Artistes’ Repertory Theatre enters its 25th year in July of this year, 2007. Alongside our many and varied productions, ART’s training programmes have been widely appreciated.
ART-Youth began in 1994 and has subsequently seen many young people take their training forward into all walks of life. Nataka (ART-Kids) was launched in 2004, with a year-long programme of classes every Saturday afternoon. Performances have ranged from simple presentations to full-fledged productions like ART-Youth’s Restless, Alice!, The Insect Play and Nataka’s Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
Now that ART is about to have its own theatre space, Jagriti, in Whitefield, the earlier programmes have been brought into the Jagriti Education wing as Jagriti-Kids and Jagriti-Youth. The aim of our workshops is to help students acquire the basic skills required for dynamic theatre performance using first their body, face and voice then evolving to the use of simple props and costume. For the youth group this might extend to evolving a script or working on an already written script.
A typical session begins with a warm up & focusing unit followed by more specific games and exercises. The first sessions concentrate on body and face only, using the elements of simple mime. Subsequent sessions incorporate the use of voice – sound effects rather than formal speech for the younger group.
All the exercises are fun but then it really begins to get exciting when we apply everything to short plots or situations (anything that comes from the children themselves) incorporating the use of simple musical instruments, fun props and pieces of costume. Although the emphasis is on skill building, theatre is about performance and so the last session is usually a simple presentation by the children.
The most rewarding part of workshops is to see the change in students during the course of the training. Shy and quiet ones become assertive and confident. Noisy and over confident ones become more sensitive and understand the need for discipline. The magic of theatre training! It prepares you for the magic of theatre itself.
The magic of theatre is that it is immediate. There are no retakes.
Arundhati Raja
Artistic Director & Education Co-ordinator
May 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
Summer Workshop Trainers Speak
Youth Workshop Trainer - Ruchika Chanana:
I've been working with ART as faculty on children's theatre programmes both short-term and long-term. I've dealt with tantrums and prodigies, starry-eyed, pushy parents and painfully shy participants. It's a different world out there in kids' theatre!
And you know what- it makes a world of a difference, too. Kids come in, self-conscious and bored, and leave confident and disciplined. Their minds fly with imagination, and their bodies learn to use space and voice like they were born to it. And they go out into the world stronger, happier and so much more creative.
This time I am taking on the youth bunch. I work with young people regularly, but I've never done a full length workshop with this age group before. I look forward to it with excitement, fully anticipating the challenges of dealing with teenagers. I'm also looking forward to trying some unusual theatrical devices with this group, including non-script-based theatre, and the theatre of real life, so that they can create their own stories using their own experiences and the issues that are important to them.
“THEATRE” is more than stage, lights, curtains and shows….
For me, Theatre is an experience difficult to put in words or to explain so I wouldn’t even try to do so but yes, it’s an experience which I would like to share with my little friends and take their experiences as my learning. It is not necessary to have theatre workshops merely to make actors, do a performance or have a play during an annual function, theatre has more to give.
A journey… to a world created by the children’s own imagination, where they can play with their dreams, share their own ideas and express their feelings, thus enriching them with an experience which is going to develop them as fulfilled, positive human beings. It brings out of an introvert child a world within him of which he himself is unaware and directs the energy of the hyperactive child in a direction of magnificent creativity. Thus building an inner confidence in the children and making them sensitive to the subtle things of life which one is missing in this so called “techno world”. It is very important to be good human beings before being “intellectuals”!!
I've been working with ART as faculty on children's theatre programmes both short-term and long-term. I've dealt with tantrums and prodigies, starry-eyed, pushy parents and painfully shy participants. It's a different world out there in kids' theatre!
And you know what- it makes a world of a difference, too. Kids come in, self-conscious and bored, and leave confident and disciplined. Their minds fly with imagination, and their bodies learn to use space and voice like they were born to it. And they go out into the world stronger, happier and so much more creative.
This time I am taking on the youth bunch. I work with young people regularly, but I've never done a full length workshop with this age group before. I look forward to it with excitement, fully anticipating the challenges of dealing with teenagers. I'm also looking forward to trying some unusual theatrical devices with this group, including non-script-based theatre, and the theatre of real life, so that they can create their own stories using their own experiences and the issues that are important to them.
April Kids Workshop Trainer - Samta Vij:
“THEATRE” is more than stage, lights, curtains and shows….
For me, Theatre is an experience difficult to put in words or to explain so I wouldn’t even try to do so but yes, it’s an experience which I would like to share with my little friends and take their experiences as my learning. It is not necessary to have theatre workshops merely to make actors, do a performance or have a play during an annual function, theatre has more to give.
A journey… to a world created by the children’s own imagination, where they can play with their dreams, share their own ideas and express their feelings, thus enriching them with an experience which is going to develop them as fulfilled, positive human beings. It brings out of an introvert child a world within him of which he himself is unaware and directs the energy of the hyperactive child in a direction of magnificent creativity. Thus building an inner confidence in the children and making them sensitive to the subtle things of life which one is missing in this so called “techno world”. It is very important to be good human beings before being “intellectuals”!!
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