Too Many Hats!

Posted by DCA Theater on March 10, 2009 in January-June 2009 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Rasaka Theatre

by Anita Chandwaney, Dir. New Playwright Development; Playwright, Director, Actor in Rasaka’s Page to Stage

Nate handed over the keys to the studio theatre to Lavina (Rasaka Artistic Director) yesterday and rehearsals have begun.  It’s pretty incredible to think that these 10 short plays did not exist before Rasaka’s ‘Playwrighting Bootcamp’ held in Aug. 08 (fully funded by the Kiran Bavikatte Foundation - thank you, thank you, thank you!)  Will Dunne did a terrific job leading folks to write a 10 minute play over a weekend. All the participating writers had positive feedback.  I’ll be interested to see how the plays develop.

2 of Angeli Primlani’s actors had to drop out so we’re frantically searching for the right actors to fill in.  Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come…

I had my first rehearsal tonight (wed. 3/4) for “Insignificant” by Reeta Hoskote, directed by Kamal Hans.  I’m wearing the actor hat for this one.  It’ll be nice to work with Mouzam Makkar again after “Yoni ki Baat” (what a sleeper hit that turned out to be!)  I thought Kamal did a nice job asking probing questions tonight leading us to more layers in the characters and relationship.  There’s a lot of filling in the blanks in a 10 minute play as there’s only so much info a writer can get in.

I wear the director hat on Saturday for the 2 plays I’m directing, “Yellow Dress” by Mary Anne Mohanraj and “Rani’s Emeralds” by Devi Bhaduri.  Unfortunately, Minita Gandhi, one of my actresses, has a matinee of “12th Night” during Sunday’s critique session with Will.  I guess the road to a gigantic project like this with 10 new plays each w/ their own director and cast will have bumps along the way….

I better find time to wear the playwright hat so I can work on my play, “Instant Recall”.  Sunday’s critique session will tell me a lot.  I’m excited about the 2 actors in my play - Minita Gandhi and Vincent Mahler - both excellent!