MASQUERADES: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
“It’s not multiple personality disorder, it’s theatre” is what the Masquerades believes.
Recently Media Club interacted with the core members of the club. Here, we present an excerpt of the interaction session.
Q1- Being the secretary of the club, what changes have you seen and brought in the club?
Gurdit Singh Chhabda (Secretary)- First and foremost, we have seen a tremendous increase in the strength of the club and a cultivation of interest towards street plays. In stage plays, we had the first yearites as directors working on our original content.
We also explored an innovative way of directing the stage play by just telling the summary or sketch of the play and then the characters are supposed to take the essence of their respective roles. Contrary to previous years, this year in Kshitij we had mime performance and a guest play titled ‘One Woman Alone’ by Shilpi Marwaha. It raised the social issue of helplessness of an Indian woman and the hardships faced due to the barbaric attitude of society. We also organised an event at Assi ghat named ‘KRITI’ in collaboration with FAC and Lit Club comprising of nukkad, graffiti (wall painting), poetry and open mic sessions.
Q2-The comeback of the club from Oasis to Inter IIT was really spectacular. Masquerades bagged the first position in Inter IIT Dramatics section. Please brief us about the trail of success and hardwork behind it.
Shubham Dhadhich (Joint Secretary)- As such there was no change in the script, but the difference in performance was quite remarkable. During Oasis, we faced time shortage due to clashes in class timings and involvement in other activities, but in Inter IIT we were fully prepared and confident, learning from the personal lapses done during Oasis. Moreover, we had the involvement of fourth yearites which is quite unusual.
Q3-After watching the breathtaking performances of street plays in KY and stage plays in Cultural Weekend, what are your expectations in the upcoming session and plans for boosting the theatre culture.
Saksham Rawat (Core Member)- The step towards development of original content should gain impulse. Earlier in stage plays, we only focused on improving the quality of performance. But from now on, we would also be working on lighting, music and transitions. Being the lead during Inter IIT, I incorporated many values like patience, appreciation, calm and I expect every member to take lead in events of the club for his personality development.
Ishita Hinger (Joint Secretary)- We have seen the club grow out of a limited working domain. Masquerades is not only about theatre performance but also requires management skills. We plan on exploring new domains like stage play workshops, attention towards script writing, voice modulation and stage appearances. This year, we didn’t adapt any script but made it from a list of short stories. The club is also planning to move into comic genres like stand ups which is a form of mono-act. In this way, we would aim to incorporate professionalism and efficiency and a one-to-one understanding to see theatre grow as a family.
