Written, produced and directed by the students of Stella Maris College, A Veiled Affair will be at :
Venue : Alliance Française Madras
Dates : February 4th, 5th and 6th
Timings : 07.00pm on all three days
03.00pm on 5th and 6th
Tickets will be available at Landmark from the 25th of January 2011. Contact +91 9790793621 for details or booking of tickets. Email us at curtaincall.smc@gmail.com.
All you Stella Marians can rush to the canteen area and grab your tickets now!
Come one, Come all!
There was an unquestionable sense of excitement as J. Jayakumar of Kootu-p-pattirai fame told us to get into a circle. Here we were, barely three weeks to show, at our third workshop and feeling that we still had so much to learn. And today we knew we’d be learning as much as our workshop guide could tell us about movement.
Almost as soon as we’d finished our stretches, Jayakumar joined the circle and told us to relax and to throw out our arms, ‘As if you had cut it off and were throwing it away’, he said. We weren’t supposed to think about or give our hands a specific direction. Just let go and move it around wildly. When hands and legs had been waving around madly for a considerable period of time we were instructed to ask questions. He insisted that every exercise he did had a purpose and we had to understand the purpose.
So when we began our next exercise- a game much akin to tag, except that if the catcher corners someone and the umm… cornered yells out a name before getting tagged, the named becomes the catcher (if she is tagged she of course becomes the catcher)- someone was quick to ask, “Why are we doing this?” The answer was that it helped improve relations between actors as one could easily learn names of all the fellow actors, it taught one to be aware of all the other people who played the game and it taught one how to move effectively and in co-ordination with a whole group of people.
After a short break we participated in another exercise that involved a ball, lots of passing and basically a lot of movement. Once again the purpose was explained; being able to time things correctly, learning to maintain eye contact and learning once again to be aware of what every other actor was doing.
The next exercise concentrated of the rhythm of movement. How an actor following a basic rhythm, always moves with meaning and purpose.
The workshop ended with a bit of improvisation. Three groups of three people were given three minutes of stage time to present a piece on people waiting at a bus stop. However we were not allowed to talk.
Each group performed, and was given feedback from Jayakumar, Hans Kaushik, our directorial guide, and by fellow actors. An interesting discussion followed, where acting itself was discussed. How situations and characters are established, how a lack of dialogue isn’t a negative but allows real characters’ development and most interestingly how Jayakumar thought of acting. He said, “There is no acting, only reacting.” And that was probably the most important thing we took home that day.
-Nayantara Nayar
On the 28th of December, after Water Conservation Day, the 12-person cast of A Veiled Affair assembled in a faraway, unused classroom, eager for Mangai ma’am’s workshop.
Mangai is a prominent name in Tamil theatre, an artist to the core – actor and director, and teacher at Stella Maris. We’re more than a little lucky to have her with us, and while we’d always known that, we’d really realised it by the time we were half-way through the workshop.
We began with breathing exercises and stretches, exercises we now use everyday before we begin our rehearsals. Relaxed and able to breathe freely and fully, we moved on to voice.
Everyone knows that voice is key to theatre. Not everyone knows that it’s not volume but projection and direction, that’s crucial. We do, now.
Following was the most enjoyable part for all of us. Running randomly around the long room, we flung a temporary ball (modified from Mangai ma’am’s dupatta) to each other, focussing on the direction and level of the person we were throwing to, as we yelled out their name. While it was an effective exercise to train the vocal cords, it was also an extremely enjoyable way of passing an evening 
We ended with a bit of improvisation, where we focussed on rhythm and levels in a quick scene we needed to present, using only pre-decided lines.
A team had been given the lines, “What the -”, “Why?” “Do what you can” and “Love me!”, and they rapped it. Brilliance!
-Priya K. Prasad
The Stella Maris Annual College Play 2011, A Veiled Affair, is an original script based loosely on the myth of Pandora’s Box.
The night before the big day- a definite moment for wedding jitters – only isn’t it just the bride that has them?
Well not in this family.
At a dinner, overseen and planned by Pandora’s Box Catering and Event Management Services, Pandora, the wedding planner, courts disaster after disaster. What begins with cricket crazy men and Em, an obsessive sister of the bride, escalates to dizzying hights as more of the ‘interesting’ family traipses in. Caught in the middle of what she is sure should be an exclusively family affair, Pan has no idea how to hold fort against the onslaught of ambitious aunts, whiny daughters and melodramatic cousins. And her useless friend, the aforementioned sister of the bride isn’t helping matters either!
Poor Pan is quite sure she’ll totally lose her head- amongst many other things- before this nightmare of an evening is over.
With an all woman cast from Stella Maris College, scripted, produced and directed by the students themselves, A Veiled Affair promises to be memorable!
Tickets are priced at Rs. 100/- . Available from January 15th.
Venue: Alliance Française of Madras, College Road.
Show Timings
Friday, 4th February – 07.00pm
Saturday, 5th February – 03.00pm and 07.00pm
Sunday, 6th February – 03.00pm and 07.00pm
RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162748713760675
Being on Broadway is every stage-lover’s dream. The cast of ‘A Veiled Affair’ got a little close to it, when Lizabeth Staton from New York came over to college to engage them in a three hour workshop, on the fourth of December. While the term ‘Broadway performer’ gives the idea of an intimidating whiz whose nose is stuck in the air, Liz proved that it was a complete prejudice. She filled the air with energy, from her very first step into our sacred rehearsal space in the Games Block. Liz, with the enthusiasm of a ten year old. was far more perky than any of the cast members, and she made sure she spread the joy.
After getting to know each one of us individually, by taking notes in her thick black book, she began the activities. Liz’s games seemed typical of the person she was, as they left us breathless by the end of one round. She had the cast running across the room, freezing abruptly, moving in slow motions, making beastly noises etc. The exhaustion dug out body parts, we didn’t realise we had. To contrast the sweat wringing fun, Liz got everyone to lie down on the floor and focus on breathing. That long exercise allowed her to go around and assist each individual on her breath control and sound production. She also worked the Stellar Players into improvisations and abdomen exercises which facilitate projection of voice.
Workshop one, check! Fun and learning, double check!
-Bhavya Balantrapu
The Stellar Players are ready to set the stage ablaze with their 2011 production- ‘A Veiled Affair’. With the script being whipped up in full flow, the play is set to be cast. This year, the college play is a complete student affair, right from student script writers to a student Director. Dhiya Kuriakose, President of the Students’ Union is going to direct the play this year, guided by last year’s Director, Hans Kaushik. Together, they conducted the auditions for cast members on 22nd November, 2010. The turn-out was great, with a majority of enthusiastic first years in line to be a part of this year’s show. Hans Kaushik had everyone completely involved in a two hour workshop, where his experienced eye caught the good fish. There was not a minute of silence or boredom, as he got everyone involved in a number of activities. The girls were tested on spontaneity, creativity and teamwork. Auditions were such a rage, that even those who did not particularly want to be part of cast, were present just to partake in the dramatic madness that prevailed!
Fifteen girls have been selected, and they will be the on stage faces of the Stella Maris College Play 2011. The Stellar Players have thus embarked on a three month journey of creating the most unforgettable memories, alongside the most unbelievable play!
