Srinagar: The two-day workshop titled “Present Day Theatre in Kashmir” organized by the Kashmir Press Club concluded Sunday with a live stage performance of a play by noted theatre director Arshad Mushtaq.
Over 40 participants, including aspiring and senior journalists and students of literature and civil engineering, took part in the two-day event.
As part of a series of workshops, the latest workshop too is a part of an endeavour by the Club aimed at enhancing the skill sets of its members as well as the aspiring journalists.
The workshop was organized at in collaboration with the ‘Theatre for Kashmir” and conducted by the Kashmir-based playwright, theatre and visual storyteller, Arshad Mushtaq, whose plays have been screened in major international theatre festivals across south Asia and the Americas including the eighth Theatre Olympics in 2018.
Experimenting with theme and content and merging traditional folk forms and contemporary styles is the hallmark of Mushtaq’s plays.
On the first day, Arshad gave a brief introduction of the history of folk and contemporary theatre and also talked about the glorious art forms of Kashmir in the historical context, adding that theatre introduces a person’s self to him which he termed as “Zaan” in Kashmir. Arshad said that theatre also teaches empathy.
The workshop also made participants do various drills for calmness, focus, memory, observation and capacity to listen to others. Participants also wrote scripts for short plays and stage performances on different themes in a creative manner. The exercises included understanding voice and speech, and nine human emotions.
One session of the workshop was also dedicated to the creative writing during which the participants were given particular words and asked to weave a story using their original ideas. The participants produced creative write-ups in the process.
A live performance on the concluding day was appreciated by the audiences.
KPC General Secretary Ishfaq Tantry in his opening remarks said that the Club management hopes these steps would prepare the young and aspiring journalists towards developing a critical understanding of Kashmir theatre art.
KPC Treasurer Farooq Javed Khan presented a momento to the resource person Arshad Mushtaq and on behalf of the management of the club thanked him for conducting the sessions.
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