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The Script, May 2009. Issue 5.

Dear Drama lover,

Hello again! Summer time means children's time and this month some of our favourite children's play 'Almost Twelfth Night', 'A Special Bond Part 2' and 'Once Upon a... Tiger!' will be showcased at the Prithvi Theatre, Karnataka Sangha and Horniman Circle Garden. Also some new plays like IPTA Balmanch's 'Barsoraam Dhadaake Se' and Working Title's 'Day I Met the Prince' will be opening in May.

On the QTP front, Q is donning the director's cap after 5 long years and will be opening a new play in June - Please check the Great Stuff Section for more details. Our Great Text Reading will be happening on the last Monday of the month, 25th May. Hope to see you there.

In other news, Sathaye College Auditorium, which opened earlier this year, will now see regular theatre activities. A group of theatre-wallahs - under the banner 'rangasthal' - approached the college principal to make this intimate proscenium space a regular venue for experimental plays. For the next 6 months rangasthal will curate shows on a trial basis. Those interested in staging their plays at this venue, please email rangasthal@gmail.com. Also Fame Cinemas announces an exclusive tie-up with Mumbai Theatre Guide to have regular play performances throughout Fame multiplexes in India.

In this month's edition, Quasar Thakore Padamsee gives an account of watching 'The Man From Mukinupin' in Sydney and Avinash D'Souza reviews 'Don't Look Now'. Also theatre director and producer Akarsh Khurana shares his views on the Bombay theatre scene.

Yours Sincerely,
On Behalf of Q Theatre Productions,

Himanshu.
Editor, The Script.

Trivia Time

Technical Aspects of Theatre : Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical production.
It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props
and recording and mixing of sound.
Stagecraft is considered a technical rather than an artistic field.
In its most basic form, stagecraft is managed by a single person, often the stage manager of a smaller production.
At a more professional level, stagecraft is managed by hundreds of skilled carpenters, painters, electricians, stagehands, stitchers, wigmakers, and the like.
This modern form of stagecraft is highly technical and specialized: it comprises many sub-disciplines and a vast trove of history and tradition.
The first document of stagecraft was medieval drama dating back to 1452 and carried on for four more years.
The next known major act of stagecraft was in England where they performed renaissance drama from 1576-1642.

Corno-Q-Pia

The horn of plenty of QTP events and happenings.

In 1999, Theatre Group Bombay (TG) approached Q Theatre Productions (QTP) to showcase younger theatre groups in a vibrant festive atmosphere and thus 'Thespo' was born. Thespo was created to give young performers an opportunity to hone their talents on a simulated professional stage. Through Thespo, TG and QTP hope to recognize and encourage new talent as well as create a new generation of theatre goers.

Join us as we explore the stage anew with loads of cutting edge youth theatre, platform performances and workshops conducted by the who’s who in theatre. Originally started as just a one off festival at the end of each year, Prithvi Theatre and Thespo have joined hands to provide a more regular show casing of the best youth theatre talent in the country. Thus in March 2007, Thespo at Prithvi was born. The first Tuesday and Wednesday each month, the next generation of theatre wallahs stride across the hallowed Prithvi stage.

Aside from regular full length theatre, Thespo at Prithvi is also providing an opportunity for young theatre groups to showcase their short plays, as a pre show appetizer before the main show on each Thespo at Prithvi show day. If you have a play that you think can work in the outdoor areas of Prithvi Theatre, email us at thespo@gmail.com

Thespo at Prithvi...it’s not just on. It’s full-on!!!

Thespo at Prithvi in April

April saw the opening of Quaff Theatre’s Skeleton Woman – Winner of the Metroplus Playwright Award 2009. The young writers Kalki Koechlin and Prashanth Prakash were also directed by Nayantara Kotian in this 75minute one act play. The play deals with creativity & death… the imagination & the mundane… geese & skeletons… and love & writing – not necessarily in that order. Given the houseful opening show and advance booking from the audiences, an extra show had to be announced! The play was very well received and is off to a great start with shows in Delhi immediately following Thespo at Prithvi.

The Thespo workshops were back this month with Shanta Gokhale leading 2 sessions on ‘Writing On Theatre’. The workshop was attended by journalists who wanted to enhance their skills, regular audience members who felt the need to share their experiences and new theatre enthusiasts who wished to acquire and/or fine-tune their critical sensibilities. We hope to see a few regular critics emerge from this exercise.

We are on a break in May but will be back with a brand new play in June. Keep watching this space!!!

We are on the look-out for new plays that can be a part of Thespo at Prithvi for the coming months. So if your under 25, and you have play ready that's an hour long, get in touch with us at 9820356150 or email us at thespo@gmail.com


Great Texts:

On the last Monday of each month people meet in Q's drawing room to read a play they may have heard of but not necessarily have read. Writer's come to see how the greats wrote, actors come to play multiple parts and theatre lovers come because it keeps them in touch with the art form. It is open all and everyone takes turns in playing characters from the play. Discussions ensue after over tea and biscuits.

In the month of April, we read Joseph Heller's 'We Bombed in New Haven' - "preparations are being made in the briefing room of an American Air Force station to obliterate Constantinople"

We Bombed in New Haven, written in 1969, was Heller's first and only play. The play delivered an anti-war message while discussing the Vietnam War. It concerns a group of actors who believe they are portraying an Air Force squadron in an unspecified modern war, planning and preparing for an attack on Constantinople, a region that no longer exists. The action alternates between scenes where the players act out their parts in the script and scenes where they communicate among themselves out of "character," expressing dissatisfaction with their roles as being in the military.

The laughter was uncontrollable during the reading with the whimsical dialogue, sharp humour even though it had a serious message. The part where the actors in the play broke out and quoted their theatrical achievements was met with hilarious responses by the readers. Even though the play took almost 3 hours to read, all those who attended stayed till the end with eager anticipation of how the play would end. Although we never thought pronouncing 'Constantinople' would be so difficult.

In the month of May, we will be reading Peter Whelan's 'A Russian in the Woods' - "Amongst the ruins of post-war Berlin, a young soldier is sent for a weekend to guard a deserted British army office. In the corrosive atmosphere of Cold War power struggles, he innocently finds himself caught up in a situation where his conscience is on trial."

Peter Whelan, (born 1931) is a British playwright and was born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, England. His works includes seven plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the first of which was Captain Swing, in 1979. Important papers of his are stored in the Borthwick Institute, in the Library of the University of York. In 2008, his play School of Night, originally produced at the RSC's The Other Place theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in November 1992, made its U.S. debut at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. It fictionalizes the relationships between Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Thomas Kyd and Sir Walter Raleigh as well as the events leading up to Marlowe's death.

A Russian in the Woods, concerns itself with the universal political climate which Whelan believes (plausibly) was engendered by that "thinking war" – a world in which "duplicity and lies became the order of the day", and in which such political strategies inevitably came to pollute personal interactions as well. The play is structured as a memory play, which necessarily involves a degree of recounting and in places a "storytelling" mode. The play also touches on the military's attitude to gays.

We will be reading it on the 25th of May at 7:30pm at 18 Anukool, Sq. Ldr. Harminder Singh Marg, 7 Bungalows. Next to Daljit Gym. All are welcome. If you need directions call Himanshu on 26392688 or 9820356150.We hope to see you at these and many more events.

Point of View

This month Avinash D'Souza reviews Trishla Patel's 'Don't Look Now'. The views expressed in this article are those of the author. You are welcome to agree, disagree or comment by emailing us at qtheatreproductions@gmail.com

WORTH A LOOK

There are more things in heaven and earth than I have the time to watch but “Don’t Look Now” seemed to warrant a look for sure…

Keeping to the outlines of the short story by Daphne du Maurier, the director, Trishla Patel, stages Don’t Look Now in Shanti Niketan which enhances the element of the supernatural. Perceived as a place of quiet and solitude, this setting is perfect for the main theme - psychic ability and how that relates to time.

A young married couple, Sanjay (Akarsh Khurana) and Aparna (Geetika Tyagi), are holidaying in Shanti Niketan trying to get over the tragic death of their 6 year old daughter. They meet twin sisters, one of who claims to be psychic and that she can see their daughter. Aparna seems to finds solace in the fact that she feels her daughter's life has not ended so abruptly, that there doesn't appear to be a clear division between life and death. Sanjay, however, remains cynical and unbelieving. It is this cynicism that leads him to stay back in Shanti Niketan when Aparna leaves, and be drawn to his inevitable fate.

The play has certain pivotals. One is the pregnant tension of the night walk when Sanjay and Aparna get lost and are startled by a scream. Physically separated from Aparna and seized by panic, Sanjay echoes the physical happenings in his mind with the add-on of a half-seen/sensed flash of red which is the dead child’s attire. The whole episode could have - and in a sense has - a perfectly rational explanation, but it is also a statement of the mind’s powers of unreason in orchestrating fear, and this continues through the play. The other is when Aparna enters a temple to pray because she can’t legitimize what the twins have said about seeing the daughter. Out of pride as a man of reason (which is more desperate struct), Sanjay holds firm to his beliefs; and it is this that drives him to his destruction. He finds himself courting his demon, his alter ego, and finally his death.

The piece works on several levels portraying a marriage and exploring how two people who should be united in their grief end up isolated from each other. But it also operates as a thriller. Withholding information combined with the unknown results in a potent atmosphere with the imagery seen in a gathering, circling way. But for me, it’s the love scene in the play that makes one see the characters in the narrative as people in their own dimensions. It’s a critical element because they’re human and in love. Else, they’d just be scrapping all the time.

Almost mimicking the story’s visions and premonitions, the play is filled with moments that point to some future event. Foreshadowing is used to indicate impending trouble (from the Greek school of theatre), such as when Sanjay sees what he thinks is a small child wearing a hooded jacket fleeing danger through the streets and later, when Sanjay sees Aparna accompanied by the twins.

In past reviews, I’ve moaned about production variables like the lighting and design. Not this time. The way the lighting and set design are meshed is *insert hyperbole of choice here*. The acting is more than capable (particularly Akarsh Khurana) but it’s the production turn in the spotlight. Dhanendra Kawade decimates all. At INR 80.

While the script isn’t as tight as it could be, one must appreciate that since Don’t Look Now is a narrative through John's consciousness, dialogue is scarce. Theatrically, this is problematic as the adapter can’t play on images to fill logic gaps left in the story. That said, while the core characters continue to struggle to align their inner and outer selves, giving them voice enables access to a wider emotional vocabulary and rhythms.

The play might have been better layered if essayed through how Sanjay controls his grief; the revelation that a twin can see their dead daughter is a form of expiation for him. The subtext of this play is the journey Sanjay makes in visiting his emotional wastelands. He exists at a time when he sees his role as a protector, but fails to save his daughter and cannot save his wife from her grief. He seeks to stabilize his inner compass by not leaving the ‘child’ to her own fate, as he believes that she is being pursued by a murderer. Added to his nature is the fact that he has lost his own child and in some way he feels responsible for that. When he sees the ‘child’ and links her in his mind with his daughter, his fate is sealed.

The work revolves around several themes like fate, the vagaries of the unknown, the psychic realm, humanness, gender, class. But it is also about a particular man and a particular woman, and how their lives have been irredeemably affected by a tragedy. It has intensity in a theatrical form: even though the events are not real time, the actual time in which the events are portrayed is in real time. You find yourself leaning forward in your seat, inclined towards the action, losing sense of being in a building, seated among other people. The audience is brilliant at interpreting this tension, and understands it comes from the slippages and leaks of the inner world of a character.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere obscures a script that is unfinished and rough around the edges. For example, we see a state where, though one child, a daughter, has died of meningitis and the mother is heartbroken, her son remains at boarding school while she holidays in Shanti Niketan. While this still-rigid class and gender differences and emotional repression is representative of Du Maurier’s formative experiences, they’re a logical interrupt in the cultural context of India and social revolutions.

Which is not a deal-breaker but it takes away from what could have been a full-feathered play rather than the resultant show. Don’t Look Now transports you to a Borgesian world where the natural and the supernatural coexist, and where life is a dark labyrinth through which man is impelled to run towards an encounter with his ‘demon’. Don’t look now, Trishla might say, but at each sight or sound, the mind draws connections and conclusions from depths of which you know nothing…

4 Corners

Quasar Thakore Padamsee travels to Sydney and catches The Man from Mukinupin.

Of songs, fire and racial slurs

For the third time in five years, I found myself back in Sydney. And anyone who has followed my articles will know that high on my travel agenda is trying to watch theatre in the city I am visiting. Although this trip wasn’t on work (cousin’s wedding), the agenda was the same. In the two non-wedding days, I had to watch at least one play!

Sydney plays host to one of my favourite fringe theatres in the world, The Belvoir Street Theatre; based slightly on the Royal Court Theatre, with two performing spaces, an upstairs and a downstairs. Last year I had witnessed The Seed a brand new play about Australian identity. Strangely the theme was the same again, although written over 30 years ago to celebrate 150 years of the white man in Western Australia.

To be honest, The Man From Mukinupin wasn’t my first choice. The plan was to go to the intimate Downstairs theatre and catch Ladybird, a play about a young man having one last party with his friends before he joins the army the next day. Unfortunately being “pay as you like” Tuesday, by the time I got to the front of the queue it was all sold out. In a moment of panic we picked up tickets to Mukinupin and dashed to the Upstairs theatre.

We were quickly bundled into our seats and the show began. In Australian theatrical tradition Mukinupin is seen as a modern classic, reflecting the times and issues of the people and their history. Set just before and after World War I.

Mukinupin is a small town on the edge of the desert in Western Australia. The story is about two brothers Jack & Harry Tuesday. Jack works in a grocer’s shop and is in love with the grocer’s daughter, Polly. Harry is a rough drunk and is off at war, and in lust with a “half-caste” – half white, half aborigine called Lily. All the characters in Mukinupin refer to her as “Touch of the Tar” – someone with a bit of ‘black’ in them. A horrifically derogatory term, but one that is very apt for the 1910s Australian psyche.

The story is quite an epic. It has an almost Steinbeckian feel to it. As it unfolds, we discover that this little town has a very dirty little secret. Polly and Lily are actually half sisters, both fathered by the grocer, Eek. The grocer’s wife, on hearing about the affair with Lily’s mother, makes her husband lead an armed force to wipe out the local aborigine population.

The play seems to take the pace of a light hearted musical, particularly in the first act with some upbeat music numbers. A travelling theatre-troupe stop in and add colour to the dull life in Mukinupin and there is a hilarious enactment of the Death of Desdemona. The entire story is seems to be told by two sisters, whom add a tinge of comedy and even foreboding to the whole tale. They seem to know what is going to happen and sometimes even direct the events. They are not quite real, and a little like two witches, but not.

What is most fascinating about the play however is not the story or the happy ending at the end, but the use of the same actors to play both the twin parts. The twins never appear together. One appears in the day and the other at night. Polly and Lilly, Eek and Zeek, Jack and Harry all represent the two sides of society – the supposedly respectable and the underbelly malcontents. Presenting thesis and anti-thesis; Jack is the ‘clean nice guy’, Harry a rogue and drunk; Polly the pretty perfect young damsel, while Lily the debauched, polluted, lustful half-caste; Eek the upstanding citizen of the town while Zeek the slightly eccentric vagabond roaming the town looking for metals and rain. The craft of the performers is undeniable. Both roles of each actor are well etched and markedly different. For a while one was actually quite convinced that there were actually two actors, particularly in the case of the Tuesday brothers.

However while the plot ambles along and is a bit random at times, the staging and music really made this a worthwhile experience. The two instrumentalists flitted between piano, organ, bass, musical saw, etc, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Being someone who works in production the coup-de-grace for me was the live fireplace at upstage centre. I spent most of the show trying to figure out how it was done. And how for the more dramatic scenes the fire roared higher and for the under stated scenes it glowed as embers. The entire upstage was covered with the sand of the desert and a mobile home was placed upstage left. The mobile home became people’s houses or even the “backstage” when a group of players come to town.

The performers were competent. The singing was strong, and the random recitations of the deaf grocer’s wife were quite spell-binding. All in all one is left with a slightly macabre, slightly absurd view of the world, and while you may not love the play, it will certainly leave you uneasy. Perhaps with play is a little too long, but all said and done it was quite a feast for the senses.

After the show I left for dinner, not fully sure if I got all the nuances of the story or what it means to the Australian people. The horror of the secret and the deplorable way people treat Lily, for me was unsettling to say the least. Reminded me why I love the Belvoir Street Theatre.

AK's Various Thoughts

Theatre Director Akarsh Khurana shares his views on theatre in Bombay and across India.

ACTING AND ECONOMICS

"Acting is easy if you know it."
- Popular Stage Actor Sanjay Dadhich

Clearly I don't know it. After five years, I returned to the stage in a lead role. The process was grueling. Learning lines was harder than I remembered. Rehearsals became pretty serious, focussed gatherings, and not the picnics I was used to. The butterflies in my stomach turned out to be moths. It had been a while indeed. Anyhow, the play opened, had five decently attended shows, but left me exhausted and broken. I am quite close to being a vegetable. I now fully understand the meaning of the term "inertia".

Producing, directing and watching plays are easier tasks than acting in them. Period. This is not to say that I respect actors any more now. Just that I know my preferences rather well. Speaking of watching, I managed to watch Makrand Deshpande's latest, Miss Beautiful, which, as most of his work, is about many things - theatre, parents, women, actors, nostalgia, illness, the works. Among other stellar performances, there was a wonderfully 'easy' turn by Sanjay Dadhich, the talented gentleman quoted above. The most rewarding part of the experience for me - in the show I saw, as the play reached its denouement, I looked around when I heard some sniffling, and was amazed to see people of both genders, with tears in their eyes. Many chords around me had been touched. Impressive achievement, to say the least.

I also watched and enjoyed The Skeleton Woman, which opened in Mumbai as a part of Thespo at Prithvi. I think every play should have a large boat on stage. The play is written by and stars Kalki Koechlin, famous for her portrayal of Chanda in Dev D. The play is produced by Anurag Kashyap (director, Dev D), who claimed to enjoy the process so much that he wants to dedicate more time to the theatre, promoting more original work. Soon after, his little daughter was the scene stealer in five shows of a mystical thriller called Don't Look Now.

Somewhere in the middle, I flew off to Muscat for 24 hours, for a show of our estrogen filled entertainer, All About Women. We performed at the Indian Embassy to a great audience. The Indian Ambassador has the distinction of being the only person we have met who has also watched the original Croatian version of the play in Zagreb. He claimed to prefer this version, primarily owing to the portions he referred to as "punjabified". We also dealt with some rather quaint censorship. After much contemplation, the organizers hesitantly asked me to replace the words "blow job" with "oral gratification". I think we may just keep that for every show in the future.

As of now, Akvarious is going through a frenetic phase, with 31 shows in a span 30 days. Yes, we counted. How I wish our account statements posted such strong numbers. But no, the financial drought continues. The term 'outstanding' features with amazing regularity in our ledgers, and it doesn't have anything to do with the quality of our work. The bright side, as I have inferred, is that theatre is the only field not affected by the crippling recession, since it's always walked hand in hand with bankruptcy. What the recession is doing, is bringing all other fields to the economic levels of theatre. This, I'm afraid, is the truth, however inconvenient.

"The truth cannot be rehearsed."
- Popular Stage Actor Sanjay Dadhich

Up & Coming

Date, Day Time and Venue Play Notes
1, Fri
4 & 7pm, Prithvi Barsoraam Dhadaake Se What is a fairytale? Was it once upon a time…or is it now?
6:30pm, Tata Theatre The Alchemist The story of a boy, who has a dream and the courage to follow it.
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Jungle Dhoom . Com A story based in a jungle called Hariyala forest where Nanhi Koyal lives who is abandoned in a crow's nest by her mother Koyal.
2, Sat 11am & 4pm, Prithvi Almost Twelfth Night A Kat-Katha Presentation.
7pm, NCPA Exp Saat Teri Ekvees

Series of seven monologues, dealing with various themes.

8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Nikki Aur Vicky A story of three kids: Vicky, his younger sister Nikki and their friend, Munna.
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai An Omm-Bismillah Theatre Presentation.
3, Sun 4pm, Prithvi Barsoraam Dhadaake Se An IPTA Balmanch Presentation.
6:30pm, NCPA Exp. Saat Teri Ekvees A Manhar Gadhia Presentation.
6:30pm,
Tata Theatre
Flat No. 44 Vidhi Joshi is gifted with the power to communicate with the dead.
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Almost Twelfth Night A puppet play, based on William Shakespeare`s comedy about twin siblings separated in a sea storm and reunited after many adventures.
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai Written by Aftab Hasnain. Directed by Shhagiir Kkhan
4, Mon
4 & 7pm, Prithvi Shehenshah of Azeemo Directed by Shivani Tanksale & Sumeet Vyas
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Barsoraam Dhadaake Se Bansode is a cranky, scary and child-hating landlord. What happens to this awful man when monsoon meanders into his world?
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai A one woman performance by Taranum Ahmed.
5, Tue 4 & 7pm, Prithvi A Special Bond Part 2 Ranji is back with a whole new set of magical adventures in the hills.
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Barsoraam Dhadaake Se With Javed Khan, Chloe Herft, Khanak Jha, Prashant Padale, Rohit Chowdhary, Vikas Yadav, Vighnesh Sinkar and others
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai An Omm-Bismillah Theatre Presentation.
6, Wed
4 & 7pm, Prithvi A Special Bond Part 2 An Akvarious Presentation
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Mummy Please!!! As the narrator points out the cutouts to the children, the characters take on human form and jump out of pop-up picture book and perform.
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai Written by Aftab Hasnain. Directed by Shhagiir Kkhan.
7, Thu 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Barsoraam Dhadaake Se Directed by Shaili Sathyu.
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden A Special Bond Part 2 With Benjamin Gilani, Hidaayat Sami, Trishla Patel, Anand Tiwari, Kashin Shetty, Dilshad Edibam, Tahira Nath and others.
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai A one woman performance by Taranum Ahmed.
8, Fri 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Mummy Please!!! A Yatri Presentation.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
26/11 A personal account of seven victims of the terror attack.
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden The Shehenshah of Azeemo With Anand Tiwari, Imran Rasheed, Namit Das, Pawan Uttam, Pia Sukanya, Shivani Tanksale and others.
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai An Omm-Bismillah Theatre Presentation.
9, Sat 11am & 4pm, Prithvi Nakchadhi The story of Phulwati, who grows up to be a very stubborn, arrogant girl.
7pm,
Tata Theatre
The Alchemist With Mohan Kapur, Dipankar Chakravarty, Asif Ali Beg and others.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Starring U & Me! Directed by Divya Palat
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Pi Pi’s father runs a zoo, his mother is a housewife and his elder brother is three years older than he. We see Pi’s world through his own eyes.
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai Written by Aftab Hasnain. Directed by Shhagiir Kkhan
9pm, Prithvi Chinta Chhod Chintamani Designed and Directed by Om Katare.
10, Sun
4pm, Prithvi Nakchadhi A Yatri Presentation
6:30pm,
Tata Theatre
30 Days in September

Written by Mahesh Dattani. Directed by Lillete Dubey.

6:30pm,
St. Andrews Auditorium
The Alchemist An Ashvin Gidwani Presentation.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Starring U & Me! A Balancing Act Presentation.
8pm, Horniman Circle Garden Once Upon A...Tiger! The play takes you to the jungle in search of the missing tiger, with lots of music and dance.
7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha The Shehenshah of Azeemo Desi version of a classic fairytale about Dorothy, her dog Toto, and her search for a wizard in a strange land, so that she can go back home
8pm, Sathaye College Auditorium* Yyahhan Ameennaa Bikti Hai A one woman performance by Taranum Ahmed.
9pm, Prithvi Chinta Chhod Chintamani Hilarious family drama commenting on the contemporary social scenario.
11, Mon 7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha Jungle Dhoom . Com A story based in a jungle called Hariyala forest where, Nanhi Koyal, lives. Nanhi is abandoned in a crow's nest by her mother Koyal.
12, Tue 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Pi A Ranga Theatre Presentation.
8pm, Karnataka Sangha Bedke Neeche Rehne Wali As a child, Ira had an invisible friend who lived under her bed. Then one day Ira grew up and stopped believing in her invisible friend.
13, Wed 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Pi Designed and Directed by Bijon Mondal.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
All About Women

Written by Miro Gavran. Directed by Hidaayat Sami.

7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha Nakchadhi The story of a Phulwati, whose father pampers her so much that she grows up to be a very stubborn, ill-mannered, arrogant girl.
14, Thu
4 & 7pm, Prithvi Sutti Butti A group of 8-10 year olds wake up to find that their parents, on getting irritated with their behavior, have abandoned them.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Namak Mirch

A hilarious dramatisation of a collection of short stories.

7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha Nikki Aur Vicky A story of Vicky, his younger sister Nikki and their friend, Munna. Nikki and Vicky come from an affluent family while Munna is from the streets.
15, Fri 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Labbaik! This performance communicates the joy of Kathak.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Jake's Women Written by Neil Simon. Directed by Mrunmayee Lagoo.
7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha Day I Met The Prince Join the Prince from the planet BB88 on his journey to earth as he tries to find the answer to many riddles!
16, Sat 11am, 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Day I Met The Prince Written by Kuo Pao Kun. Adapted by Nayantara Roy.
Directed by Jaimini Pathak.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Don't Look Now The Ahuja's are holidaying in Shantiniketan when they meet two sisters.
7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha Barsoraam Dhadaake Se Bansode is the cranky, scary and child-hating landlord of Africa House. What happens to him when monsoon meanders into his world?
17, Sun
11am,
NCPA Exp
The Shehenshah of Azeemo Directed by Shivani Tanksale and Sumeet Vyas.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Don't Look Now

An Akvarious Presentation.

11am, 4 & 7pm, Prithvi Day I Met The Prince

Join the Prince from the planet BB88 on his journey to earth as he tries to find the answer to many riddles!

7:30pm, Karnataka Sangha Pi An exciting and highly adventurous tale of a young boy named Pi. We are introduced to his family, a mamaji and his classmates.
18, Mon 5pm, Prithvi Books and Performance of Ogres, Beasts & Men Sanjna Kapoor reads from delicious children’s books written and illustrated by artist K G Subramanyan.
19, Tue
11am & 4pm, Prithvi Day I Met The Prince A Working Title Presentation.
20, Wed 11am & 4pm, Prithvi Day I Met The Prince Directed by Jaimini Pathak.
21, Thu 11am & 4pm, Prithvi Once Upon A...Tiger!! The play takes you to the jungle in search of the missing tiger.
22, Fri
9pm, Prithvi Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya 1947. An old Hindu woman robbed of her son and family.
23, Sat 11am, Prithvi Barsoraam Dhadaake Se Directed by Shaili Sathyu.
6 & 9pm, Prithvi Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya With Preeta Mathur, Aman Gupta, Dharmesh Tiwari and others.
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Nakchadhi Written and directed by Om Katare.
24, Sun 11am, Prithvi Barsoraam Dhadaake Se With Javed Khan, Chloe Herft, Khanak Jha, Prashant Padal and others.
6 & 9pm, Prithvi Hai Mera Dil An Ank Presentation.
6:30pm, NCPA Exp. Nakchadhi The story of Phulwati, who grows up to be a very stubborn, arrogant girl.
25, Mon 7:30pm,
18 Anukool
Great Text Reading An informal reading of Peter Whelan's 'A Russian in the Woods'
26, Tue 8pm, Prithvi Jaagine Joun To : Narasainyo The life and times of the 15th century Saint Poet Narsinh Mehta.
27, Wed 8pm, Prithvi Jaagine Joun To : Narasainyo A one man performance by Utkarsh Majumdar.
30, Sat
7pm,
NCPA Exp.
Grey Elephants in Denmark

With Vivek Gomber, Puja Sarup, Pramod Pathak and others.

* Sathaye College Auditorium - Dixit Road, Vile Parle (E)

Great Stuff

CASTING :

Q Theatre Productions announces a new as yet untitled project. The hunt is on for actors with a fair bit of experience and tons of free time. Rehearsals are in May and June ( 8 hours a day) and shows will run till the 5th of July. If you are free and interested in acting, playing music, working backstage, marketing, etc. email us your bio and picture to qtheatreproductions@gmail.com

Shoestring Theatre : would like to inform you about a new production, waiting to go on the floor in May, 2009. This play, currently titled 'The Storytellers' is an original script written and directed by Rishi Verma. We'd like you to audition for this production on the 2nd and 3rd of May, 2009.
The audition is not just for actors. All who wish to join us (stage hands, light designers, sound designers, set designers) are most welcome to come in during these two days.
Note for actors: Although it isn't essential, it would be great if you could bring along a piece that you have already performed.
Date: May 2nd (Sat) & 3rd (Sun), Time: 2 pm to 6 pm (both days)
Please do call Rishi Verma on 98674 57406 or email (vermarishi@gmail.com / shoestring.theatre@gmail.com) for more details.

Workshops :

Theatre Professionals Acting Workshop Program : Theatre Professionals Acting Workshop Program is pleased to announce an 'Intensive Drama Programme' for actors who will be trained in Movement, Voice, Music, Rhythm, Acting and Rehearsing with directors. The instructors include : Ravi Verma (Koothu-p-pattarai, U of Pondicherry), H. Tomba (Kalakshetra, Manipur), Sanjay Upadhyay (Nirmal Kala Mansh - Patna, NSD, IPTA), VKK Hariharan (Krishan Nambiar Mizhavu Kalari), Sankar Venkateshwaran (Theatre Roots and Wings, Trichur & TTRP Singapore), S. Raghunandana (NSD, Ninasam, Karnataka & Mysore Rangayana), Jehan Manekshaw (MFA Theatre Directing, London).
Date: 4th May - 16th May ; Time : 8am to 8pm ; Venue: NCPA Rehearsal Room.
Contact actingworkshopsmumbai@gmail.com or 9321595159 or log on to www.theatreprofessionals.co.in/idp/ for complete details.

Apalak Theatre : are conducting an Actor's Workshop from May 4 - May 9 from 6:45pm to 10pm at Habitat, Juhu. For more details contact Baljeet Gujral on 98216 88770 or email apalakworkshops@gmail.com

Children's Theatre Workshops: Academy of Creative Expression announces workshops for children from 3-14years old at 16 centres all over Bombay. Call 22871851 for details.

Raell Padamsee: announces 'Reach for the Stars' workshop for children. Call 22842845-8 or 9320130013 for details.