shunyatheatre.org

From Carnival to Rehearsal

Sara — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:27:59 +0000

“If music be the food of love, play on,

Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Life is a comedy, and man is a giddy thing. Over the past few weeks, Shunya members have been drinking excess amounts of green-happy bhang-like mazaa madness. Perhaps a little too much…ahem. But such is the cyclical nature of the dramatic life. In classical comedies, this period of carnival is a licensed time of misrule and topsy turvy anarchy that gives way to a more austere time of testing and character building before the final reunification and celebration at the end.

This abnormal season of carnival and mistaken identifies ultimately necessitates plot and a sense of restored order. The tricks and excesses of theatrical Mardi Gras are just that. We get away with them because they are staged illusions that ultimately leave us longing for something true and most often difficult. In two weeks time, the cast and crew will begin rehearsals, a time of joyful testing and play building.

To lead us into the rehearsal season, we invite you to one last hurrah – Party on the Hill – at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. Join us on the hill as we watch a beautiful Odissi classical dance performance. We’ll be having a couple more events during rehearsals, including one where you can help us construct a Wonder Wall of Ideas and Quotes, which will be featured at the show in August! So stay tuned for that as well!

“O, wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,

That has such people in’t!”

Indulgence

Sara — Sat, 11 May 2013 18:18:13 +0000

We are being visually raped by television and film. Let me explain.

How many movies and television shows and music videos show men and women essentially naked? I don’t know about you, but my eyes are numb. It doesn’t turn me on.

The same is true when it comes to the other great dramatic device – violence. We’ve seen it all. Extreme brutality is like a McDonalds ice cream cone.

This week, Shunya members have been trying a little experiment over the e-waves. We’ve been sending each other images, poetry, anything really that turns us on and lights us up. It’s a kind of holistic seduction. It’s not about what we indulge in on a purely visual level. It’s about elevating the imagination to a higher plane. And often this has to do with what isn’t shown.

Excerpts below from Pablo Neruda and Flannery O’Connor give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Theatre yields a power that film has lost. Words matter just as much as action. They are inseparable. A word is a symbol, a gateway to endless meaning. The formulation itself is dramatic action. And on stage, it’s right there. You can touch it.

We invite all of you to indulge in this madness. Keep a finger on our Facebook page. We are looking for images, poems, dialogue, anything that inspires and seduces you into your own vanilla sky.

Excerpt from “If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda

You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window

if I touch

near the fire

the impalpable ash

or the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Excerpt from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor

His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest. Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them.

Casting Call for Trailer!

Sara — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:25:41 +0000

Cressandra Thibodeaux, filmmaker and executive director of 14 Pews, is looking to cast two South Asian parts for an upcoming trailer. If interested, please email her at cressandra@me.com:

Can you help me cast for the H-Town Multicultural Film Festival Trailer. The trailer will be 15 seconds long. I’m looking for a 70-100 year old Indian man who can play an instrument (guitar type) and a young 6 year old Indian boy or girl. I wanna do something like this International Film Festival Trailer

Finding Ananda – Play Reading

Sara — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:59:49 +0000

We meet again for another fun-filled evening of play reading! The play of the month is Finding Ananda by Vijay Padaki.

Synopsis: Vivek is a young Indian-American in Chicago, sent to India by his parents to discover his roots. They know the director of a Vivekananda theater project and request an internship for their son. Vivek arrives in India a skeptic, but will it be long before he changes his mind?

When: Saturday, May 18, at 4:00 pm
Where: Sara’s place

Want to come, or learn more about our readings? Email Anjana at anjana@shunyatheatre.org.

Facebook and Theatre

Sara — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:48:45 +0000

: rishibando / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It’s incredible how much social networking has changed the way we communicate and interact with one another. As a theatre company, we really have just begun to take advantage of the benefits of these methods of outreach and community engagement. I hope it continues, because I think it’s awesome. I also think it’s dangerous.

Facebook, in essence, is a kind of stage. You can post thoughts, jokes, opinions, pictures, and receive feedback from a collective of friends, an audience. This is exhilarating. Those who have never set foot on stage get to experience theatrical high jumps from their living room couches.

Even better – there’s no rehearsal. And here lies the danger. When we prepare for a show, we spend four to six weeks in rehearsal. We challenge each other mentally, physically, and emotionally. Only when we have gone through this collaborative preparation, do we dare put ourselves before an audience. Standing in front of an audience is scary. It can destroy you if you are not firmly grounded. This is why community is so essential. If there are blows to be had, then we take them as a team.

Facebook is a community. However, it’s a fragmented community. Individuals present themselves to the world. At Shunya, we present ourselves as a collective.

We encourage all of you to share your voice on stage – virtual and otherwise. But remember – rehearsal is the play.

Party with Shunya tonight at Avant Garden

Sanjay — Sat, 04 May 2013 14:35:20 +0000

Join us tonight at Avant Garden! We’ll be there from 7 PM until they kick us out. You can meet members of the cast and crew and learn how you can become involved with this particular show and with the organization as a whole.

Avant Garden is at 411 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77006.

Step Inside, Scene 2

Sara — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:16:04 +0000

Ever since reading Ira Hauptman’s “Partition”, I knew that one day I wanted to be a member of the team that would bring this beautiful play to life in Houston. Some eight years later, here we are!

Over the past few weeks, many people have approached me with the following question: So what is this play about anyway?

A directing teacher once told me that the first rule in approaching a well-written script is to admit that it’s beyond you – that you probably don’t know what it’s about. There are questions you will begin to ask, and there are discoveries you will make together with the cast, but don’t expect to find explicit answers by the end of the rehearsal process or by the end of this lifetime.

I could tell you the play is about Ramanujan, one of the most famous and mysterious mathematicians India (perhaps the world) has ever produced. I could say it’s a play dripping in numbers and covered in words. I could say there’s a sexy Indian goddess who has all the right answers and an obsessively insane and neurotic French mathematician. I could say it’s a colorful mosaic of cultural tapestries and enigmatic patterns. I could tell you it’s about the bizarre, creative, and destructive tension that exists between East and West, between Faith and Reason. Or I could come back to what every play and every day seem to really be about – friendship and love.

The articulation of these themes is not particularly useful as we prepare to enter the rehearsal room. They don’t move us anywhere. So I offer three questions:

1. How do you know what you know?

2. What separates you from me?

3. What’s your favorite number?

Theatre is one of the only art forms that changes, moves, and breathes with the audience. It’s an incredible dialogue. And if the stars align, it can be breathtaking. We look forward to our upcoming rehearsal process, but even more, we look forward to meeting you and diving into an infinite series of questions.

Come meet the cast, step on stage yourself, and enjoy some food and drinks with the Shunya team at Avant Garden this Saturday, May 4th at 7 PM!

Truly, madly, deeply…
Sara

Little Victories

Sara — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:06:27 +0000

Shunya is always excited about supporting local South Asian arts groups! Life is all about celebrating the Little Victories. And what better way to do that than to hang out with friends and listen to an awesome band!

Little Victories, a Houston based rock band, has its first full length show this Friday, May 3rd at Jet Lounge. Details below! Don’t miss it!

Buy tickets here: https://tickets.aftonshows.com/littlevictories

Check out the Little Victories Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Victories/499362660123235?fref=ts

BUY TICKETS ONLINE, BUYING AT THE DOOR IS NO GOOD. Buying online guarantees we will play a decent set length.

Half of the proceeds go to www.cordusa.org.

GO FORTH LITTLE VICTORIES! **little trumpet plays**

Bollywood Blast Auditions!

Sanjay — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:58:17 +0000

A message from our friends at Infused Performing Arts!

ITS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN!
We are searching for talented dancers for the most memorable Bollywood show in Houston.
Bollywood Blast has been held at the Miller Outdoor Theatre, for more than 6 years featuring 100s of performers of all ages.

Call us or Email to book your slot .

Age: 13 and above
Audition Date:
April 25th (Thursday) : 5pm – 7pm
April 27th (Saturday) : 3pm – 6pm

Tina Bose-Kumar & Kiron Kumar

(Founders & Directors)

infusedance@gmail.com

Ph: 72-INFUSED-8 (724.638.7338)

John Kaiser in Night of the Iguana

Sanjay — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:16:58 +0000

John Kaiser, a veteran Houston actor, will be playing the part of G.H. Hardy in Shunya’s next production, “Partition.” Be sure to catch him on stage at Theatre Southwest in Tennessee Williams’ “Night of the Iguana.”

As a floorist and performer, his credits include The House of Blue Leaves at Theatre Southwest; Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at The Country Playhouse; Arcadia and Watch on the Rhine at Main Street Theatre; The Grand Manner and Me, Myself & I with Edge Theatre; and The Merry Widow at Houston Grand Opera. He has voiced many Japanese anime characters, in such recent videos as Intrigue in the Bakumatsu, The Book of Bantorra, and Night Raid 1931. For Sight into Sound radio, he does a weekly show reading National Geographic for the blind.