Rolling stones gather no moss: Catching up with the Street Theatre Team
hey had a very busy schedule right from September, starting with participating in the ‘De-addiction week’ along with the Department of Psychology. The volunteers underwent very rigorous practice sessions in the mornings and evenings.
Unlike the usual way of performing on streets, the team, performed on a real stage when they represented our college at the National Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre (NBCLC) conference held on the fourteenth of November. The play, Portraits of an Epoch showcased imbibing ideas from the gospels of the Bible. Despite the fact that most among the team were non-Christians, the participants claimed it to be a very novel and interesting experience. Besides, the play was widely appreciated at the conference.
On 15 November, Mr. Anil Pinto from the Department of Media Studies conducted an interactive session on The origin of theatre and How it became a popular form of art. “It was nothing like a seminar. Mr. Pinto captured our attention with his unique style of presentation and it was very lively”, opined Vandana, one of the participants.
Portraits of an Epoch was performed yet again at the National Law School Inter-Collegiate festival. They also represented Christ College at the Street Play Competition held at R V College of Engineering, Bengalooru.
The Street Theatre volunteers also found time to conduct a Theatre Workshop for the students of St.Josephs Indian High School on 18, 19, 25 and 26 November.
Both the Kannada and English teams worked hard for the prestigious Bengalooru Habba. They modified the above mentioned play and performed at the Habba from 3rd to 8th December. “ It was a once in a life time opportunity and we actually performed on the streets, even at night and also on open canters-something which we never even dreamt we would be doing” says Mijula a volunteer of the Street Theatre.
On 9th December, CSA celebrated Christmas in the Norwegian style and also formally inaugurated the collaborative Workshop with a Canadian theatre group for the selected 12 volunteers from the team. Having started on the 11th the workshop was held in association with Theatre In Education (Christ College). The main theme was ‘Human Rights’ under which they focussed on – ‘Water’ and ‘Women issues’.
The Street Theatre team worked in co-ordination with the College Choir and a dance team (headed by cultural co-ordinator Mr. Prasanna) and performed Portraits of an Epoch as part of the College Christmas celebrations.
Phew! A great way to end a year, wasn’t it?
So what have the other groups been upto?
Loads of things!
Besides exposure programmes to various organisations and specific group activities, Samveditha, the Vikas groups, Activity Centre and the Publications Team (the ones behind this blog) have been busy organising the National Seminar, Children’s day, taking part in discussion forums, ensuring the effectiveness and publicity of all the programmes and a host of other activites!
The truth is, once you are a part of it, nobody in CSA sits still.