The Open Stage Experience
Open Stage – Season 6 – Week 1
The journey of acting and believing continues…
Treading forward with this thought of keeping in touch with the craft, a group of MISF!T students started out the Open Stage in 2015. The journey saw many leaps & bounds and continued as more & more MISF!Tians got added on the way.
On 30th Sep’ 18, the first day of Open Stage Season 6 began at Smilofy studio in Banswadi. MISF!T students from across batches joined in to be a part of this new season. Our founder and mentor Mr. Ratan Thakore Grant adorned the meeting with his presence.
Post the initial few minutes of greeting and settling down, the season was rolled out with a formal introduction of Open Stage and what is expected out of this season. The 3 month season will be witnessing a series of interactive activities as well as plays put up by the participants while following a common theme.
This brought us to revealing the exciting theme of Open Stage Season 6 – The Haunted House. As per the season’s schedule, there will be a performance on the very next Sunday which will then be polished and presented as an internal show on 14th Oct’ 18 (the 3rd week of the season).
With his revelation, came the time for the participants to be divided into groups and get into action on what they would be performing. But as MISF!T tradition goes, the actors need to be warmed up before the action begins. Led by Ratan Sir, the warming up and energizing exercises became a complete activity of fun, camaraderie and learning.
All the actors then formed groups and started a brainstorming session on stories and ideas for their group wise plays. With a joint discussion and inputs from Ratan Sir, we fixed on the basic storylines for all the groups. Thereafter, a refreshing tea break and participant registration marked the end of the official agenda for the day. But as MISFTians, everyone was hungry for more ‘action’ through the MISF!T ending ritual of yet another fun exercise. The whole studio space roared with the energy of the actors as the ending ritual culminated.
The 3 hour session wrapped up with everyone feeling super charged and excited to return to the next session next week!
Open Stage – Season 6 – Week 2
As Paulo Coelho had rightly put, “It’s a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life”. This week before proceeding any further we decided to take a turn towards relaxation. The second week of Open Stage Season 6 began with a Yoga session guided by trained practitioner and MISF!T student Karthik Dhanisht. The 1.5 hour session enlightened the participants about Yoga being a part of one’s lifestyle as well as various asanas for meditation, stretching, warm up and the Surya Namaskara. The complete session was designed with the objective of enabling beginners to include Yoga in their daily routine. We extend our gratitude to Karthik for this session. As the Yoga session charged everyone up, it was time to showcase their week long effort- the plays taking place in the “Haunted House” [a theme discussed in the first week]. This second inning was packed with laughter, intrigue and engagement as three plays were performed back to back by the participating groups. It was fascinating how each play brought forth its own unique interpretation of the common theme. This being the first week and the very first draft, there were definitely many pointers that the audience [also open stage participants] had for the actors. These constructive pointers were then discussed upon and duly noted through a feedback session at the end of the plays.
As feedback discussion concluded we were brought to the final part of week 2 which is discussing the agenda for week 3 and this time it was more important than ever. Why so? Because week 3 puts all our efforts to test as the plays will be performed for an audience of senior MISF!T members and our mentor Mr. Ratan Thakore Grant! With the promise of coming back next Sunday with a polished show that would address all the concerns raised today the participants said their adieus for the day. As we get back to working on our plays, we have our fingers crossed in hope that the show would be capable of entertaining and inspiring our guests next week.
Open Stage – Season 6 – Week 3
Some days it is good to be going fast while other days it is all about moving in a set pace. This week’s Open Stage saw mixed views in this regard – while some felt we were moving too quickly, there were many who felt the pace is just fine. Whatever be the speed, we were thankful that the participating
members were catching up!
This week we were ready for our test and figure out if our efforts are worth an audience. Hence, with a full day dedicated to rehearsals, Open Stage Season 6 Week 3 officially began at 6 pm with a play performance for our mentor Ratan Sir. There were 5 groups ready with a better version of the plays they had showcased last week. There were chuckles & sighs as the 1 hour duration went by and each play unfolded & concluded itself. Every group waited with curious anticipation after their respective acts to know the fate of their performance. It was one of those times when the feedback session comes as a
relief.
The feedback was mixed as there were many aspects that worked and many that didn’t but what made our day was seeing Ratan Sir revel in how we have grown as actors and had actually put up something decent. Our take away from his feedback and the performance was much more than what was expected. There were learnings about how to make a story believable, importance of the genre, characterization and much more.
Post the feedback was a discussion on the way forward as the show was working fine for a first draft. Call it ambitious or keeping the pace, the evening culminated with an understanding that the final show would be put up in the nearest date possible! We keep our fingers crossed and rehearsals going to
achieve the same.
Open Stage – Season 6 – Week 5
We often get to hear that an actor has to be a jack of many if not all trades. Actors are required to master many art forms and have a creative perspective on their own. This requirement does not just stem from a particular part or role because irrespective of any role, it is an actor’s ability to mold her mind and body that makes her versatile. And art forms help make the mind and body fluid making the moulding process easier.
In an attempt to make our bodies fluid & flexible as well as learn an interesting dance form, we turned to our very own Misfitian Asif Rahman (a trained dancer) to teach us a much loved form – Salsa. After dedicating the last week, i.e. week 4 completely for rehearsals and showing WIP plays to our seniors, it was time to head back to the learning arena with a Salsa session on week 5.
We had no doubts that the learning would be substantial but what came in unexpected was how the creative juices starting flowing and a beautiful camaraderie was getting shaped between the participants. It was a scene to record and play again & again just for the sake of it – how the co-incidentally even number of girls and boys led everyone into changing partners with each new step, how a mixture of Salsa and ‘Garba’ was fashioned when everyone decided to practice the steps as a group and how our trainer Asif who was initially furious had to later give in and join the fun!
As 1 hour went by, it felt like an absolutely fulfilling evening as never had anyone found such a perfect balance of fun and learning. We concluded the evening with nothing serious as we were still soaking in the fun. We were fine with letting all the serious work manifest itself the coming week!
