Online Safe Space Practice

Hi!  👋 

 

Welcome to an online session with Kaivalya Plays. 

 

Before you get in, it would be great if you took a moment to read through our safe space practice. These rules and practices are meant to keep you safe and, most of all, give you peace of mind so you can have fun and get the most out of your session. 

 

The first thing you need to know is that consent is never assumed during the session. By participating in today’s session, you have not agreed to do everything the facilitator asks you to do. At any time you can choose to step out or not participate in any exercise. 

 

The second thing we wish to tell you is that you never have to explain yourself for not wanting to participate during the session. Whatever makes you uncomfortable is not for us to debate, but simply acknowledge. 

 

Kaivalya Plays' artistic practice is grounded in spontaneous improvisation (aka improv). One of the ground rules of improv is to make our partners look good. At no point in any scene is it acceptable to mock or ridicule a person’s physical appearance, religion, gender identity, choice of clothing, We can always find better ways of doing comedy than to make fun of each other, but if you must, remember to stick to ideas so outlandish that they can’t simply be true.

​

Understanding Agency ​

​

It’s important to remember that theatre, improv and performance (or how they affect you as a participant or an audience) can be quote spontaneous and unplanned activity. Each of our sessions has rules and restrictions designed to help us focus and move things forward, but sometimes things can go astray. We cannot always anticipate how what we say can affect someone else or vice versa. This is why it’s important to remember to take responsibility for our own safety and remove ourselves from a situation that makes us uncomfortable. We are not here to point fingers or look for blame. 

​

At Kaivalya Plays, we follow a zero harassment policy and zero discrimination policy. Please take a look at our Code of Conduct. 

​

Keeping Others Safe In The Room ​

​

Finally, if your camera and microphone are both kept muted through the first exercise, we will send you a chat message privately to make sure you are there. If we do not receive a response in the interest of the safety of all participants, we will remove you from the meeting. This is an interactive session and we encourage a basic level of participation, to whatever extent you’re comfortable with, so that the larger group feels comfortable and committed to the session.
 

During the session, you can observe the following practices to keep yourself safe as well as respect the safety of other participants. For the purpose of the following, we assume you’re connecting with the online video calling application Zoom: 
 

Best Practices for Online Events

Keeping Your Video Off

We understand that the size of the room can be overwhelming and overstimulating. Seeing so many faces in one place can be overwhelming. If you do not wish to be seen during the session, you can turn off your camera to not be seen. Many games require us to see you so that you can participate and we understand if you want to skip participating in these.
 

Using Speaker View:

This way you only see the person speaking, not all the faces. This can help mitigate the feeling of seeing so many people. This can be toggled on the top right corner of the Zoom app. There are two options - Speaker View (Only hear the person who is talking) or Gallery View (See the screens of all active participants).
 

Breakout Sessions:

We break up the larger groups into smaller meeting rooms called Breakout Sessions, where smaller groups (2-8 people) work together on a game. This is encouraged as it allows you to play the games extensively and develop a deeper understanding. We will always have a moderator for you in the breakout rooms to keep an eye out and help you. If you wish to remain in the Main Room rather than join the Breakout Session, you also have the option to just stay in the Main Room. You can also leave the Breakout Session at any time.
 

Turning Off Your Mic:

In case you have ambient sound coming from your background, please be mindful and mute your mic yourself. Loud noises can be unpleasant for other participants and make them feel unsafe. Please be mindful and turn off your mic whenever it’s necessary, otherwise one of the moderators might.

Please Use Chat:

All our sessions have moderators standing by to make sure there are no technical glitches or issues. If you’re facing any issue, be it with your mic, video, internet connection, Zoom settings – anything at all, simply use the Chat feature on the bottom and one of our moderators will help you out. This is recommended over addressing the facilitator directly in-person as it may stall the session and keep other participants waiting.

 

Feedback and Observations:

While we always try and facilitate a small discussion at the end of every session to receive your feedback and comments, sometimes we may not be able to give you an opportunity to share due to paucity of time while you may not feel comfortable sharing openly in front of the entire group. In such a scenario, you can always write to us at team@kaivalyaplays.org