Pallavi Chander
Artist and Creative Arts Therapist
Theatre Performances
· Conceptualized and acted with Masrah (a Bangalore theatre group in ‘Middle of Somewhere,’ an improvisational play directed by Anish Victor, Rafiki. This was performed for the public at a found space in Rest House Road, Bangalore 2010
· Acted with Masrah in ‘Sea of Stories’, a play inspired by Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, directed by Anish Victor from Rafiki in Jun 2009
· Performed ‘Love Stories on a Park Bench,’ and other improvisational plays and displayed art installations for theatre jams
· Performed street plays post the Mangalore pub attacks under the Fearless Karnataka banner, Hasiri Usiru- Lalbagh campaign, to name a few.
· Acted with Masrah in self-scripted and self-directed play, ‘Boombands’, a play inspired by Dr.Seuss’ Oh! The Places You’ll Go in Feb 2006. Traveled with the play to Chennai and Pondycherry in Nov and Dec 2006.
· Performed ‘Panchatantra’ under the Harlequin Productions at Rangashankara in 2006.
· Acted in eight plays produced and directed by Masrah since 2003
· Performed street plays for Bangalore Habba 2004-05 and Rangashankara festivals between 2004-06
Project |01
Project |01 'Middle Of Somewhere'
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The performance consisted of three primary threads of narrative. The first thread was the story of Akeli, a little girl who runs away from the Grey Land. She journeys to Birangi, the last bastion of the resistance against Dhuan, the elected leader of the Grey Land. His Grey Army has tasked to create a world of a single colour, where people remember only those things that are vital to life - which is to work, eat and sleep. And the only reason the Grey Army cannot enter Birangi is because the Mist of Memories that surrounds it. It is imperative that the Mist of Memories be destroyed. It is the only way to wipe out resistance of any kind.
Interspersed and weaved through the myth of Akeli was the second thread of our narrative - the stories of the actors, their experiences, their joys, their fears, and their sense of loss. As stories whirl, collide, merge – forming a kaleidoscope in which gets reflected the third thread of our performance – life in a city. The performance was set against a backdrop of sounds that one normally hears in a city. The performance was site-specific and the set was designed to resemble construction scaffolding.
Project |02
Project |02 Sea Of Stories
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Nothing comes from nothing. No story comes from nowhere; new stories are born from old – it is the new combinations that make them new. These lines from Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Salman Rushdie, 1990) formed the crux of the performance.
The approach used the text of Rushdie’s story, the actors’ personal journeys, and the present nature of Bangalore city – all of which became the ‘sea’ in which the performer was the wellspring of stories, the source. It was his or her response to the sea that reflected in the performance. Directed by Anish Victor from Rafiki who put together 'elements,' from our memories, our dreams, the lost city and Rushdie's sea. The performance will took place within an "art installation," constructed to suit the theme of the play. Chris Burchell, a sound designer created a sound-scape that became an inherent part of the performance.
Project |03
Project |03 Performances with Masrah
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Masrah is a twelve year old theatre group that started off as a college street theatre group. Mostly working with autobiograhical content, Masrah has written and adapted several scripts and performed for diverse audiences. Masrah has always had a focused on strengthening process work. Strong components of Masrah’s productions are ensemble theatre, storytelling, rhythm and movement. Masrah also conducts theatre, art and storytelling workshops for children and adults. Masrah's productions - 'Middle of Somewhere', 'Sea Of Stories', 'Boombands', also performed for Bangalore Habba, Theatre Jam, Bangalore Pride and Fearless Karnataka Campaign, to name a few.
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