Theater as described in the dictionary is "The art of writing and producing plays". Theater has another important shade to it- the art of carrying the character. It is this shade which attracts many performers to theater and it is this aspect of theater which leaves a lasting impression on those who associate with theater at some or other point in their life. I got my chance to experience theater during Mr.Arvind Gaur's theater workshop at IIM L.
Getting into B-school and experience I had here made me think differently and more critically about myself. I always knew that we act as different people in different situations, but realized for the first time that we does it so frequently at B-school and in life too.
The workshop started with the start of the 3rd term. Initially it was more of an exercise session doing lot of random activities such as making some formations in hurdles, mirror image exercise, speaking very fast at each other and series of voice modulation exercise. Then the play to be done was finalized, characters were finalized. Then started a series of rehearsals and polishing of characters.
The most important learning from this workshop is that- it is important for a person to be absolutely clear and convinced about what one is doing. Once you are convinced and clear, you can convince and make other people clear about your idea. And to be convinced about your idea you need to gather as much info as possible about the project, as Prof. Sunil Handa says do 2-3 Ph.ds in the topic of your work and become "dhande ka dada".
Basic commitment, the second learning, has to be there when ever doing anything. Ask yourself if you really wanna do the work you are getting into and if the answer is yes then no turning back. You are committed that means you agree to go through whatever it takes to make that project a success. And once you ensure that put all your effort in learning and improvising and then its just matter of time when to get there, where you wanna be.
Third in the list of learnings is to be clear about the character and asking question "WHY ?" why he is doing this? why he is behaving in particular manner? what is his take away from a particular situations? One of the Asmita's coordinator Pankaj said very interesting thing- you can make a character of your own and behave in a peculiar way when you are interacting with people. Do whatever it takes to make this character lively and success. The crux is you can always carry a external character in public and keep polishing it and make it a brand-same as SRK did.
How to manage people? Arvind sir showed this with perfection. He first of all decided himself what character to assign to whom, then he made people read the character and it become clear to everyone what's coming up next. He spotted the trouble making person in the group and assigned various responsibilities to him ensuring no more troubles. Then scolding at write point of time, when people genuinely made a mistake. Other thing was always keeping the discussions under control [whistling- one person speaking at a time], involving everyone and enforcing discipline, leaving no point to embarrass people who defaulted, holding people in the team by giving them one of the important role[rama] in the play. No role is a small role in a play. Everybody's effort makes the whole show a success. Make full use of the opportunity. And leave no opportunity to promote your work.
Value of Time is invaluable. Respect the time you are in, respect the time of people you are with. Live in that moment with your full concentration rather than thinking about other stuff. As one of my doctor says, important thing is to satisfy the patient who is in rather who is out and waiting. If you respect your time people will respect your time. Establish a relation with whoever you work with.
Speak whatever you speak with conviction. Behind every successful performance there is a loads and loads of practice, nothing is magical no one is perfect. Theater is very close to real life whatever you do in theater you can replicate similar stuff in life and vice-versa. You have to take queues from the other actor and come up with you line, this makes listening very important. Don't miss any chance to associate with theater, this is going to life changing experience, with over all development of personality.
