'My dreams are Crimson'. A devised play.

OUR STORY-KORYFAE

A team came into existence in Mumbai with a modest number of two people, Mohit, an actor looking for stories to embody, and Vijay, an actor and theatre maker searching for a way to present stories through the stage. This marriage allowed us to create a space where we could push, explore limits, explore forms, explore stories and myths and most importantly work with questioning existing notions/interpretations of ideas. I had already collaborated extensively on devised processes with some of the most interesting artists and visions. As a process it allowed for newer stories to present themselves out of an emergency, from the body, the mind, and the soul.

We had a question, what's poverty, more so in the urban spectrum. Is it only about money?

ABOUT THE PLAY, 'My dreams are Crimson' :

What do demons we're unwilling to summon from within look like? Sound like? Smell like?

What's touch? What's love?

What's hunger?  

Whats sexuality?

What do I believe in? Where am I going?

Sita is suddenly more popular than Rama. Why?

Why is Charlie Chaplin so fascinating even today?

How is that grandmother in Palestine able to smile, even through hell?

I'm feeling breathless.

These were few of the questions that continuously festered our process. We started the work in Mumbai. Relishing its hustle and bustle. We started the play out of a simple need. To bring together stories from flesh and soul that are haven't been told. Our explorations starting with the phrase 'Urban-Poverty' guided us in shaping our discoveries.

We found a way of working for the play, a method, a ritual, that would set the language of the play.

We worked 12 hours every day intensively training on form, physicality, music, text and creation. It had to come from the body's interpretations of the research we were doing. On people lost in time, on voices that were never heard, laughter that never soared, letters that never reached. We went through material from our mythologies and ancient literature, we read letters that were written by dead soldiers, we read articles on survivors in Palestine, wrote many poems and stories that emerged in the room organically, inspired from the various material that presented itself to us through the process.

Something we were very curious about is curiosity itself. How it affects of us as a community. The basic human trait. To question everything relentlessly and find rebirth waiting on the other side. The more we read, explored, the more we discovered. Spaces that were dark as it can get, got lighter. Some that were lighter, grew darker.

Many many questions presented themselves. How do we define many of the ideas we hold so dear in our everyday life. Touch, love, breath, hatred, rage, lust, joy. And more importantly, are these ideas set in stone? What exactly is happening in one's body and mind when an idea, any idea is morphing? What does the body endure? What does the mind go through? What's it all leading to?

What's morality if everything is continuously changing?

Breaking fixed cultural/traditional norms, evolving perceptions around human existence, adapting to this continuous need to belong, while encountering the resultant myriad of storms. And if one is unable to align with the rapidly changing environment, you're left to be eaten by hounds or die senile.

This seems to be the story of everyone today, trying hard to fathom or even exist in a space like India where the rapid shift in cultural or human existential understanding has paved way to many strong, unified voices while many more are scratching by the door, breathless, lonely, flailing and falling, trying to change their skin or even tear it away. It's still under construction. In fact, it may have only begun.

The play draws parallels to ancient texts and myths that are barely spoken of or heard.

Like the romantic-tragedy of yama and yami, twins who fell in love with each other, who's tragedy lead to the birthing of night and day.

Or kalingattaparani, a Tamil war poetry, that colors the kalinga war through the eyes it's soldiers, who died fighting for a victory they would never taste.

Trapped in the noise of urban chaos, the play traverses through themes of morality, romance, sexuality to try and embody unheard stories emerging whilst in Mumbai and Goa, one city who's chaotic cries are heard world over, and another, quaint and quiet, which many vagabonds/outliers find refuge in.

SINCE MUMBAI, A RECAP:

We worked intensively between Sept and Oct in IIT Mumbai thanks to a friend who found us a space there, and patrons who supported this.Soon enough, we had to find a rehearsal space and actors to be able to realize this vision fully. We moved to Goa, quickly accepting Moumita's invitation to work in her space, Myoho.

After some work shopping to find actors in Goa, with now a team of 4 actors, Mohit, Vibhu, Moumita and Sahana we continued the process for another two months diving harder into our research and rehearsals working 8 am to 8 pm everyday. We worked without pay, a few patrons contributed, that allowed us to sustain. We took workshops, did other jobs and raised a bit more to continue this grueling work and somehow find the other side.

Things snowballed beyond imagination, many many people had fostered the continuation of this work, which helped us stay motivated through a myriad of storms and soon the process met more artists. Our faith in the work lead us to join arms to create Koryfae(page and website under work), a theatre company, currently devising the play, it's first production.

PROCESS SO FAR:

Phase 1(Sept-Oct)

- RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION:

We were able to go through an intensive work shopping for the actors for a period of two months and research extensively for the project we encountered, after which we moved from Mumbai to Goa to find more actors and a rehearsal space.

Phase 2 (Nov-Jan)

- RESEARCH, IMPROVISATION AND REHEARSAL:

Rehearsing and continuing our research for and with material out of Goa and have come to a place now, where we have a strong structure and well articulated content.

Phase 3(Mar-Jun)

- WORK SHOPPING, REHEARSAL, NUANCES, FINALIZING SCRIPT :

We're working with Pia banglowala, an experienced movement artist for a deeper movement based work shopping through 15th-29th march and leading the movement and physical poetry in the play.

Devarattam, a Tamil folk-dance theatre form will be facilitated by Vishwa Bharatha between April 1st-15th.

They will each be investing 15 days in the project not just to workshop, but also to guide the physicality involved in the scene/images we've discovered.

We need 3 months of intensive work shopping and rehearsing with specialists in the field of movement to better nuance the play. We will be ready to perform shows June 2019.

ABOUT THE TEAM, 'My dreams are Crimson':

PERFORMERS

Mohit Maheshwari

Mohit found a space on the theatrical stage to unburden and play with his anxieties surrounding entertaining others. De-glamming his wishes to be a movie star, the experience of being transported on stage has brought him to a turn that makes him instrumental in birthing Koryfae. Now, he engages with the stage as an actor inspired by his Rajasthani roots and his branches spread limitlessly towards the sky.

Moumita Pal

Moumita is an expert at creating content for films, events and advertising as a filmmaker, theatre-maker and a performer. On the devising floor, she became attached to the quest of finding a story by delving into her own chaos and questions. In this ongoing journey and onslaught, she is ready to carve all that she finds in her own depth to create a choral masterpiece.

Vibhav Sawant

A friend of theatre and characters since school days, Vibhav has found the process of understanding another’s behavior, feelings and expression rewarding. With the longing to dive headlong into theatre, the current process of devising is making him a stronger actor, helping him find richer characters and tell some deep stories. The use of many modalities and forms of theatre to reach these points of clarity in expression is bringing Vibhav closer to his childhood friend, the stage.

Sahana Nagaraj

Initially trained in Bharatanatyam under Natyacharya Guru Prof.K Ramamurthy Rao (Mysore bani). Sahana Nagaraj is currently practicing under Guru Sri Kiran Subramanyam and Smt Sandhya Kiran. Additionally, she is training to be a teacher. She is also trained in Kathak and Carnatic Classical Music. While performance has been a dominant part of her life, she has animal-loving and make- up artist facets to her. Adding her classical training to the mix of already diverse talents in the cast of ‘my dreams are crimson’.

MOVEMENT

Pia Bunglowala

A freelance movement artist and facilitator based in Bangalore. She did her Diploma at the Attakkalari - Centre for Movement Arts in 2008 and has trained in contemporary dance, ballet, Bharatnatyam and kalarippayatu. Of note, she travelled with Nrutarutya to Scotland in 2014 to perform at the Celtic Connections Festival and to Germany for Hannover Messe - MAKE IN INDIA in 2015. She has been part of the cast of KHWAAB SA, an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Atul Kumar, of The Company Theatre. Currently part of Citizens of Stage Co Lab, a collective of skilled contemporary dancers in the city who perform, teach, choreograph to engage with the community, she teaches kids of various ages and conducts modules for adults in various studios in the city. With ‘my dreams are crimson’ she steps in to shape and guide the movement and physicality for the play.

ART FORM TRAINER

Sanjeev Sharma

An expert martial arts trainer with the prestigious black belt in Taekwondo, he has

 been a Combat Instructor at Shaolin Temple India, which is the only Indian branch of Shaolin Temple China. Among his many demonstrations, workshops and classes, the ones he took for Para Commandos and Indo-Tibetan Border Police remain most celebrated. His interest spreads across trainings in women’s self- defense, street survival, old school yoga and meditation. His rigorous training spanning over 13 years in martial arts earned him a role as a fighter for a film project by Quasik Mukherji.

MUSIC

Abhaydev Praful

Skillfully trained in classical guitar, cello, mridangam and sapana sangeetham. He uses his learnings to compose music for plays, teach music and create neoclassical and minimalist music as a multi-instrumentalist. His association with theatre began at 18 with Ibsen’s play ‘When We Dead Awaken’ for Theatre roots and wings. Most recently, he composed and performed music for ‘Mondays are best for flying out of windows’ by Perch theatre. His independent repertoire is a combination of short piano solos and string work recorded in collaboration with the members of The Madras Chamber Orchestra. Abhaydev lends his many talents as a musician and instrumentalist to perform the soundscape for ‘my dreams are crimson’.

LIGHTING

Parthasarathi S

A graduate of Science and veteran of theatre scene since 2007, Partha has worked with renowned directors and artists as stage light designer and project co-ordinator. His innovative interpretations of stories through his original light designs has seen him constantly succeeding in the light console. His key projects as a lighting designer have been Mohit Takalkar’s ‘Beediyolagondu Maneya Madi’, Neel Sengupta’s ‘Mahish’, and dance performances by esteem artists like Rukmini Vijaykumar and spaces like Nrutarutya. His creativity with light and shadow is complimented by his responsible handling of unique projects with swissnex, Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, Goethe Institut, etc. He brings both these precious spheres of expertise to enhance ‘my dreams are crimson’.

DRAMATURGY

Siddhant Sundar

An independent artist and filmmaker, toils to find the humor and tragedy hidden in the tapestries of human lives living through conditioning, urban loneliness, space and time and sexuality. His plays and films, facilitated by his theatre company LIGHTS OFF, explore the stories hidden under the complexity of navigating sociopolitical realities. His journey with the sheer possibility of making much from nothing began at the Swedish Improv Festival at Uppsala. Understanding the nuances of silence, noise, rituals and ploys, he mastered the joy of being vulnerable on stage through his recent directorial play ‘Padagu’.

DIRECTED BY

Vijay Krishna

Going through and beyond the potentials afforded by his degree in Art History from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, he has shared breath, ideas and sweat with passionate creators- Stamatis Efstathiou, Arka Mukhopadhyay, Instabili Vaganti, and Siddhanth Sundar. Now, as the Artistic Director, he dwells on and experiments with his team to discover and amplify unheard voices in the current sociopolitical chorus. Rooted in ritualistic theatre, classic, urban, and non- traditional forms of movement, physical theatre, panic theatre, magic realism, folkloric storytelling and anthropological research, he leads the bodies and voices of actors and non-actors to find stories and dialogue.

SHOWS:

We plan to head out for shows from mid-end June. The ambition is to do a 100 shows all over the country. Apart from taking the play to stages, we wish to perform this at alternative venues including villages in India where possible. The aim is to include people from all backdrops in the society and make it more accessible.

REQUIREMENT:

The financials for this project involving many people and a lot of work, is high. We've not been able to pay actors for the last 4 months of work, but we have held on to the process and vision. They are working exclusively and with full force on this project until we see the other side.

Although we're strong creatively, we're looking for financial capital that can help get us to this grand vision stemming from the people involved in the artistic process both on the foreground and all our patrons and well wishers that have safely brought us this far.

Contributions received early on in the research phase and borrowed money helped us come this far, with so much force.

WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?

-The money we shall receive will go towards paying the actors who've given their time, heart and commitment through and through for the project.

-To pay the specialists envisioning the project.

-To take care of food and accommodation charges.

-To take care of the rehearsal space.

-To buy properties and costumes that will help nuance the play more.

PATRONS ALREADY PART OF THIS JOURNEY:

The project has come this far, thanks to contributions received from many inspiring people!

Thank you Perch, Chris Avinash, Amit Ansshu, Aruna Ganesh Ram, Rajesh Pandathil, Abhishek Misra, Nikita Bawane, Pramit Pratim Ghosht, Ranganath BC, Dhananjay Krishna, Meenakshi Suthar for going out of your way to contribute to this project. You've inspired us to follow in your footsteps and help others in the near future like you have with us.

LAST LEAF

Koryfae has a large dream of taking theatre not just to the stage, but also to different villages and re-animate the theatre culture in our ways.

Part of the Koryfae vision is also to eventually create affordable prime workshops for actors in Goa and find more stories that need telling. For all of which the starting point is this production.

Joining this journey will not just help us make a play, but push us towards the larger scope of creating a working theatre culture in Goa, where right now, its next to none.

Here's a quick update