A new initiative is plucking plays out of college fests to present them on a bigger scale
The time one spends in college is often the most free-spirited, unrestrained part of one's life. And for the creatively inclined, it can be a fertile breeding ground to give wings to a novel or a script without having to worry about commercial consequences. But more often than not, these radical creations never reach audiences beyond college festivals.
Chhalawa is a part of the series
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To give a platform to youth theatre, The Hive in collaboration with Culture Shoq (both organisations promote art and culture in the city) recently launched an initiative that reaches out to drama schools and colleges in Mumbai and Delhi. The idea is to provide a ready stage to students to showcase their existing work to the public across the city, says Sudeip Nair, founder of The Hive. "It ensures that college drama schools can focus on working on new productions and re-working their existing ones based on feedback from us and our audience," he adds.
Shiva Khanna
While in the first round, existing shortlisted plays are assigned a performance date at The Hive's Andheri venue, select productions are given a longer run of dates at Bandra's The Cuckoo Club in the next round. "Those not selected are given another date and feedback on their production before they return," explains Nair.
Rhea Shukla
The initiative began in July with the staging of an interesting musical, The Murder of Cinderella, by students of St Xavier's College. Another play, Chhalawa, was a student adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which dealt with the practice of sati.
Rohan Verma
The upcoming production, Kashti, is a collaboration among students of Mumbai and Pune. Set amidst the torrential rains of Mumbai, the plot revolves around the lives of five strangers, who take shelter in a public library. "The play is a series of five monologues, delivered in five formats. While Priyanshi from Xavier's will use dramatic narration to share a tale of anorexia, NMIMS's Adheep Das will use absurdism to deliver his monologue. Adheep's collegemate Rhea Shukla will use movement-based performance to depict nostalgia, and Shiv Khanna from Xavier's will engage with the same theme through slam poetry. My monologue will be a storytelling session based on a piece by author Mohan Rakesh," informs Rohan Verma, a student of Pune's Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication.
Adheep Das
Verma feels that while Mumbai has a thriving theatre scene, experimental content doesn't get as much space. "These performance venues are ideal, thanks to their intimate set-up," he says, adding, "An initiative like this allows us to fail. And if we do well, we are encouraged to move on to a bigger platform."
On: October 5, 8 pm
At: Brewbot, Morya Landmark 1, off New Link Road, Andheri West
Log on to: bookmyshow.com
Cost: Rs 249
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