The Stellar Players have always had a dry patch before and after the college's annual play, for reasons manifold. As the year began, we looked for opportunities to bring the club to life. Then one day, Evam turned our spotlight to the Airtel Theatricals 2010.
Ready for refinement
With no further negotiations, we responded and began to garner support within college. The turnout was unbelievable! We grinned at the revelation that theatre was still very much in vogue, in and around Stella Maris College. Over 50 girls assembled for the first meeting, where they were briefed about the event, and divided into groups according to their interests — Cast, Production, Marketing. The excitement was palpable. Towards the end of August, two representatives from Evam came to our college and assisted us in auditioning our cast. They were mighty impressed, or so it seemed.
We then attended their workshops for acting, directing and scriptwriting, and of course, the very crucial aspect of marketing. For most of us, it was a first time experience. On August 29, we went into Hari Shree Vidyalaya, looking like doe-eyed damsels, devoid of any clue whatsoever. The actors were sent to one room, the directors and scriptwriters to another.
Initially, we were all pretty intimidated by even the doors at the place. But once the workshop actually began, there wasn't a moment of dismay. The directors' workshop for one, was most enlightening. We'd all been raised, falling asleep to the sound of stories being told to us. Never did we fathom there was so much tact behind story-telling. We learnt it then.
We interpreted the story of Kamal Hassan's popular film, ‘Nayagan', and adapted it in words, as a play. Suddenly scripting seemed a cake walk! We miraculously realised how to woo an audience. We realised skills we never knew we possessed. Well, it was all in there.
By the end of the hour, we were clearer than the Buddha post-enlightenment. “Mahabharatha in thirty minutes, adapted to contemporary time, in your city,” we were told. Butterflies began to flutter in our stomachs, ideas began to flood into our heads. We picked our slots for performing.
All through this, the directing and scriptwriting workshop participants received great amusement from the room across the hall, as loud sounds of our actors doing voice exercises boomed into our room; seemed like they were having a gala time in there too.
Promoting theatre
Everyone forgot about their wrecked Sunday morning sleep. It was well worth it. Airtel, in collaboration with Evam, has taken a tremendous initiative in popularising the art of theatre among college students. They help us hone our skills and bring out hidden talents.
Not only is it a chance to be more dramatically attuned, it also brings out great entrepreneurship in students. We get to market our play, fill the auditorium, raise funds, all by ourselves. It's a challenge, all right, but a chance to build our confidence to make theatre tomorrow.
We will be competing with other colleges from Chennai on September 25 and 26. Here's to a great month of drama, ahead!
Bhavya is a II Year student at Stella Maris College.
