Prajwal HP, 21, was overwhelmed by the tedious process of college auditions and staging plays. This led the student of journalism to start a collective of his own with a few of his friends. Their aim was to give a platform to artistes to creatively express themselves and explore artistic opportunities within established art spaces and organisations. Thus began the almost year long journey of The Last Page Collective.
Prajwal HP
It is run by 21-year-olds. Samragni Dasgupta and Tanya Ballal came on board later. The Last Page Collective staged their first production on March 24 of this year. It comprised spoken word, stand-up comedy and dance and music. “It was a crowd-funded show,” says Prajwal. “Ever since, we have presented our flagship show Backyard Nights , an open mic event for everyone to come and express themselves.”
Tanya Ballal
Prajwal adds: “We later collaborated with other theatre groups such as Lights Off Productions and helped in marketing their play Edge of Heaven recently. At present, we have partnered with Shoonya to provide them resources such as volunteers, photographers, and more.”
They will present their new production Footnotes , performed by Siddharth Manohar and Mira Swaminathan. The story revolves around two strangers, who meet at a railway station. “They connect in a way that is intimate,” says Prajwal, the director of the play.
“The story then proceeds as a brief flashback of that single moment in their life. The play is based on the reflections of a cynic and an optimist. In the play you will get to witness how falling in love almost always feels like being in The Sound of Music; how getting therapy isn’t quite the simple process it seems; how AR Rahman was a significant part of our childhood and how gender affects your choices. It’s an abstract play. Every time a person narrates the incident, we have used dance and poetry with music to portray that.”
“The motto of Last Page Collective is quite simple. You want a stage, we will provide it. The only thing you need to do is creatively express yourself,” Prajwal signs off.
Footnotes will be staged at Shoonya Centre of Art and Somatic Practices on December 7 and 8 at 7.30 pm. Tickets are on townscript.com and bookmyshow.com. Last Page Collective will stage their next production Maat, inspired by Girish Karnad’s Yayati, on December 14 and 15 at Shoonya and on December 19 at Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar second stage. For details visit their Facebook page.
