Tuesday, August 19, 2014

From strangers to a Production Family: Anushka Gupta

Putting the whole 4 day theater workshop organized by Sauhard in one article is absolutely difficult which all fellows attending it along with me would easily agree to.
On the first day of the workshop very few of us actually knew each other from before. Everyone was nervous and scared to do a theater workshop with so many strangers. The very first day was all about theater exercises and trust building. It was also about understanding voice modulation and how one would perform in an open market. It was also about distinguishing between expression which signifies what we react like and emotions which represents what we feel. We also did a story through live human images. It was fun interacting with new people and knowing them.
The second day was when we were taught what a street play really means and the etiquettes of performing in a street where the audience stands in a full circle . We were taught how to make an eye contact and develop our creativity through small productions in groups. There we realized ,this really wasn't as simple as it seems. We also discovered certain hidden talents which had been present within us from the very beginning but were brought out then.

The third day was when we almost knew everyone and there was an internal play group and an external group within all these 40 people attending the workshop. This day was when we developed our small productions into one large common production and practiced the whole production till we memorized each and every word. It was all about improvisation. This was when we developed a sense of unity and co ordination.
The fourth and the last day was when we worked on portraying characters through our expressions and doing certain trust building exercises, the remarkable thing being that now everyone was ready to be driven by their partners with their eyes closed and were even ready to follow their directions. The workshop ended on Monday , 18th August with feedbacks.
So what conclusion did we draw from this stupid theater workshop? That must be the question in the minds of everyone who did not attend it. Well, all I can say is we were different people from the beginning till the end of the workshop. There was confidence in everyone which could easily be seen. We had developed an understanding a co ordination between ourselves and most importantly a trust. We were like an unrelated family now. Yes, we were people from different religions and backgrounds, but we were now one and there was a sadness on knowing we wouldn't be seeing each other the next day like that. We had unravelled a new us within ourselves and fought our stage fears. We had discovered hidden talents and were encouraged by our 'guide' Mr. Gaurang Raval to discover our true potential. We learned how to encourage each other to perform without being greedy for bigger roles greedy for roles. We now knew how being stupid in this small room had prepared us for not being stupid outside anymore. The weirdest thing was at the beginning of the workshop we were strangers and at the end we were as you would call it a true 'production family', the common thread being theater.

About the author: Anushka is student of Economics. She is a fresh fellow at Sauhard and aspires to become a journalist. She also loves reading and singing and wishes to publish a book someday.

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