Mirage: A Dramatic Reading

MIRAGE Tuesday, 24th November, 7.30 p.m. - 8.15 p.m.Language: EnglishAbout the PerformanceThe war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas has long passed. Sanjeya, the royal chronicler and advisor to King Dhritarashtra, is on his deathbed. His gift of divine sight is long gone. But what he bore witness to during the war remains with him. He begins to narrate the tale of the war again — only this time, the tale is replete with events and details that he chose not to reveal during the war.The play explores the following questions: What do we see but do not say? What stops us from speaking? What do we carry to our deathbeds? What does it mean to be a witness?Mirage will be presented as a dramatic reading and incorporate elements of clowning.CastSanjeya: Shravan BaligaDhritarashtra: Akshara KerekoppaDuryodhana: Anand SamudreKrishna: Prachet EbenezerGandhari: Adrija ChakrobortyAmbika: SakshiP1: Nuhar BansalP2: Athul MohansinghP3: Siddharth ManoharKing: Akshara KerekoppaKeshava: Anand SamudreGanesha: Phalguni Vittal RaoCrewWriter: Laya N KumarLight Design: Anand SamudreMentor: Sharanya RamprakashAbout the ArtistsLaya N KumarLaya Kumar has trained with groups like Indian Ensemble, IAPAR and Bhasha Centre, and with award-winning theatre-makers, including Mahesh Dattani and Gurleen Judge.She has worked as a producer on Naatak Express, a fundraiser festival that brings together over 100 artists to make short plays in 24 hours. She also works as a clown with Clowns Without Borders, India. Her writings have appeared in Hakara and QTP's The Script.She is keen on exploring how theatre can be taken to classroom settings.Shravan BaligaShravan Baliga is a theatre artist and engineer with over a decade of experience in performance and theatre-making. He holds a Diploma in Theatre from Kalakul, a Konkani theatre repertory, and is a postgraduate of Drama School Mumbai, where he studied Theatre Making and Acting with an Inlaks - Drama School Mumbai Theatre Studentship. He has worked across languages such as Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam, Konkani, Hindi and English.His work includes Kendonians, selected for Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2022, and collaborations with artists such as Mahesh Dattani, Roshan Mathew, Padmavati Rao, Sapan Saran, Arun Lal and Christopher Ninasam. He has performed at platforms including the Prithvi Theatre Festival and continues to work across performance, theatre-making and contemporary theatre practices.Athul MohansinghAthul Mohansingh is a performance practitioner from Kollam, Keralam. With roots in theatre, he works in alternative spaces and languages to tell stories from backyard ecology — where lifestyle, landscape, memory and time meet. He is an alumnus of National School of Drama, New Delhi and the School of Drama & Fine Arts, Thrissur. He is also a Russian Institute of Theatre Arts Fellow (Gitis) and an Inlaks Theatre Awardee.About the FestivalPLAYINTERPLAY is a theatre festival with a difference. It celebrates 50 years of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, bringing together its theatre awardees and scholars to show their work, share their experiences, skills and learnings, and converse on matters of common interest.PLAYINTERPLAY presents plays that are new to Bengaluru. What is different, however, is that it looks back as well as forward, featuring a work of theatre that has been specially revived for the festival and readings of plays that are still to become the finished article.PLAYINTERPLAY does more: it forges connections between its constituent parts — performances, workshops, conversations and experience sharing — emphasising the interplay between thought, learning and practice.See the plays! Apply for the workshops! Join the conversations! Soak in the magic of theatre.About the Artistic DirectorAnmol Vellani is the founder and former executive director of India Foundation for the Arts, the first independent philanthropic organisation in India devoted exclusively to supporting the arts. He is also the co-founder of Toto Funds the Arts, which nurtures, encourages and rewards new voices and emerging talent in the arts.Anmol did not, however, aspire to become a professional in the field of philanthropy. His early fascination was with the arts, especially theatre and music, and also philosophy, which he studied at the Universities of Poona, Oxford and Cambridge. He taught ethics, logic and the history of philosophy at Elphinstone College, Mumbai, in the 1970s.His writing and talks — on arts entrepreneurship, the creative economy, cultural policy, the role of grant-making foundations, culture and development, arts collaboration and the performing arts, for example — have reflected on the insights he has gleaned from his long engagement with the arts and philanthropy.Anmol has been associated with nearly 50 plays as a director, designer or actor.He has directed theatre productions in different languages and cities. His last two plays — Innocence (2024) and Apne Ghar Jaisa (2022) — have been lauded for their sharp and critical look at contemporary social and political realities in India.