Yog Japee, founder of city-based theatre group, Theatre Y, has always been passionate about mainstreaming theatre into education as a tool for social awareness and development. As Theatre Y
celebrates 20 years of its inception this month, the actor, writer and trainer is all set to take his passion
one step forward by introducing extensive training programmes at his studio in Mandaveli.
Talking about his love for theatre and how it enabled his entry into films, Yog says, “It’s my love for poetry that got me into theatre. Theatre did help me as an actor — the exercises, the theatrical process, the ideation, the improvisation, living with your story and character for a period of time and performing live — everything enabled my growth as an actor enormously.”
While balancing theatre training, the Kakka Kakka actor, who won praise for his act in Soodhu Kavvum
and most recently in Ponniyin Selvan I and II, has a lot of projects lined up in Tamil and Malayalam as
well. “My latest Malayalam release is titled Neymar, which celebrates our Indie breed. I’m shooting for
800 in Tamil, which is a biopic on Muttiah Muralitharan, and also the sequel of the cult favourite, Soodhu Kavvum 2,” he says.
On the theatre front, Yog’s focus has always been on training and performing. About the training programmes that will kickstart in midJune, he says, “We have bespoke programmes for individuals, communities and corporations. The culmination of the training will be a series of performances in various spaces in Chennai, leading to a show in one of the auditoriums. We are in the process of picking stories from Panchtanthra and Jataka Tales from Indian mythology.”
Elaborating on the workshop, Yog says, “In addition to the entertainment industry, arts practices have found their relevance across a range of other industries — education, training, communications, healthcare, development, leadership training and coaching, corporate team building, storytelling for corporate narratives, etc. Theatre helps to enhance key communication skills required across
diverse sectors.”
Till date, Theatre Y has trained over 1,500 individuals who have gone on to apply their arts practices
across mainstream cinema and theatre, as theatre entrepreneurs, radio jockeys, voiceover artistes, corporate trainers, storytellers, leadership coaches, and arts for development practitioners.
The upcoming programmes include, Acting One — an acting training programme for stage and camera
where participants will have exposure to a range of acting theories, techniques, and exercises. The Voice
training programme is aimed at taking an individual from the basics of voice exercises to the application in media. The Write One experiential programme will help participants write stories, screenplays and stage plays. “This programme will train new and practising writers across a range of mediums, including screenwriting, stage plays, podcasts, and more,” says Yog.
All workshops and training will be conducted by a team of actor-facilitators led by Yog. The total duration of the programme is 60 hours, spread over two months. Anyone aged 16 and above is eligible for the programme.
An open house will be held on June 11, at 11.30 am.
For more details, contact dobedo@sumnum.com,
Instagram: @the.at.re.y