My body & BRAIN is tangled!!!

Well, the farewell ended and the canadians have left.... cant think that there would be no more of those dancing sessions, no more of the harmonica playing and no more of the bus dances!!! God, hard to imgine but that's truth...right??

Well this workshop with the canadians made my brain (the small little one that I have) go round and round and I dont know what!!! I have spent hours thinking about the workshop and about the process but cudn't get any answer. I think what made me so restless was the fact that I didnt know what I was doing!!! Many of my friends told me to just wait and experience this whole workshop but probably, this is the way I am, I like to know wat I am doing and why!!! I tried my level best not to get any hopes or expectations from my past and which to an extent I succeeded in doing...but then why wasnt I having that internal happiness or satisfaction?Dont tell me that I have become so rigid (here come's the self - doubt)!!! Well I got a part of my answer in the reflection session we had in Hoskote... Sean made me realise what I was thinking about... "I wanted the process to empower us more", as Sean put it. Thanks Sean. Along with that I just wondered if those movements of water (which I myself did) made any sense, if not to others, but atleast to me! I am all too messed up (as you can see) and I DONT LIKE THAT!

Its not that I havn't gained anything from this workshop... Now I know how it is to have 10 fingers, 2 hands, 2 legs etc, how body theatre is important.... but....there still remains that emptiness within me which probably I will understand in a few days... (atleast I hope so)
But in all, I think the experience was great, it made my body and my BRAIN (especially) work a lot...and I swear it did!!!!

Kiss Good Bye !

The last Day ..

Today was the last day to end our Kannada Canada Project with a farewell party in Birds park.
Organised by us ... He he. We started off with formal speeches by the staff members and went into the culturals with yaroon song. By now it was Canadians turn who sang sweet songs which had lyrics about us... It was so damn cozy. Then it was Kajre dance done by the female category of street theatre.
During supper every body danced to the tune of Rajan sir music and everybody had a blast. It all ended kissing good byes to each other.
From Drishti we wish you guys .. safe journey and hope to keep in touch with you guys.

Three Cheers to Canadians..
Hip Hip ..hurray..Hip Hip ..hurray..Hip Hip ..hurray..

Please Note: Drishti members ..kindly post your views into your blog and keep this site alive.

Photos of Kannada Canada Performance

Theatre in the Basketball Court! : A Different Game
Posted by centreforsocialaction on December 21st, 2006
Thu,21 Dec: You surely missed it… if you weren’t present at the Christ College basketball court when the CSA street theatre team Drishti, in collaboration with a theatre team from Montreal (Canada) enacted a series of plays in front of a huge student audience!
The play which dealt with human rights was enacted in 2 parts:1. A series of topics which included ‘respect for women’, ‘the need to wear helmets’, ‘smoking’, and ‘alcohol’ through a multi-lingual play by Drishti;2. The Biblical story of Adam and Eve interpreted in a contemporary context, with a focus on the plight of women, by a combined group of Drishti and the Montreal team. It talked about the pressure mounted upon women in today’s world.
The enactment was true to the street theatre genre and involved a lot of expressing of ideas through body movement. To add to the fun, they used instruments like a flute, harmonica and drums. And guess how many people turned up at the basketball court to watch it?
350 souls! (including teachers and the watchmen)
The aim of the play besides promoting awareness on Human rights, was to provide a platform for a Drishti - Montreal team joint production, as well as performing for the students in college who were on their last working day of the month, before the Christmas vacations! (By the way, the college re-opens on January 2nd). Both the theatre teams have been undergoing a joint training programme in the college for the past 2 weeks which will culminate on the 28th of this month.
To know more about them, check out their blogs:
Drishti : www. streettheatre.blogspot.com
Montreal team: www. rightshere.blogspot.com


Script for the Street Play

All the members sing "Surangani" and start the formation of the circle. As soon as the circle is completed, the members start the play by singing the birdy song and then sing the "london bridge" song and create the formation for the smoking scene.

Scene I

All the members of the group hum the bond music and move towards Actor 1 who is busy smoking. They stop, stare and then copy actor 1. Then all the members start choking, suffocating and then finally die! Actor 1 watches all this, gets tensed, throws the cigarette. CHORUS: "Smoke up, smoke your life. Smoke up, smoke up your life" and form a circle.

Scene II

All the members in the circle start making sounds of various vehicles, horns,etc. Actor 1 and 2 start moving around the circle (as in driving a two wheeler). They come and hault in the middle of the circle. Actor 1 and all the members: Kya aap traffic rules follow karte hain? Kya aap helmet pehnte hain? Aap rules kyun nahi follow karte hain? (musical) Actor 2: Hello? Helmet kaun pehnta hai? Mera hairstyle bigadd jayega! CHORUS:(except Actor 2): Its coming! Its coming! Its coming! Bird shit comes and falls on Actor 2 (embarrasing and disgusting look) CHORUS: Sound of crow! CHORUS (in the middle in a smaller circle) : "Helmet hain jahaan, suraksha hai wahaan! Helmet!!! (Lifebouy jingle) All the members sing the birdy song (with actions) and come back into a circle. Humming of the "london bridge" song.

Scene III

Actor 1 is busy driving a two wheeler (in the middle of the circle) Actor 2 : Oye.... helmet kidhar hai? Headlight bhi nahi hai... Fine lage ga... 300 rupees!!! Actor 1: (shocked) 300 rupees??? Nahi saab... I'll give you Rs 50!! Actor 2: (surprised) Rs 50??? Gaadi bhi chori ka lagta hai!! Actor 1: Saab saab... 100 rupees dega saab!! Actor 2: 100 rupees??(happy)... chal de de.. Actor 2 takes the money and leaves. Actor 1 continues driving. Actor 1: (sarcasm) Arre... yeh sab toh aise hee hai!!! CHORUS: Na biwi na bachcha, na baap bada na bhaiya... (Bluffmaster).. ...STOP!! Actor 3 (from the circle) : Where's your liscence? ( Kannada) Actor 4 ( '' " ) : Where's your headlight? (Telugu) Actor 5 ( " " ) : Why did you break the traffic light? ( Hindi) Actor 6 ( " " ) : Where is your RC book? ( Malayalam) Actor 7 (coming near Actor 1) : And above all why did you bribe him? CHORUS: (moving in a circle) Who's corrupt? You or them?(3) Actor 1 : Corruption is not there, it is here. CHORUS: Act now! (3) All the members sing the birdy song (with actions) and form the circle. Everybody sings "london bridge" and create the formation for the drinking scene

Scene IV

CHORUS:(everybody in a small circle in the middle facing outside) Yeh jo mohabbat hai...yeh unka hai kaam... (all members sing this as if they are drunk) Actor 1 steps out of the circle and moves around Actor 2: (approaches Actor 1) Drink drink... Its good! Actor 1: (takes a sip and respondes) Hey, this is good..very good!.... I'm so lonely, I have nobody.... (sings) Actor 1 comes to the middle and then as she sings, the rest of the members form a circle around her. CHORUS: Drink, drink, drink, drink.... Actor 1 starts to choke and falls to the ground. All the other members surround her and mock at her. Actor 1 : Drinking thrills, but kills! CHORUS: Drinking thrills. but kills! (3) All the members sing the birdy song (with actions) and settle down for the women harrasment scene.

Scene V

All the members are a part of the circle, except Actor 1 (male) and Actor 2 (female) who are supposedly standing in a bus! CHORUS: Aashiq banaya, aashiq banaya.........(sounds of the break) When the chorus is singing the song, Actor 1 is eve -teasing Actor 2. When the sound of the breaks is heard, Actor 1 (almost) falls on Actor 2. Actor 2 responds with a slap! CHORUS: One tight slap! (2) Actor 2 : Dont you have a mother or a sister? (Hindi) Actor 3 : in Kannada Actor 4 : in Malayalam Actor 5 : in English CHORUS : Respect Women! (3) All the members do the birdy dance (with actions) and form a circle.

Scene VI

CHORUS : (Keeps singing) Hey, Hey... What's this?? Actor 1 : Stop smoking! (coming to the middle of the circle)

CHORUS Actor 2: Wear your helmet! ('' '')

CHORUS Actor 3: Who's corrupt? ('' ")

CHORUS Actor 4: Drinking kills! ('' '')

CHORUS Actor 5: Respect Women! ('' '')

All the members come into the middle of the circle and bow!!!

Kannada -Canada Project Experience!

For me ... the whole workshop has been challenging and frustrating in spite of being open to ideas of new forms of theatre and stuff....but still come on guys..give me a break...its street theatre ya.. Not that I have done a Ph D thesis on Street theatre.
There are some essentials for any form of theatre and Street theatre has its own and I feel very sad when people neglect that aspect of it. I also discovered how this work has made me realize why our body is so important and useful in street theatre.

I like to work planning things and knowing things in what I am indulging into but this experience has not given me proper sleep at times. Having a sense of ambiguity of things is fine but for long...Hell no..

The culture aspect has been a key factor according to me during this training and I find it difficult to understand Canadian way of thinking. Obviously any individual got to respect other culture and views but this seems a complex process for me to under go..

On our first performance...the element of abstraction for a street play is NOT a good idea. My intuitions turned out to be right to a great extent. I really feel they could learn Kannada and put up a play in Kannada no matter how small or pathetic it turns out. I feel it is not too late... better be late than never..... Street theatre is not about coaching about it but getting into the groom of it and get the feel on ground reality.. Too preachy. Sorry. Its just the way I interpret my Indian system of working..
I hope this workshop broadens my idea of theatre in general and I get to see the Canadians teaching us some stuff .... Which still lies a mystery.. Expectations..Expectations..Sucks big time..

Looking forward for the up coming challenges..

Rock and Roll...

Kannada Canada Team

All the way from Montreal, CANADA

Finally the much awaited programme for street theatre "Drishti" has started. The montreal group has arrived at Christ College.

The group is here to perform a street play on human rights and also have exchange of ideas in connection with theatre. The group is vibrant for sure and we are looking forward to interact with these guys more coz I have heard canadians are much more nice people than Americans..he he..

We have our first performance on 21 st , Dec 2006 in college campus.

Welcome to watch us... CULMINATION OF CULTURES... !

Bengalooru Habba 2006

Drishti kicked off performing street plays for Bengalooru Habba (http://www.eventsbangalore.net/2006/12/01/bengalooru-bangalore-habba-2006/) festival from Dec 3, 2006 till 7th of Dec 2006.

It was an amazing experience for both English and Kannada teams which together managed to put up nearly 30 performances.
The Kannada team performed creating awareness on Hiv/AIDS across the city and conveyed the message meaningfully to different target audiences.

The English team had come up with a kichdi with a kick in it having themes such as adverse effects of smoking, alcohol, drugs and general civic issues like wear your helmet, stop littering etc.
I personally enjoyed this festival with colours on our faces and the enthusiasiam which I could see among my team mates. Almost seems like they have become professional theatre team. Just Kidding...

End of Semester for Drishti street theatre

Hmmn...what do i say...the semester has come to an end and I am happy with the work MY team has done. The team great people and I am sure they will do great job in the future in my absence too.. The next semester will be more challenging for them to realize what they are capable. I just wish they do a great job this saturday also when they are presenting about the activities they have done this semester...

He he..Cheers ..Drishti..

21TH October	Production on a Biblical play for NBCLC begin on Saturday at 7am to 9 am in collaboration with script peoples theater in the auditorium block
28ih October	Saturday practice in the morning 7 to 9 in the auditorium block
5th November	Saturday practice in the morning 7 to 9 in the auditorium block
6th to 13th	Practice in the morning 7 to 9 and 4 to 6 in the evening
7th November	1 to 1:30 first official street theater meeting for the second semester and distribution of planner for the semester
14th November	Tuesday final performance at NBCLC
15th November	-Wednesday a workshop come talk by Mr.Anil.Pinto (Media studies Dep.) on World theater and Indian theater
17th	4 to 6 preparation of St.Joseph workshop
18th and 19th	Workshop for SJISH students.18 Saturday from 2 to 4 conducted by Teju. 19th from 10am to 4pm by Siddharth and Neha
23 and 24 November	Practice by English group from 8 to 9 and evening 4 to 5
25 November	Participated in NLS and RV college street play competition and was placed 4 in both the competitions
23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th	Practice in the morning from 8 to 9 and 4 to 5 for the Bangalore Habba auditions
25 26 November	Continuation of SJISH workshop. 25 from 2 to 4 by Vandana, Sureka and Neha. 26 from 10 to 5 by Siddharth and Neha
26th	Compilation of a play on HIV\AIDS within 5 hours and the St Joseph team (Navajeevana) is taking part in Bangalore Habba from 29 November to 1 0f December
28th	Meeting on the selection of 10 volunteers for the Montreal workshop.

Activities hence forth:

ü 29^th November the Kannada team will be performing for a press conference organized by Organizers of Bangalore Habba at Bangalore Press Club from 11:30 to 2:00 pm.

ü 30^th practice evening 4 to 5

ü 1^st December performance by the Kannada team from 12 to 2 on occasion of Worlds AIDS Day.

ü From 3^rd to 7^th December participating in Bangalore Habba from 4 to 8 pm where we will be picked from college at 4 and dropped back in college at 8 pm both English and kannada team

ü 4^th December to 10^th December practice called by script Peoples Theater for the 15 performances in the morning 7 to 9 and from 11 December morning 7 to 9 and evening 4 to 6

ü 15^th December 2 shows of the biblical play in the auditorium for the ACC meeting.

ü 9^th December welcome party for the Montreal theater group and workshop until 24^th December with the selected 10 students form Drishti

ü From January to February end performances in various CSA project areas and in different colleges. And venues available

ü Performance of the bible play in various avenues

ü

ü And also if possible organise a street theater week in Christ college where various groups will be invited to perform. (Just a proposal)

Names of members who are there in the team as of now:

Kannada team:

SIDDHARTH.B.JOSE

NEHA.V.SADANANDA

TEJESWINI.K

SUMATHI.N

AMRITHA.R

CHANDRAKIRAN RAJU.M

R.JAYA KRISHNA

BHARATH.N

PANDU.R

SURAKHA

SURESH

English team:

VANDANA.R

GREENY FRANCIS

NAHA SWINE

DIANA VINCENTY

ANNU ALBERT

SARA MARY PHILIP

MIJULA.J

JAISON CHACKO

RAHUL

NEETU

ALI

TOTAL GIRLS=7E+5K TOTAL BOYS =3E+5K

Members who have quit Drishti from last semester

ARPITA

TOBIN

VINET

ANNU

SAQUIB

YAGENDRA

KANAKRAJ

ARCHANA

Members who have joined

ANNU ALBERT

RAHUL

JAISON CHRCKO

ALI

Essence of Shadow !

Street Play in Christ College Campus

Hey ...

The team Drishti will be performing in Christ College campus observing Health week from 28th August - 2 nd september organized by Department of Psychology and Centre for Social Action.
Welcome to watch us..!
Venue: Christ College Kiosk, Food court and Main Auditorium

It takes something to go on to the STREETS !

Street Play script on Drug Addiction

ADDICTION


All the members of the team start off with the formation of circle and shouting out the slogans of street theatre in circle. (May be a song that suits our contemporary youths mind)
Intention is to get the attention of the students.

May be we all choreograph a dance that will deceive the students projecting it as a fun thing to do in street! (Suggestions welcome)


We continue to get the attention of the students.

Scene I

College Campus: Entry of students to attend their 10 o clock classes, some people saying hi, hugging, enquiring about what classes, which teacher they have, discussing about assignments, visiting forum, pvr etc etc.

Lets hope the crowd by now is settling down and its time for us get on to the business.

Narrator: Hi friends, don’t be puzzled to see Christ College in chaos….
This chaos and confusion is for a cause.

(Actor I would be present among the crowd and shouts out)
Actor I: Cut the crap, don’t you people have anything better to do in life.

Narrator: Embarrassed, Don’t know what to say and counter argue.

Actor II: who is also among the crowd, Look we have people who have come see the crap also. He he he.

Actor I: Enough dude, don’t yap off too much. Now what is this all about hah…?
Talking again the same old clieshed stuff of poverty, child labour, and women harassment hah? We all know about these stuff ya. Don’t do something for the hec of doing it. You guys are a bunch of losers!

Chumma go and read for your mid semester exams da?

Narrator: Do you have 15 minutes for yourself and for your friends?
We shall give you a whole new dimension to a problem which all of us take it for granted assuming we know it all yaar…Chalta hai….



The whole team then starts to form a circle and starts shouting:

Macha Macha Macha , What ra Macha?

Different people in different tones and body language shout out..

Addiction (plain), Addiction (wondering), Addiction (questioning),
Additiction(Sarcasm)

All together shout out. Drug Addiction!


Song

Hey come on, come on
Have a look and go away
Hey come on, come on
Just taste and go away
Hey come on, come on
Have a peg and go away
Hey come on, come on
Have a puff and go away
Poor guy has lost his life, has lost his life.
Who is to be blamed, you or me?

Or

A teenager’s in the pub and he’s drunk
Another one’s on the road having a puff..
Both are wasting their life in the fun..
Ooooohhhhh

They think they ‘re cool…. they think they rock… they think they’re right..
They do not know the truth.
They’re ruining their life.

Narrartor :

All of us are aware of drug users and abusers..but my dear friends …have you ever given a thought as why these souls get into it..

Actor I: As if it is my business…why should I? I have better things to do in life than to know about a bunch of losers who waste their lives on drugs and get addicted to it.
But still out of curiosity…. Do you know why people get addicted?


Narrator: There you have already got a point..

Curiosity:


A group of youths…. (Can be mix of both boys and girls.)

Boy1: why can’t I be like Arnold ra?

Girl1: Coz Arnold is not an Indian…

Boy1: Man, I heard from a friend of mine that by taking drugs you can build your body da….I wonder how ? I am very much curious to find what that stuff is really da!

Chorus

Addiction ( plain), Addiction( wondering), Addiction ( questioning),
Additiction( Sarcasm)

All together shout out …..Drug Addiction

Narrator : This curiosity is supported by the emotional pressures an individual experiences in his or her life…

Girl 2: My life sucks ya…. I just feel my life is not worth living…Everyday got to put up with this damn life. I just don’t feel like living this life yaar.

Girl 3 : Hey come ya…Life is not all that bad , you just got to know how to make it better. You need to project yourself cool ya.. Who knows …Kal Ho Na Ho.
I ‘ll show you how life turns upside down from pain to pleasure…


Chorus

Addiction ( plain), Addiction( wondering), Addiction ( questioning),
Additiction( Sarcasm)

All together shout out …..Drug Addiction

.
Narrator : We all are social beings…. No doubts about it . We tend to follow the group norms and try to be conformist …but one should not forget to draw lines and give up their personal stand on it… It sounds all good preaching but in reality……….



Group song: I am drinking my wine and I am going high.

Boy 2: Smoking is damn good… Relieves all my tensions in life. That teacher today embarrassed me so badly just because I did not do one assignment.

Girl 2: Obviously she should right…coz fault is yours.

Boy 2: Shut up … Don’t yap too much as if you do all your assignments.

Girl 2: My mom is planning to get me married! Feel like blowing her off..

Boy 2: Just chill, Tension nahi leneka… Try this for now.. Join us this evening to tension free therapy in Club X.


Narrator: W all are aware of how we get into these drugs… but how many of us standing are ignorant of the effects of Drug addiction. Their use and abuse…

There has been hundreds of researches and studies done but we all very smart people just to ignore them and carry on with pleasure seeking principle in Life.

Boy 1 : Why should we care about the harmful effects of it hah? It solves our problems and gives us relief … Lets take care of the future in the future.


Narrator : You are absolutely right my dear friend but in your little world. Forget about future , Have you any idea what all consequences it can have….

(Scene where in we have couple of friends taking drugs, alcohol, and have unsafe sex )

Narrator: You are just inviting sexually transmitted diseases. By losing your senses, your are treating your body like garbage bin ……

Scene where in we have all the psychological effects and biological effects of drug use… (Suggestion welcome as to how to portray it to the audience)

Drug and its effect :

Sedatives and Hypnotics: Blurred vision, Impaired perception of time and space( time may appear to pass too slowly or rapidly and small objects may appear large etc)
Impaired THINKING, sensitivity. Liver functions., Depression





Stimulants: These drugs excite or speed up the central nervous system.
(Cocaine, caffeine and tobacco, bidis etc).

Effects:
Can lead to tremors, severe paranoia, frightening hallucinations., violent behavior, anxiety, damage to kidneys, lungs and the brain, Loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, nervousness.

Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, 'legal' drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0. Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government
protecting us from in the drug war?



Some one once said:
There is only one reason why men become addicted to drugs, they are weak men. Only strong men are cured, and they cure themselves.
--Martin H. Fischer
I

No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.”


“Drugs are a bet with your mind


“Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with with your self esteem








I