I am currently pursuing PGDM at MICA, Ahmedabad. My college has a theater society called Sankalp. They come up each year with an annual production – a play that is performed for 2 days at the H.K. Auditorium at Ahmedabad.

I am of the opinion that theater is a receding art form. With the advent of multi-screen movie halls, a play performed in a theater is now rare and for niche audiences.
This year’s annual production was a play called “Natraaj” adapted from Mahesh Dattani’s play “Dance Like a Man”.
 

The play was a visual treat and intellectually stimulating. The narrative was strong and powerful. The layered storytelling struck a chord with the audience.The set was well designed and the costumes were impeccable.The dance sequences were well timed and were an integral part of the play.



The best part about the play was that the directors realised that the audience was mature and intelligent and hence did not water down the complex emotions underlying the story.

Emotions like vulnerability, jealousy, ambition were well portrayed and made the characters of the play life like and relatable. When we go to watch a film, we suspend our judgments but at the back of our minds we know that this is just a film. But when you see actors performing live, you can feel the emotions, the sentiments and it is more private.

In our everyday working life, such experiences of buying a ticket and going to watch a play would be rare instances. We might go if a celebrity of our liking is acting in a play and we wish to get a glimpse of their work in a different format.
Hence I feel that there is a need to make theatre more mainstream and accessible again to the masses.

What I like about “Sankalp” (the theatre society at MICA) is that they are trying to make this art form mainstream atleast at the institute level among us students. They allow students to direct and act the plays they want at the Mani Ayer Auditorium.
This open-house event of presenting your own plays is called “Khula Aasman” (Open Sky). This year I decided to present a play. As a teenager, I used to attend classes by NSD  for learning theatre. As I grew up I became more academically inclined and left such creative pursuits.




I put up a play with the theme of absurdist comedy. The play was an adaptation of a short story called “Dusk” by the writer “Saki”.
This platform is hard to find. I know for a fact that never in my life will I have the again have the opportunity to wear a shirt and tie along with shorts and slippers on a stage for an audience and crack senseless jokes and make people crack jokes written by me.



I hope that every organisation and institution gives the art of the theatre the due it deserves.