It was a week after Shelter in Place began -- when all of our lives had successfully been consumed by Covid-19 – when Rita suggested that we theatre enthusiasts catch up on a Sunday evening Zoom call. Most of us had worked together in theatre before, and as is usually common in the world of theatre, if we hadn't worked with someone before, we had heard of them, or had definitely found ourselves being in the same Whatsapp group as them at some point. That made this Zoom call on March 29, 2020 all the more exciting. Some of us were getting to meet other enthusiasts virtually; others were able to catch up with friends, some of whom were dialing in from India, where they had gone to visit family and were forced to quarantine until the re-starting of international travel. One such friend was Divya, our resident Zoom expert cum facilitator, who suggested on the call that we collaborate to put on a play reading on Zoom. Her suggestion was simple and pragmatic as always: a lot of people were missing the feel of a good story told through the medium of theatre, so why not deliver a good story to them, this time virtually?
Pardon our humility, but the idea was genius. We thought our target audience would be people who love stories and live theatre, and we'd be giving them the opportunity to enjoy this from the comforts of their home. We needed a script, thought we should find one that was short, and needed readers. Hassan, the creative genius who devours books with his meals, immediately pitched a script that was published in an anthology he purchased from Lahore a couple of years ago. "It's called Behind the Veil," he said. "It's a translation of an Urdu script that was written in the 1930s, by the incredible Rashid Jahan”. He continued saying, “The script is brilliant, but it's sad. However it's also short, and that's what we said we want. Shall we do it?" Rita, by then, had heard all she needed to hear and in her usual, inimitable, enthusiastic style, responded before anyone else did. "I'm in. Hassan, you direct it, and I shall read a part." Suddenly, five actors came on board, and just like that, we were doing theatre again.
We decided to schedule the reading during the evening of the following Sunday. For the next one week, everyone involved with the reading was thinking creatively again. Individual calls between the director and his actors were scheduled across different time zones. Everyone was pacing back and forth while on the phone with each other; different tones and backstories were tested to get the right pitch of the characters. Whatsapp messages had been sent to close family and friends, inviting them to Sunday evening's play reading, and Zoom calls were scheduled to begin entire-cast rehearsals. "Just one constraint on my end," Malavika, our resident tech and marketing wizard, requested. "My daughter doesn't sleep until seven in the evening. I can't meet before then."
The first play reading we put on was appreciated and lauded by an audience of around 25 people. Four weeks (and four readings) later, when a reading of Christopher Owen's A Family Affair was staged on yet another Zoom call, we had close to a 100 people listening in. Most of these listeners had received invitations because they had subscribed to our Google group, which has grown in a span of a few weeks to include nearly 300 patrons. Week after week, after having long discussions about how to provide the best viewing experience for a reading on Zoom, we have grown in so many ways, and have never stopped enjoying the process.
The beauty in what we do lies in not having a destination in mind. We are excited by everything, and feed off of the excitement of all the people who join us weekly. In these five weeks, we have had individuals who have never acted, or even read in a staged reading, develop an interest to slip into a character and participate in a virtual play reading. We have had actors direct others for the first time, and have had first-time script writers debut their scripts on our platform, excited to receive feedback. We have built a community and a comfortable space for people to experiment, grow, and enjoy the arts. And this is what keeps us going.
As of now, we have our Sunday evening events planned well into July. Remote rehearsals have already begun for the upcoming two. We have collaborated with new enthusiasts for each of our events thus far, and look forward to many more collaborations, experiments, and opportunities for pure passion and fun. So here's to opening up not just theatre but other performing arts, to artists within us and around us, broadening our vision beyond borders and horizons and hopefully, surpassing our own expectations and having the time of our life in the process.
We, humbly, invite you to join us on this exciting journey with us... So get on and hang on tight!!!