NEERAJ KABI'S WORKSHOPS

PRAVAH THEATRE LABORATORY'S

THEATRE  WORKSHOPS

We are a THEATRE COMPANY involved in exploring theatre performance, training and research and would be investing a lifetime to achieve artistic excellence in the areas of acting, direction, production and training. We conduct workshops for adults as well as young adults based on our theatre techniques as part of our research and training programs. The workshops are based on theatre skills, theatre exercises and theatre philosophies. They are therefore interactive, active, performance based and learning through fun. Each exercise is designed with an experiential learning. There is an input, a process and then an output.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS:-

We as a theatre company wish to extend and explore the possibilities of  theatre being not only one of the most powerful  tools of  human engagement and debate ( sometimes even entertainment ),  but also a huge  source of wisdom , physical and emotional strength, and ultimately transformation  for the society. Theatre is the pause you take in between your living to take a closer look at your life. Its engagement ultimately helps human beings to generate empathy towards others and become more aware of  themselves, question their surroundings, re-visit their relationships and constantly search for answers.

PARTICIPANT PROFILE:- Each of these workshops are designed and suitable for a particular profile of people. These are specifically mentioned as a note for each of the workshops mentioned below.

Every workshop mentioned below has a more detailed description of the course content, its costs or fees, the material required for the workshop, pictures of past workshops in session, feedback of earlier participants, a list of earlier clientele. These could be provided on request through email.




WORKSHOPS FOR ACTORS AND ASPIRING ACTORS :-

THEATRE WORKSHOP - AN ACTING TRAINING PROGRAM [FOR ACTORS]
Core:- A scientific, methodical training of acting as an art, a science and a way of life for all. The workshop is a serious attempt to raise the bar of performance for actors as well as aspiring actors by introducing a definite technique to acting. This workshop could also be seen as a life-skill workshop
For:- 18 years and above, actors and aspiring actors, open registrations, colleges, acting schools, housewives, any organization of human beings, the film industry, film producers for training new comers.
Days:- 10 days
Timings:- 3 hours daily
Number of participants:- 20 - 30 per batch
Content:- An intensive workshop for actors, aspiring actors and every human being whatever his profession. The workshop reveals to you the immense possibilities of the human body, voice and mind and shows you how to use this wisdom in acting as well as living a fuller life. Theatre is an understanding and exploration of human minds and the human process. It inculcates in the performer a sense of belief, responsibility, complete self-expression, possibilities and an immense desire to reach out. It is ultimately a power to be anything you want to and uses the human apparatus [brain, body and voice] for its creation. The workshop is a scientific, methodical training of a human being’s body, voice, mind and education. It uses elements of traditional Indian martial arts[kalaripayatu], traditional dance[chhau and kathakali], yoga, scientific breathing skills, world painting, world music, physics, body mathematics, human body mechanism, brain theories and masks for training the participants. Stories are narrated during the course of the workshop that reveal simple yet profound philosophies of life and living thereby making acting a natural process of life or a way of life. All Acting is connected to life and living. The philosophies of life are the philosophies of Acting. The workshop is based on the premise that acting does not require talent…..it is a function of the brain.



WORKSHOPS FOR ANIMATORS:-

ACTING FOR ANIMATORS [FOR ANIMATORS]
Core:- A course that helps the animator to physically create the character in himself and understand the finer details of acting. A more complex understanding of performance to raise the quality of acting in animation.
For:- Animation studios, animation institutes.
Days:-2 1/2 days [ Two and a half days ]
Timings:-3 hours on Friday and 9 hours each on the Saturday and Sunday
Number of participants:- 30 per batch
Content:- This is an intensive course for the animator on the body, voice and mind of an actor. Having involved himself directly in the act of acting and directing, the animator experiences an amazing power of self-expression. A course that helps the animator to physically create the character in himself and understand the finer details of acting.
The intention of the course is to introduce acting as an amazing form of art and a great responsibility that goes beyond just earning money. It will prepare the participants to look at acting from a different perspective than merely reacting or responding to a situation as is commonly understood. This course is of tremendous help to the animation industry as it deals at length with character building, voice culture, character growth, gestures, background and inspiration. As the course deals with the body and the mind, joint movements and focus of emotions, muscle control, etc. it would be apt for animation. It’s essentially a course that creates limitless possibilities with the body, mind and voice of a human being. The workshop does not make the animator into an actor. It seeds within him a culture of theatre and drama. He wakes up from his seat to actually physically create the character in himself and ultimately gets in touch with his own life. The workshop makes the animator realize that he has the magical powers touching and moving his viewer.



WORKSHOPS FOR CORPORATES :-

1.THEATRE  WORKSHOP EXPLORING RELATIONSHIPS AND EMOTIONS [ FOR CORPORATES ]

Core:- An experiential workshop that explores various perspectives of looking at relationships at work as well as  personal relationships and how these emotions can create a more conducive  human working environment

Content :- This theatre workshop will introduce you to the inherent possibilities of theatre exercises to build emotional awareness and understanding of relationships. Relationships form the core of our emotional quotient. Personal relationships in your family, show up at work and vice-versa. Better, stronger, more honest relationships help you perform your tasks better in life and take you closer to the truth of who you are and who you want to be.

This workshop will introduce you to the ways in which theatre makes you more aware of the context of each relationship that you share with various individuals. It addresses the urgency to re-look at our relationships with ourselves, our families, our spouses, our children, our colleagues at work and our immediate surroundings. This in effect would create a very healthy and positive human working environment.

Participation:- 20 participants

Duration:-  4 hours

Space:- a huge empty, carpeted  space for participants to move around freely. There would be a lot of ground exercises and ground sitting. Chairs would be arranged along the three walls only to be used during certain exercises. Participants with knee or back problems could use chairs throughout the workshop.

Workshop format:- participants would be constantly involved in activities that require physical movement leaving them very little time to sit on chairs unless the exercise demands it.

2.THEATRE  WORKSHOP EXPLORING COMMUNICATION AND SELF-EXPRESSION [ FOR CORPORATES ]

Core:- A physical and psychological experience of exploring and enhancing the quality of effective human communication and honest self-expression in an organization so as to encourage a more  productive work culture.

Content:-  This workshop is designed with physical and emotional activities based on theatre philosophies that generate a spirit of learning by not merely understanding but experiencing. The workshop would revolve around a theatre TEXT from a renowned play which would be given to each participant. With this theatre text as a base, we would explore SUB-TEXT, PHYSICAL TEXT, VERBAL TEXT AND CONTEXT in human communication. Performances with the text would be encouraged only towards the end of the workshop. Group theatre exercises would help the participants ease out and feel comfortable thereby preparing them for the individual activities. At another level, the workshop reveals the fact that every communication in the organization by an individual is an expression of the individual’s personal culture and sensibility. The idea eventually is to make the participant break certain personal barriers that prevent him/her from an honest effective culture of self-expression and communication. The workshop aims at sharing, experiencing, expressing, listening, opening up and sensing.

All these qualities are taught through very practical / hands on methods using Theatre as a tool. Each exercise has a powerful learning experience and can be easily adapted to the corporate work culture.                                                                                 

Participation:- 20 participants

Duration:- 1 day session [ 10 hours including a lunch break of 45 minutes and a tea break of 15 minutes ]

Space:- a huge empty, carpeted  space for participants to move around freely. There would be a lot of ground exercises and ground sitting. Chairs would be arranged along the three walls only to be used during certain exercises. Participants with knee or back problems could use chairs throughout the workshop.

Workshop format:- participants would be constantly involved in activities that require physical movement leaving them very little time to sit on chairs  unless the exercise demands it.

3.THEATRE  WORKSHOP EXPLORING THE POWER OF LISTENING IN TEAM WORK [ FOR CORPORATES ] [ OUTDOOR ]

Core:- An OUTDOOR  corporate workshop using theatre, martial arts and music to physically and emotionally experience the power of listening so as to upgrade the quality of team work and team sensitivity in the organization. 

Content:- This workshop brings together the arts and sciences of Theatre, Traditional Martial arts and Classical music and uses them to explore a higher quality of listening. It is a very powerful learning experience for the corporate world as it works on the physical body, the mind and the spirit of the participant in an outdoor location. An outdoor location automatically opens up a very different physical space for the participants. There is a sudden outburst of energy and an expansion of the physical, psychological and emotional aspects of the human body. Due to this physicality, the soft skill of listening to one’s self and others in the team gets activated and understood in a much larger context. The participants go through a constant series of activities with partners as well as teams throughout the workshop. This continuous experience of working with a team and partners with such extreme physical sciences of martial arts, theatre and music creates within the participant a very deep impact of team listening and sensibility. Each exercise has a powerful learning experience and can be easily adapted to the corporate work culture. As each of these sciences are taught by an expert in the respective field, the participants enjoy the exercises and have fun learning from teachers of high caliber.  

Participation:- 40 to 50 participants

Duration:- 1 ½  days [ 4 hours in the evening on day 1 and 9 hours on day 2]

Space:- Outdoor location – at a resort with a swimming pool and preferably a hilly terrain.

              Indoor requirement-  a huge empty, carpeted  space for participants to move around freely. There would be a lot of ground exercises and ground sitting. Chairs would be arranged along the three walls only to be used during certain exercises. Participants with knee or back problems could use chairs throughout the workshop.

Workshop format:- participants would be constantly involved in activities that require physical movement leaving them very little time to sit on chairs unless the exercise demands it.

Accommodation, travel , food:- To be organized for three conductors [ Neeraj Kabi + two more partners ]

Additional Conductors:- Christopher Fernandes [ martial arts ],  Satish Krishnamurthy [ music].

4.THEATRE  WORKSHOP EXPLORING PERFORMING AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS [ FOR CORPORATES ]

Core:-  A unique and extensive  workshop that  enhances individual performance and leadership qualities in corporate organisations through a very powerful  theatre experience that uses theatre exercises, acting concepts, music, paintings, breathing, traditional body sciences, masks and  puppets.

Content:- This is a very unique  workshop for the corporate sector, designed in a scientific manner to make the participant go through an actual intensive experience of “THEATRE” as a performing art whose philosophies and methodologies could be used to enhance the quality of individual performance and leadership attributes in corporate organizations. It would use elements of THEATRE, PAINTINGS, MASKS, PUPPETS, MUSIC AND  MARTIAL ARTS . The workshop ultimately questions and addresses what every individual in the organization would leave behind for its people to identify with. It addresses the values of awareness, openness and acceptance. Each exercise has a unique learning experience and can be easily adapted to the corporate work culture. In a much larger context, it explores the choice to become the kind of person you wish to be, the kind of mind you want to inherit, the kind of physicality you wish to experience, the kind of relationships you wish to build with others and by re-experiencing human life situations, tries to move closer to the truth. It is about the choices you make every moment with your thoughts, action and speech that affect your future state. Theatre exercises and philosophies sensitise  you to higher levels of feelings so that you can relate and express much more effectively and powerfully in any human environment. At another level, your individual capacities of leadership, team work, communication and  inter-personal relationships get empowered as you experience and participate in the Arts. 

Participation:- 20 core group  participants

Duration:- 30 hours [ 3 hours daily on week days and 8 hours on the week-end ]

Space:- a huge empty, carpeted  space for participants to move around freely. There would be a lot of ground exercises and ground sitting. Chairs would be arranged along the three walls only to be used during certain exercises. Participants with knee or back problems could use chairs throughout the workshop.

Workshop format:- participants would be constantly involved in activities that require physical movement leaving them very little time to sit on chairs unless the exercise demands it.

WORKSHOPS FOR YOUNG ADULTS :-

1. THEATRE WORKSHOP -THE ART OF PERFORMING [FOR YOUNG ADULTS]

Content:- The workshop uses theatre exercises, speech techniques, breath & voice exercises, music, paintings, kabuki masks, bun-raku puppets, yoga, dance and martial arts to give a complete theatre experience to the participant. It is a scientific training  to the craft of theatre and acting. Acting is the art of becoming anything that one wishes to, a great art of coordination and being one with what you do. The workshop essentially exposes the participant to the huge and amazing possibilities of methodical performance styles in theatre using various dramatic text pieces. 

What it does:- The workshop intends to do the following to the participant:- a) trains the participant to put his body and soul into  whatever he performs b) exposes the young adult to the huge and amazing possibilities of methodical performance styles in the theatre.

For:- 12 – 16 years

Duration:- 3 ½ hours

Days:-  10 days

Participation:-  30

Language:- English

Presentation and parent’s workshop:- on the last day for 1 hour

2. SPEECH AND VOICE CULTURE [FOR YOUNG ADULTS]

Content:- A workshop on self-expression that explores breathing skills, belief, emotions, clarity, projection, sound and techniques of approaching classic text pieces from literature, poetry and drama. The workshop attempts to remove the fear of speaking and inculcates a strong sense of belief in one’s own self. It makes the children realize at the end that speech is a very powerful tool  to reach out and connect to the world regardless of who you are speaking to. To touch, move and inspire your listener. The workshop ultimately opens the entire vocal system and teaches the child  to be one [ in body and mind ] with what he/she speaks, to be herself/himself and not put on an act of speech.

What it does:-  The workshop intends to do the following to the participant:- a) Uproot and remove the fear of expressing and speaking to an audience, b) help him explore the  delivery of dramatic texts with belief,  feelings and honesty in self-expression. 

For:- 12 – 16 years

Duration:- 3 hours

Days:-  10 days

Participation:-  30

Language:- English

Presentation and parent’s workshop:- on the last day for 1 hour

3.PERFORMING ENGLISH THEATRE IN INDIAN TRADITIONS [FOR YOUNG ADULTS]

Content:- An enriching body-speech coordination workshop that teaches the participant the unique skill of performing English theatre pieces in Indian traditions of dance and martial arts exploring new speech patterns. The quality of speech improves due to the understanding of the physical rhythms. The body begins to participate in the speech of the performer. The workshop trainers are an experienced team of professional performers in Indian traditions of Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kalaripayat , percussion and English speech. The participants are trained in all these forms over a period of ten days where they learn to use the Indian traditions and explore English text pieces of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. The workshop attempts to improve the emotional intelligence of the child and wakes up the participant’s body out of slumber. The performer experiences an inherent confidence at the end of it all. A shy participant experiences a sudden let-go of inhibitions.

What it does:- The workshop intends to do the following to the participant:- a) Wakes up the participant’s body out of slumber, b) The participant  develops a power to co-relate speech with evolved artistic movements and classical music.

For:- 12 – 16 years

Duration:- 3 hours

Days:-  10 days

Participation:-  30

Language:- English

Presentation and parent’s workshop:- on the last day for 1 hour

pravahtheatre@gmail.com          +91 9819289504        http://neerajkabi.blogspot.in