Lights, Camera ENERGY!!and a whole Lot More!!!!!!

"Lights Camera Energy!!!!"

This is what I felt when I recently attended a three day drama workshop held at the Dioscese Youth Centre, Bandra.
More than fun (which it obviously was) it was Inspiring!! Very inspiring!!

"All worlds a stage and each must play a part"

Here we were a bunch of eager learners playing our part............
Move Jump Become a tree move your face muscles, smile, frown, stretch, let lose, Let Go!!!! Let GO !!Let Go!!!!!!!!LET GO!!!

                That’s what drama is all about .......Letting yourself go and being possessed ........possessed not only by your character, but also by the incessant desire for perfection, for giving your best for being outrageous!!!!! Larger than life!!!
              Watching Fr Walter made me realize that there is a thin line between casualness, drama and being overly dramatic, actions have to be amplified on stage to captivate the audience, but over amplifying the actions leads to a total crappy sappy performance.
              He split us into groups and asked us to come up with a play that we would have to put up. We came up with a thriller entitled, “Thou shall not”...(I will Put up the video as soon as I get It )......It’s not entirely professional but it’s the best we could do in three days !!! It’s a cool play and the most important thing was we gave it our best...even if we were staging it for a group of 7-8 people .We put our Whole in it ....It was a long time since I wrote a script and well……, the feeling was pure bliss!!! ..Like my brain was rewarding me for realizing that, that part of it exists!!!!!!

               I loved the feeling!!!!! It took me back two years to the time my friend Cheryl and I got together to write a script for an inter-class one act play competition ....It was then I realized that I have a knack for writing ...It was the similar experience only there it lasted for a week .....It’s as Harry felt when he was leading the D.A revolution against Umbridge It was like, "he was carrying a talisman in his chest,over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported him through Umbrirdge's class and even made him smile(OMG) blandly as he looked into her horrible buldging eyes!!" I felt the exact same thing ...the script, the immense belief thatour Idea would work, the time we had during practices.... was my Talisman....Everything felt nicer, much more enhanced and I felt.. FREE!!!!!!!
              Very Free!! I didn’t think that people were looking or that I looked like an utter fool when I explained the play to my friends, when I showed them my moves at Grant Road Station.. ... I dint care!!…….. I was Free !!and there was a light within me, it empowered me, really really empowered me, And I did my best!!
          On stage I was Ethan, head over heels in Love with Crystalann .........who needed Cupid to intervene because of Crystalann's disinterest!!!
The performance was outrageous and CRAZY!!!!
I actually danced on stage!!!

               I…ZENA!!! ZENA YARDE 'Super conscious when I dance ZENA'!!!!… DANCED.. on …..STAGE!!!! ………STAGE!!!!! U know how big that was for me?????????????Me??? the eternal "I don’t dance" person?????

And my dance didn’t even have complete proper predetermined steps!!!!!
[ Except for the part where I danced with Crystalann, thanks to the efforts of Cupid (Cheryl ..bless her soul)]
I was totally making it up !!!!!!! Crotch thrust and all!!!!!!!!!!!!!Talk about Letting Go!!!! It was the most ecstatic that I’ve ever felt!!! The Group from St Andrews College that consisted of some really talented HOT guys, was screaming “ONCE MORE !!!ONCE MORE!!!!!!!!!”*Sigh*

Was I in heaven???????

             HeLL YeAH!!!!
          
                     But our balloon badly deflated when we came in Third!!!!No one...and I mean NO ONE!!!! Expected it ............and when they announced Best Actor a lot of them looked at me but some other girl got it!!!!! Oh The Injustice! I tell U!!!!!!
            I was so so so very disappointed!!!!! Cheryl was down too!! I tried to cheer her up but my sad sullen face just wouldn’t do the trick!!!

           But then, on my way home .........thinking about it all .......I Smiled ...............maybe the most satisfied smile in that train......I smiled cause I remembered the time we all spent together practicing for the play ..... The fun we had putting it up. The talisman in my chest glowed brighter and inspite of our "Loss" I was happy!

I learnt that I was talented,

I could dance like crazy in front of 60 something people when I wanted to,

I can write a killer Script that appeals to the audience,

I can get HOT actors Screaming "ONCE MORE ONCE MORE" *sighs* what more could I want????
And, the most important lesson of all .........

"It’s not always the destination But the Journey that counts"

 If the journey was crappy, one would not appreciate the destination too.

And well, the second most important lesson ...Judges decision really reflect their own subjective opinions, bias and observations and may not really be the only decision that would ever be made at that position in time..............

Come on are U going to tell me that those guys …..And girls.. For that matter, screaming for an ENCORE were fools???Naaahhhhh they just judged differently ....and if they liked it We won!

           Our 1st Prize was  members of the other groups saying that we should have won,

           Our 1st Prize was the St Andrews people (who showcased a superb performance themselves later ) screaming "Once more Once more !!!!!"

           Our 1st Prize was the Joy we could feel even when we thought about practice time..

           My Prize is the memories of the play I have, where some really great people I learnt a lot from, really believed in our play and took time off to help us fine tune it !!

           Our 1st Prize was that we actually really really WON the First prize in a more profound way!!!!!

We felt like winners.....during making the play as well as a day after the results were announced!!!(We were not very happy at first remember????)

We ARE winners!!!!

           The three day session on dramatics brought back all those memories, all those feelings ...they filled me as we were planning the play ....the script again became my talisman .........things that seemed so big a moment ago were dropped, Just like that!! ...like those troubles never mattered, like they never were there in the first place.... the play was all I could see..........

         THEATRE …all aspects of it, has such a profound impact on me .........and trust me I have not found something equivalent to it as yet!!!


The Brochure that Fr Walter gave us posed this statement to us

"Drama Requires Dedication of your whole self are you ready for it??"

U already know what my answer is don’t you............??????

         !!!!!! HELL YEAH !!!!!!!!