Adapting Short Stories for Stage - Workshop by Kaivalya Plays

ADAPTING SHORT STORIES FOR STAGE by Kaivalya Plays

Presented at the Next Act Festival 2024 at LTG Delhi.

An introductory workshop facilitated by Varoon P. Anand and Gaurav Singh Nijjer of Kaivalya Plays on adapting short stories and other non-dramatic texts, such as poetry, novels and other non-fiction writing, as narratives in theatre performances. 

🗓️ Thursday 19 September

⏱️ 6pm to 9pm (3 hours)

🎟️ INR 999/- per participant. Register at bit.ly/shortstory19 (or visit Kaivalya Plays website)

📍 Blank Canvas, Little Theatre Group (LTG) Auditorium

🗣️ Open to all kinds of storytellers, performance-makers, directors, designers, actors and others. No prior experience required.

Participants will explore methods of interpretation and dramatization, as well as editing and curating, to uncover the theatrical potential within these texts. They will share the artistic working methodologies from their recent productions with the participants, such as ‘I, Josef’ where they adapted Franz Kafka’s The Trial into a unique multimedia experience, ‘Mining Hate’ wherein newspaper reports, court documents and social media data was used to create a narrative, as well as ‘Cold Tales’ created from a collection of short stories by Virgilio Pinera and ‘Funes El Memorioso’ adapted from Jorge Luis Borges’ short story, amongst others. 

Participants are invited to bring one short story (upto 2 pages long) they would like to explore during the workshop.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Varoon P. Anand is the Artistic Director of Kaivalya Plays, a professor, journalist, and researcher. Varoon is the recipient of awards, commissions and grants from the Instituto Cervantes, Goethe-Institut, British Council, Vanderbilt University, India Foundation for the Arts, Moleskine Foundation, EU's Horizon programme, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and the Embassies of Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, Perú among others. Varoon pioneers innovative theatre projects, conducts research, and bridges cultural divides through his work in India and abroad.

Gaurav Singh Nijjer is an Indian theatre-maker, creative technologist and designer who creates hybrid, interactive and multilingual performances using technology and media. He is one-half of the Indian theatre collective Kaivalya Plays and also collaborates with arts collectives in India, the United Kingdom and Europe. He was a German Chancellor Fellow of the Humboldt Foundation, researching hybrid and alternative performance formats as well as undertaking independent research around artificial intelligence technologies in live performance. Gaurav studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, receiving the coveted Chevening scholarship. He has previously received artistic grants and support from Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA), Moleskine Foundation, Goethe Institut India, Parivartan Arts Research Grant, MediaFutures, Schaubude Theatre, amongst others.

Kaivalya Plays is a performing arts and production company led by Varoon P. Anand as its Artistic Director and Gaurav Singh Nijjer as its General Manager. Since 2012, they have built transcultural associations across India and the world. Their artistic work includes original, devised theatre performances that are multilingual, interactive, and hybrid, use technology and media on stage, and are built using techniques of improvisational, documentary, and physical theatre. Through a focus on education, training and community, their work spans diverse offerings of programs across artistic development, language learning, mental health, gender, accessibility, and transcultural collaboration. They have received multiple artistic commissions and grants through their collaborations with Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi, Goethe Institut Delhi, MediaFutures and other cultural partners. Their recent artistic work includes I, Josef (2024), The Pillowman (2024) ABSURDO (2023), Mining Hate (2023), Funes The Memorious (2021), Lifeline 99 99 (2021), Unravel (2019), amongst others. Most recently, they were awarded the Creativity Pioneers Fund 2023 by the Moleskine Foundation.

More information: https://kaivalyaplays.org or follow @kaivalyaplays on social media