Hero’s Reflection

Can I be the best that I can be?

A program offered by Katha Arts LLP

Introduction

In today’s world there is a need for a hero in every social context. Be it politics, sports arena or at the work space. The need for a hero is always growing. As the need grows the expectations or the requirements of a hero is also constantly growing. Especially in a corporate setup, where the competition is on a global scale, the company expects everyone of its employee to be a Hero in whatever he/she does. Hence it becomes very important to address the question

Who is a HERO? — Is hero the one with supernatural powers or the one with a miraculous ability to come out victorious in every situation? Is hero the one who at all times displays only courage and no signs of weakness? Is Hero the one who is always righteous and self-sacrificing? All of these questions stated above takes the Hero far away from the individual.

The underlying fact that there is a Hero in each one of us, irrespective of age and gender cannot be denied. This hero may not be having any super natural powers but will definitely give his/her best whenever the situation demands. This Hero may be dormant in some and active in others. This Hero who is within, is waiting to be identified, acknowledged and harnessed. But how can one do it? will be the basis of this series of workshops.

Objectives

How does one identify? or What does it take for this Hero to be identified?

In mythologies throughout the world there are lots of stories available for us to get in touch with the Hero within. All these heroes goes through a series of tasks or challenges (some of the tasks will be life threatening) through which the archetypal character will unravel a layer of himself/herself and hence taking a step closer to the Hero within. But fortunately we cannot force someone to take on these life threatening tasks for the purpose identifying the Hero. So what can be done? This is where Theatre techniques comes in for our help. Theatre as a process gives frameworks for each of us to explore the un explored in a safe environment.

Methodology

Theatre — Unfortunately in today’s world theatre is misunderstood as an art form merely for the purpose of performing or entertaining the crowd in an auditorium. Which is partly true but there is much more to it. Theatre is an integral part of every civilisation across the globe. Theatre is looked upon as a tool to bring out the realities of the society and work on it. Even today many practices and rituals involves story telling which brings about the emotions and expressions of the people which otherwise will be suppressed. In many traditions theatre is used as a tool to give a wake up call for the Hero who is dormant and demands necessary action for the welfare of the society and its people.

Here we propose a series of modules which are carefully designed and sequenced to bring the best out of each employee.

The Hero & The Stage — when a stage and the audience are set then there is a tension that gets build up which will awaken the dormant Hero inside. This is the stage where the Hero emerges out of the cocoon and looks upon the world and its reality.

Hero’s Emotions & Expressions — just like a new born child who immediately expresses to the world, the Hero too, who has just come out of the cocoon will try to express. The techniques of Navarasa’s in Indian theatre is a wonderful tool to explore the difficulties and easiness of each emotion.

Hero’s Story — every Hero has a story to tell. This story plays a major role in shaping up the kind of Hero who is emerging. Hence it is important to look carefully into the stories and find out the true identity of the Hero within.

Hero’s Identity — the identities of a Hero directly impacts the kind of action he/she takes. Do I get stuck with only one identity and hence becoming more predictable with my moves or do I have the freedom to explore multiple identities according to the space and situation.

Hero & Mythology — it is true that stories from mythologies offers a lot to learn from. But all those will be a mere text book learning unless it is explored with the help of theatre. With theatre techniques one can look into the hidden and subtle meanings of each archetypal character and relate it to the Hero within.

Hero Within — the Hero who has gone through the journey of identifying himself/herself will now be having a new story to tell. This is the stage where the Hero emerges with new strength and new meanings for his/her quest. This new story will be an action plan for the Hero’s further moves.

Hero’s ToolKit — a framework will be presented to each Hero which will give them a guidance of how to harness the Hero on a daily basis.

Take Away’s

• Effective Interpersonal & IntraPersonal Communication
• Understanding Roles & Responsibilities
• Listening to the co-worker
• Helping & seeking help within the team
• Finding newer ways of doing things
• Ability to take risk & being spontaneous
• Identifying leadership traits
• Effective work life balance