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#HGAcademy: At a time where our physical spaces are confined and movement is stifled, the only constant in our lives is our own creativity. For a while, we, at Homegrown have been toying with the idea of evolving our platform into space that inspires generations to believe that their career paths are not limited to those shaped by our society, and that there is a world out there that where creative industries are thriving. Our sole motivation behind this attempt is to shift the needle in the Indian creative industries.
Homegrown as a brand has always stood for responding to the Indian youth’s needs, and to this end, we bring to you HG Academy, to teach you everything your school didn’t. As we spend our days inside our homes and within ourselves, HGAcademy with its commune of creative thought leaders and pioneers will teach you the basics that you might not get access to elsewhere. We hope for it to evolve into a culture of creation, collaboration, discovery through exchange of thoughts & ideas.
The coming weeks will see digital festivals, skill building sessions, new personal & professional strategies and similar efforts towards connecting you to the world of creators to learn and be inspired. The aim is to deep-dive into creative process, new ways of learning, re-imagination of old ways and experience and learn more. This session, we have Homegrown’s very own thespian make a series of recommendations for the crative actor/writer in you.
Pooja Sivaraman, former Creative Producer at @homegrownin, is a theatre-maker from Bombay pursuing an MA in theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (that is, until the pandemic). Her work, which is heavily influenced by contemporary Indian politics, aims to capture the audacious spirit of young South Asians in and outside the region. Pooja’s first play, The Ostrich, was one of the top ten selections for the Un-block Playwriting Competition run by the British Council and Traverse Theatre. As an actor and spoken word artist, she has performed on stages around Bombay and London and was chosen to perform her one-woman piece A Letter To The Guy I Didn’t Sleep With Last Night at the onset event of Yo-Yo Ma’s tour in India (2019). Pooja also teaches a module on sexual consent to teenagers, which she conceptualized using her background in method and physical acting techniques. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @poojasiv
Below is her list of recommendations sorted rubric-wise for you:
I. Books
The Empty Space , Peter Brook (also a film)
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Robert Mckee
Theatre And , (Series eds.) Jen Harvie, Dan Rebellato
(It is a series exploring many different subjects, written by different experts)
The Semiotics Of Theatre and Drama, Keir Elam
III. Online resources
Exeunt Magazine
The National Theatre has put a lot of its recent shows online & for free!
IV. Scripts
I love Duncan Macmillan’s writing.
I also appreciate Caryl Churchill and how she plays with form.
Additionally, I would suggest you to follow:
Eugène Ionesco (particularly for his Le Rhinocéros (1959; Rhinoceros))
In order to make one think differently:
Tim Crouch
Sarah Kane
V. Workshops to attend:
I would say that one is under-25, they can attend Thespo’s writing or acting workshop. I would suggest Abhishek Majumdar’s playwriting workshop in Bangalore. I haven’t done it myself but have heard incredible things about it.
Adishakti: Source of Performance Energy workshop for actors - via The ClassAct Commune
VI. Films to watch
The NCPA in Mumbai and the India Habitat Centre in Delhi do screenings from the National Theatre in London and that is a really good resource.
VII. Artists I follow
Tim Crouch
Faezeh Jalali
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (obviously)
Additionally, refer to this exhaustive reference guide compiled by Ollie Jones
(oliver.jones@york.ac.uk) here.
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