Yours Truly Theatre ( YT-Ness )

 
Welcome to Six-Ness, our Second Quarterly Update between April – June 2010

Yours Truly Theatre’s Official Newsletter (giving you updates on our every quarter)
For update on our Quarterly Update for last year click on 1-Ness, 2-Ness, 3-Ness, 4-Ness, 5-Ness

From The Editor’s Desk

The second quarter of 2010 was highly significant and symbolic.

A quarter when Yours Truly Theatre travelled to Indore for a Theatre performance.
A quarter when members went through a workshop on clowning conducted by Astrid Kimmer, and when we completed the 3^rd show of our most recent production, Bhagwaan Dhundoo done in complete the story style, where the audience gets to end the play which is then enacted by the actors on stage.

Shows in the 2^nd Quarter (April 2010 – June 2010)

16^th May – Bhagwan Dhundoo at ADA Rangamandira, Bangalore.
A public show done in Complete the story format.

22^nd May – Indore ke Poha Jalebi at Santosh Sabagraha, Indore
A public show at Indore.

5^th June – Kaminey Duniya at the ALMA
A series of 4 short stories in CTS format.

13^th June – Father’s Day special at ALMA
A playback theatre show celebrating Father’s Day

20^th June – The Last Tree by LuLu,
A clown performance by Astrid

“ I had the opportunity to watch this play last Sunday and must admit that it was an outstanding concept of how today’s common man is trying hard to capture.  His identity amongst the people around him who have given up their identity due to circumstances or society.  The most admirable part was when audience was asked to stitch an end to a story that was part of the play and left incomplete just so that we can participate as well. So keep up the creativeness and excellent team work. Looking forward to watching more such brilliant performances.. “ says Collette Rajiv

“ The play was superb with highly professional actors.  I liked it and wish that such nice plays happen very often.  The theme of  concluding sessionby interactive method is very novel. It is like extempor speech!! …“ says Madhav

“ I enjoyed your play ” Bhagwaan Dhundoo”, it was sheer entertainment and kept us rooted to our seats. Being a “Training Actor” myself i best liked the part of improvisation as it keeps the audience alive and participating to the end, it is a very experimental type you guys are doing and you are doing it great …” says Jaahnavi Katti

Theatrewallah’s Speak:
“ Right from your previous play we have got many theater inspirations. As we run a theatre team called GAP in our college, there are many ideas that we owe you. We love your presentation and a different perspective towards theater…. “  says Akash Pandey (SMVIT Drama group)

“ Amazing performance yesterday as always…The technicals like lighting, co-ordination and the way the whole performance was choreographed was awesome! And ofcourse the music (especially the vocals) was mind blowing and very relevant to the story….And the best part was you had made your actors use their bodies as an acting tool literally…I really liked how well each actor was used….and yes, the kind of production strength you have is too good….The show was awesome, please convey my congrats to everyone in YT! I can see that with each performance, YT is creating and increasing its own benchmark w.r.t quality with every passing production…which other theatre groups in the city should try to atleast match if not exceed… Great going and you have made life difficult to people like us….by increasing the audience expectations :P… “ says Sriharsha Grama (Co-Founder, We Move Theatre)

Group Feature: ‘Playing God” – Bhagwaan Dhundoo Preview
Date: 13th May, 2010
Media Name:  Mid-Day, Newspaper, Bangalore
The link: Click here

Group Feature: ‘Intereactive Theatre Main Sheher Ki Khaasiyat Jhalki”
Date: 23^rd May 2010
Media Name:  Dhainik Bhaskar, Newspaper, Indore
The link: Click here  

Chapter 17:  The Method – Part 1 (Strings)

 I open my eyes and the room is empty.
I close my eyes and open my mind, the room is full.
Being mindful I begin.

I have strings attached all over my body.

Over the years I began to realize these strings.
I realize I ” let ” some of these strings get attached inside me.
Some of the strings got attached without my realization, with its hook residing deep inside me.

Over the years, having worked in theatre, I understand that the journey to the center of the hook is an individual one. You can only dare to unhook if you want to, it is by choice.

A good theatre teacher helps you understand the existence of these hooks, makes you aware and just lets you choose. what you want to do with it.

When YT began working , our idea was to dwell into these strings, to understand what happens when it is loose and when it tightens. To understand what happens to a body when there are no strings attached.

Are strings only in the mind or are there strings on the body too.  Does a string pass all the way intertwining the two.

We have a philosophy with strings, You are not doing a YT production until you have lost every breath of you, strained every muscle of you, and pushed every vocal cord of you, exhausted every emotion of you and when you are tried, exhausted, lying on the floor with nothing left inside you like a lifeless doll, ” completely unhooked “, then you are beginning to do theatre with Yours Truly Theatre.

So the fundamental question is would you dare to un-hook
Would you ?

Writer: Ranji David

Internal Workshop:  Rainbow of Life : A workshop series targeted at making the actors look inward.

Outside Knowledge (OK) Workshop: Clowning workshop by Astrid (June 19^th & 20^th)
It is our constant endeavor to invite eminent people to conduct workshops for us at YT, some of which are unique specializations.  These are only for the YT members.

Workshop Show:  Kaminey Duniya
 21^st May– A Series of 4 short stories done at the ALMA.
Four original short stories were presented in Complete the Story Format.

Workshop  Participant Feedback:
” I had never known that walking around the room can be so much fun, for the simple reason of seeing the wrangled faces, twisted walks, weird sounds created by us. ….” says Annu’…. to read more click here

Yours Truly Theatre conducts workshop for people with no prior theatre experience, if you are keen to join our caravan (travel and grow along with us), feel free mail us at yourstrulytheatre@gmail.com

Editors: Wearing the red nose was really not the first time at YT take us through The Clown Workshop by Astrid.
Nandini: ‘Wearing red nose is like having a small mask which lets you free and give you freedom to express and gives license to fool around’ is what we took back from the workshop. For many of us it was a liberating experience to wear the red nose and let go.

The hangover and positive side effects of her workshop & show still continues at YT and it shows in our work especially, Improv. Performing for children with clowning as a tool is very powerful. Infact inspired by Astrid’s workshop and show we at YT have come up with a clown play called ‘chasing butterflies’ which was performed at various education institutions. It has subtle humor and a scope for a lot of imagination which totally captures the young minds.

Ranji:  Having been a clown in real life most of the time, I thought I had a clown in me.
But then through Astrid’s brilliant workshop I realize there is more to it than what meets the eye.
So I began my journey of “ finding my clown “ through the workshop
Being a clown is a process, just as it is being an actor, and similar to being yourself.
It takes a lot of time, effort, and understanding to work on that.
It is important for a clown to first get connected to his/her inner self.
It is important for an actor to let go, before a clown could let go.
It was important for an actor to find, in the process.

An exercise becomes enlightening if we understand it purpose, otherwise it becomes a mere exercise
It was important for us to play the exercises without our biases.
It was important for us to submerge into these exercises completely.
The actors who went through this 2-day workshop went through a range of emotions. I am glad we went through it.

Editors: Could you share a glimpse on the performance given by Astrid at the Alma called The Last Tree
Ranji: Just as the audiences settled down, they heard a flute, the music it seemed came from a distant land, it played a lovely tune and it set the tone for what was to come later.  It was is one of those performances by a clown…. straight from the heart so touching, warm, funny, innocent, and inspiring.

 I have my highest regard, deepest respect for Astrid.  In a world where people finish one workshop and call themselves as expert,  Astrid continues to learn about clown and clowning year after year.  She never misses an opportunity to learn about clowning, even if it is outside her own country.  Such is her dedication and love for clowning. I find that with every passing year, her yearning to learn is only increasing, maybe that’s the quality of LuLu (a learner).  I also find that Astrid in person is always cheerful and high on enthusiasm, I feel the clown in her makes her life more happy and light.  It has submerged into her very deeply.

It is very difficult for a single woman to travel places and perform her solo act, I have my greatest respect for Astrid on this front too. We could see her dedication, just before her act (her meditation, being with herself, getting ready with all the 5 senses ). I was observing her.
Her preparation towards her act is something that all of us need to learn.

Nandini:  The lulu show was a inspiration, astrid totally changes herself and becomes a complete ‘lulu, the clown’. The show is light humored, sensitive and has a strong message. Interacting and Q&A with lulu enlightened the team about finer aspects of clowning.

We hope to get lulu back to Bangalore soon so more audiences can enjoy The Last Tree.

Editors: Traveling to Indore for an interactive theatre performance, take us through it
Nandini:  It has been always on YT cards, to take interactive theatre to other cities. The show at Indore was called ‘Indore Ke Poha Jalebi’ and was a way to celebrate the spirit of the city and the people at Indore.  The show was very well received by audience who attended the show, though creating awareness about interactive theatre in a new city will remain a challenge. The stories and conflicts depicted the typical transitionary phase of tier 2 cities.  Special thanks to Prateek, Vivek,  Prashnu for all the help, show wouldn’t have been possible without their support.

Ranji:  When we landed at Indore right from meeting the media (both English and Hindi) to the common man there was a sense of “disbelief” among the reporters and people who heard about “interactive theatre”.  They couldn’t believe that there could be stage performances which could happen spontaneously without any rehearsals.  Playback Theatre hasn’t been explored in North India, the excitement of showcasing our work to spreading awareness among people to finally performing was an experience in itself.  Our show manager Prateek Kota was par excellence, his ability to crack us through almost every nook and corner was commendable.  We thank the people of Indore for supporting the first ever Interactive Theatre performance in the history of Madhya Pradesh.