Spotlight edition 2 is here. Titled The First Ray of Light, this edition will have three short plays – Appraisal Day by Vamsi Krishna Ramesh; Not Just a Window by Gunavanthan; and Kizhakku Ambalappattu which is written by Arun Kumar, and directed by Karthick Mohan. All these plays are being staged for the first time.
Started with a mission to help budding theatre actors, writers and directors find a platform to showcase their creativity and work, Spotlight is a monthly curated theatre show by Juvith Arthi, a theatre artiste herself, and is aimed at promoting upcoming theatre artistes. It is produced by Chennai Art Theatre.
“I have always felt that there aren't enough opportunities for new and upcoming directors in the Chennai theatre fraternity. That's why I pitched the idea of Spotlight, that can provide a platform for talented individuals who have been actively involved in theatre for quite some time,” says Arthi.
Vamsi Krishna Ramesh, Karthick Mohan and Gunavanthan are aspiring theatre artistes who are now embarking on their directorial journey with their respective plays.
Appraisal Day, a Tamil comedy play by Vamsi Krishna Ramesh is about an office meeting regarding appraisals gone wrong due to a misunderstanding; and when the manager and his team tries to sort it out, it leads to a comedy of errors.
Talking about the play, Vamsi says, “When I started doing theatre in college, I used to do a lot of comedy and I want to go back to it, that’s why I wrote this play. Comedies are a lot more challenging to be put up on stage. As the famous saying goes: ‘Comedy is serious business’.”
It took Vamsi a month and half, including scripting, casting and rehearsals to get the play ready. He does have jitters though as this is his debut play. “Yes, I do have jitters but the audience is sure to have a good laugh.”
Not Just a Window by Gunavanthan shows two characters, Roshan and Deepika, stuck in a room of a high rise building trying to figure how to get out. The only option they have to look at the outside world is a window in that room. While Roshan is of the view that the world is unreal, Deepika tries to make sense about everything. Where will this conflict between two individuals locked in a house lead to?
“My play is metaphorical and I am excited and nervous at the same time to see if the audience can connect with the metaphor. They will see the play through a window (setup) and there will only be references to a door (not visible) and that door is the metaphor for possibilities,” says Gunavanthan.
The third play Kizhakku Ambalappattu, a Tamil play written by Arun kumar, and directed by Karthick Mohan, is a about the experience of a city-bred postmaster who gets transferred to a Tanjore college to run the campus post office.
“Set in the late 80s and early 90s, the play is just a cute story. A postmaster is transferred and he is unhappy about it. He tells the students that they should make an effort to learn English, while also telling them about city life. While he is waiting to go back to the city, his wife is happy living a simple village life,” says Deeptha, who plays the postmaster’s wife.
There is a twist of course. An incident changes the postmaster perspective. But what it is?
Tickets are available at online.
June 10. 3 pm and 5:30 pm.
At Medai – The Stage, Alwarpet.
@rupsjain