The Accidental Expertise of a Traveling Teaching Artist

July 18, 2012

Days pass as quickly as the screaming buses that whiz through the lone main street of Shantipur.  It seems that the few moments that I am actually in my room, I am napping and then a knock comes at the door, food is delivered and I have a quick bite before heading off again.  Although it took a few days, a routine appeared for about a week’s time.  Each morning started with planning, since each day I had only a sketch of an idea of what should happen with the theatre group.  A knock on the door and breakfast arrives.  A quick, cold shower (no geezer in this room) and then one of the actors of the company comes to pick me up.  Generally that means a ride on a cycle ricksaw, or occasionally the back of a motorbike.  The 10 am daily workshop starts when everyone has shown up, which is somewhere between 10:20 and 10:45.  But not too worry since the ending time is anywhere between 2 and 3:30 pm.  Lots of flexibility in there.  We sweat it out for a couple of hours at a time, taking breaks for small cups of tea.  The workshop includes lots of time for reflection since 1) we need lots of time for translation and 2) these folks love to express their thoughts.  There is great joy in participating in this theatre in education workshop since much of it is very new to the group, and very new to India, in fact.  After we finish at 2 or 2:30 or 3 or whatever, we have a long afternoon break.  Which means a nap, a cooling down (since the workshop space is intensely hot) and a late lunch.  It wasn’t until several days into the process that I discovered that many of the actors of the company did not have a long break themselves, as they were teaching afternoon drama classes for kids.  On a couple of the days, special events happened that interrupted the flow a little and presented me with interesting experiences.  First there was a small Tagore festival in which the company was performing and to which I was invited.  I found out the night before I was to be the guest of honor.  If I could read Bengali, I would have been able to read the poster that included my name (in Bengali).  I spoke briefly about Tagore, about whom I know very little.  No one seemed to mind.  From that I was invited to come and speak to a group of children enrolled in a classical music school.  I visited a conversation class led by a lawyer from Kolkata.  They asked me to do some drama with the kids.  There’s a wild combination. Back to routine.  In the evenings, another trip on a cycle ricksaw, or possibly a converted ox cart, and we gather for rehearsal. Together the company and I are devising a play loosely based on folklore from Hawaii. The group is intense and energetic and the rehearsals are a joy.  As in the morning, the start time is fluid, but then so is the end time, so it all works out in the wash.  The beauty of these rehearsal sessions are that we have love musicians to incorporate into the process as well.  Another very sweaty session, with tea breaks, and we finish late enough that most shops are closed, so the late night ride back to my room on the back of a cycle cart is refreshing and cool.  Early in the week one of the actors got into her mind that I should be in the play with them, so at the end of the week we had a special session to incorporate me into the play.  They taught me two, just two, Bengali words to say in my role.  As we practiced, the company was in stitches, jumping around the space in great joy.  So, now, I will be making my North India acting debut (having performer multiple times in South India already).