hold each other well, so that we can hold others.
  • Sarabinh Levy-Brightman — Scholar of religion and multi-modal pedagogies; reminds us that classrooms can be sites of awakening.

Want to Join the Fellowship?


We are always open to collaboration—with curiosity, care, and shared integrity.

If you’re:

  • A facilitator interested in becoming a well-rounded leader
  • An artist, thinker, or practitioner exploring similar ground
  • A past participant wanting to stay in the orbit…