Akasa Drama Workshop

Culture Monks is a global collective of artists and changemakers founded in 2012 and based in Kolkata, India. The collective focuses on cultural activism, aiming to empower the creative sector through various initiatives including production, training, and research and development. From November 12 to 18, 2024, Culture Monks collaborated with the Dramatics Society of Loreto College, Kolkata to organise Akasa, a cultural workshop on story performance. The four-day workshop was conducted by Sudipto Dawn, Bibhas Mukherjee, and Saikat Surai.

The workshop primarily focused on assimilating cultural memory within the current context using the vast treasury of performance rituals and methods laid down in Abhinaya or theatre. The objective of the workshop was to connect the participant with their expressive and creative faculties and make them more confident and effortless at presenting and performing.

The participants went through several exercises that prompted them to step out of their comfort
zone, be spontaneous, and build soft skills such as teamwork, collaboration, and communication. During one such exercise, the participants were divided into groups of four and asked to write a poem, from which they had to choose two keywords. They were then required to bring one object that they held dear and that also represented the chosen keywords.

Elaborate discussions on site specificity, theatre, performing art, and performance art were conducted. The participants improvised different characters during an exercise to create a story. Each group chose a specific site and created a story around it while incorporating the objects they had brought for the previous exercise. Participants chose different sites within the college premises, such as the staircase, the church gate, an empty classroom, and even the college lawn.

Under the wonderful guidance of the resource persons, the groups put up four well-conceptualised site-specific short dramas. The performances were enacted on the last day of the workshop in the presence of the Teacher in Charge, Sr. Dr. A. Nirmala, and teachers of the college. The participants also attested to the enriching impact of the workshop, which played a pivotal role in helping them build their identity as performers.