Visit https://ift.tt/2JWxazs for Starting Realities 2018: A Documentary Theatre Workshop in Bangalore Starting Realities: 2018 A four-part workshop series on Documentary Theatre 2018 [Curated by Anuja Ghosalkar of Drama Queen] “Documentary theatre can directly intervene in the creation of history by unsettling the present by staging a disquieting past.” We are at that juncture in India, where we face the risk of being excluded from our own history. To challenge the grand historical narrative, being constructed by the State, the need is to gather several little histories, alternate historiographies, document social movements, intervene in archives, give voice to the unheard— to gain control of the present, however chaotic. Documentary theatre is a platform that allows for such exciting explorations and interventions. In countries like India and China, this form is still finding its roots while in Germany the Documentary theatre form has a long and deep history, starting with Erwin Piscator in the 1920’s. Therefore, for us, in India, it is an opportune moment to make this form our own— to confront ourselves with the German context, and to forge partnerships. Uniquely situated as one of the forerunners of Documentary Theatre in India, Drama Queen proposes a five part workshop series on Documentary theatre titled, STARTING REALITIES to build inter-disciplinary & transcultural pedagogies around this form. The Documentary theatre form, in different parts of the world is known as, theatre of the real, verbatim theatre, theatre of witness, nonfiction theatre, and theatre of fact, and is important for the subjects it presents. The commonality between all these forms is their approach of putting a version of reality on stage. The central objective of this workshop series is to set up an encounter between practitioners Documentary Theatre or Theatre of the Real and artists and agents of social change looking for new artistic ways to question and express reality. With 2019, a year of upcoming general elections in India, where election campaigns imminently play out as political performances— we hope our workshop series will reframe and examine what constitutes the “Theatre of the Real” in such times. The aim of the workshop is three fold: 1) To provide new tools and methods to activists, journalists agents of social change & young theatre makers. The workshops with practitioners of the Theatre of the Real are centred on issues like sexuality, gender, caste, migration, labour and performance. 2) To allow for an exploration of new idioms in making theatre. Given the inter-disciplinary nature of Theatre of the Real, that relies on videos, photographs, testimonies, documents, archival material — the aim is to inspire a fresh new language for young Indian theatre makers, so the form of Theatre of the Real proliferates. 3) Audience building and using new spaces for performances. Our objective is that by hosting the workshops & work-in progress shows at unusual spaces, the workshop series will activate alternate venues across the city of Bangalore, where the city is a site. For example spaces to be explored, are the streets of Bangalore, a site under construction, a market, an old cinema, a library, to name a few. Starting Realities - workshops are designed as a response to the current social and political milieu in India. They will focus on documentary theatre techniques and its application. The focus of the workshops is issues in need of urgent artistic attention—alternate histories, caste, queer identity, personal narratives and gender. The workshop will be for duration of three days, at the end of which the participants will share their work-in-progress to an audience. For the wokrshop we will invite theatre commentators/critics to write in detail about performances witnessed. The intended participants for the workshops are activists, journalists, NGO’s, (working with LGBT communities, labour, migration) theatre makers, artists, students, and academics/researchers interested in interdisciplinary work, to name a few. Curator Biographies: Anuja Ghosalkar Anuja Ghosalkar is the founder of Drama Queen, a documentary theatre company in Bangalore. Through Drama Queen, she is evolving a unique form of Documentary theatre in India. The focus of her theatre practice is undocumented narratives, archival absences and gender. Research, oral history and iterations around form and process are critical to her performance and pedagogical work. Drama Queen’s debut show Lady Anandi (presented at Gender-Bender 2015) has traveled extensively across India and was written while she was an artist-in-residence at Art Lab Gnesta, Sweden. Her newest performance, The Reading Room blurs the boundary between audience and performer, where 10 strangers read personal letters alongside public ones.
