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I’ve never been a big fan of theater, or acting for that matter. I always thought it was for the more artistically inclined.

So when a friend gave rave reviews for the Misfit L1 Theater Workshop to me, I didn’t hop on straightaway.

I went to a Professional Play that students of a previous Misfit L1 Workshop had put together. Students. And most of them were coming on stage for the first time.

It was the most attentive that ive ever been for an hour. I had to see this workshop that gets first timers to perform like that!

Now, ive spent most of my life in and out of lectures and classes and training, one more boring than the other. This, was nothing like them. The sheer energy and Intensity that you can feel in the air right when you enter this workshop takes you to another place. And Ratan makes sure you stay there.
For 6 hours at a stretch. Time Flies, everything else dims into insignificance, you just take in the experience and become a part of it.

Thirty people gelled as one, and this without so much as a formal introduction. Two days into the sessions and we are actually performing.

We were working with each other, working within ourselves, these sessions changing us, shaping us as we did. I saw batch mates change, evolve, grow with time, even my own self. Not only do you understand all the intricacies of Theater and Acting in general, the personality development that happens in these sessions is unmatched.

The transformation was vividly apparent outside of the classes as well. My Friends were telling me I was “Different” and more “Confident”.

I distinctly remember this one meeting in the office with Senior managers about a new Project. I was a different person in the meeting, instead of meekly agreeing to everything that they were trying to force on me, I was curt and upfront about what was feasible and Practical and what wasn’t.
“Its not that it cannot be done, its just that it’ll take up too much of my time and end up being of very little use to anyone.” I couldn’t believe I would say something like that! And that, for me, is what the Misfit L1 is in a nutshell.

You are not molded into a cast, rather it lifts you to a better version of your own Unique self, and teaches you how to best use what your strengths are.

I’ve always been wary of Feedback, primarily because im very thrifty with praise. And very rarely do I find something that’s truly Praiseworthy, rarer still are instances when I actually go ahead and praise it. But I can truly say here that besides being an exceptionally knowledgeable and talented actor, Ratan is an extraordinarily patient and encouraging teacher, one that makes sure that each of his pupils maintains his own Identity and develops it into something much larger. And his taking this Workshop, while a loss to the School Students whom he once taught, is a Great big win for Theater, and for people like me.