Stimulating Theatre

It’s been seventeen years a small fledgling festival took root. Thespo has now blossomed into quite the extravaganza with full length performances, short performances, commissioned projects and workshops. It’s a hedonistic experience for any theatre junkie trying to get his or her fix.

There are plenty of visible signs that the festival has made an impression on the arts scene. Virtually every film or play features an actor who at some point or the other has interacted with Thespo. Numerous theatre companies existing today, were ‘spawned’ out of Thespo. In fact prolific Bombay based AKvarious turns fifteen next week. Their first performance was on December 13, 2000, at Thespo, which aptly coincides with the final day of Thespo 17. These contributions are not unexpected, because many of the performers and troupes have earned their stripes on the festival’s stage, by the very virtue of being a platform for the young.

There is one area, however, in which Thespo has made an invisible contribution — the development of Arts Managers. This was never the intention of the festival, but inadvertently it has become a necessary and valuable by-product of the massive initiative. In order to showcase the best talent from across the country, there needs to be a strong base upon which this showcase can sit. This base is usually the festival managers, who like all the performers are also under the age of 25. Over the years many of the managers have gone on to more lucrative pastures, but quite a few have remained in the Arts world. Neysa Mendes, who ran the festival in 2004 was probably the first person to make the Arts her career. She was instrumental in OML conquering the music world, and for a long time ran her own music communications company, Little Big Noise. Similarly Bhagirathi Raman, who after being forged on the Thespo anvil moved to work with the NCPA,

British Council, Bookmyshow and many other arts initiatives. Today she is a full time arts manager, possesses a rare set of very sought after skills, and is very much in demand.

Arts Managers were unheard of ten years ago. This is partly because there were not enough openings, and partly because everyone who wanted to work in the Arts was usually an artist of some sort. The Arts Manager is a unique animal, dedicated to making art happen, without necessarily trying to create it. Even among the senior lot, there are only a handful of people with these skills like Divya Bhatia, Niloufer Sagar, Sameera Iyengar, etc. But there is a definite shift as more young people are seeing it as a viable option. Arts initiative Junoon, has even started a SMART programme aimed at training Arts Managers.

At Thespo, this year, three young women, Spriha, Smriti and Prachi have taken over the mantle of Festival Managers. All three were very inexperienced about theatre or the arts. However what they do possess is a love and a passion for seeing work happen. And sometimes that’s all it takes to get started. Six months ago when they began to dream up the festival, most thought that it would simply be a rehashing of old ideas. After all this was a ‘rebuilding’ year. Instead, the programming is strong and varied and ambitious.

Over 30 different events, from face to faces with legends like Astad Deboo, to workshops designed by artists from the UK and Canada, to special projects that introduce audiences to Audience Specific Theatre and Hip Hop Operas; plus discussions on protest theatre in Urdu and what young writers are communicating in their plays. This is probably the most diverse line up of events ever at Thespo. However all ambitious arts projects require funding. And rather than be bogged down by the paucity of funds for their new ideas, these three decided to crowd-fund for the special projects. So successfully that Thespo 17 is powered by Wishberry, an online crowd-funding portal. There is something to be said for the drive of youth.

So next week, as you applaud the plays at Thespo 17, save a clap or two for the Arts managers who put the whole shindig together; because without them, there would be no Thespo.