Bringing theatre to the doorstep

Groceries, books, clothes, gadgets and appliances, furniture, doctors and medicines… the list of items that can be made available at your doorstep today is endless. But who would have ever thought that something like an acting workshop could also be brought to your very own home?

If you are passionate about acting but don’t have the time to travel, Udaan Performing Arts is at your rescue.

Giving more details about the initiative, Saurabh Gharipurikar, founder of Udaan Performing Arts, says, “I had got several enquiries from people who wanted to attend acting workshops that we conduct. And the most common problem they shared was the lack of time to travel. So we thought about this concept of ‘theatre near you’, where we will be able to encourage more people to take up theatre.

“If there’s a community hall in the apartment or a big room, we can easily conduct the workshop; but the team will be travelling to the location, so there should be a minimum of five people. 

That’s not all! Team Udaan has come up with another innovative workshop called O Womaniya especially for housewives. “Among the enquiries we got, there were quite a few housewives too who raised concern about the timings. Usually, we have either early morning or late evening sessions. But for them, both would be difficult to attend. So we have slotted a time from 10 am to 11.30 am when their partners and children will be away and they,” he says. Interestingly, this unique thought of fulfilling the city’s passion for theatre comes from Saurabh’s own zeal for acting. In fact, he will go any distance to make more people fall in love with theatre. 

Saurabh’s own tryst with theatre began when he was a child. “My mother saw my love for stage and acting quite early and since then she has motivated me to take part in every acting opportunity that I came across. I first went on stage when I was in Class IV. After that, I did a month-long workshop with Rangdhara in 1995 and also joined a regional residential theatre workshop with the National School of Drama held in Hyderabad,” he recalls. Till date, Saurabh has held the director’s baton for 35 plays since the 2008.