KOCHI: The pandemic period has been all about self-exploration for many. The shift away from a world as we know it, has inspired us to look for what truly makes life worth living — art, dance, acting, music, cooking and even gardening.To help aspiring actors grow and understand their craft better, actor and theatre specialist Pooja Mohanraj is conducting a four-day online theatre workshop named. ‘Attune’. The title means to make oneself aware, or receptive. “It is said that the actor has to be like a sponge - with a solid exterior, but receptive enough to absorb internal and external impulses or stimuli,” says Pooja.
The four-day workshop will have 10-hour sessions daily. Through its course, Pooja will explore in detail the psycho-physical aspects of acting, and will create a synthesis of eastern and western acting practices. Psycho-physical acting nurtures the relationship between the mind and the body.
It develops an actor’s conscious awareness, identifying the projected sensory and mental states and their reaction to physical stimuli. “The workshop is aimed at training the pre-performative state. I will help the actor develop the body to be able to synthesize performance,” says Pooja.
Pooja holds a Masters in Theatre Arts from the School of Drama and Fine Arts, University of Calicut. She has a Professional Diploma in Intercultural Theatre (acting) from Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI), Singapore (a three year, full-time acting programme). At ITI, she was trained in Eastern Traditional forms and Contemporary Western Techniques.
Pooja has worked with acclaimed directors like Aarne Neeme, Sankar Venkateswaran, Chandradasan, Sasidharan Naduvil, etc. Her major productions include Egle and Cleopatra (a solo play), When We Dead Awaken and Balcony among others. Her productions were staged in prestigious festivals like Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the International Theatre Festival of Kerala, the Ekaharya Theatre Festival, META festival, the Old World Theatre Festival, the Surya Festival, etc. She directed her first play for The Collegiate Theatre Festival for New - Writing in Germany by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller, New Delhi.
She was the recipient of the Scholarship of Young Artistes of Ministry of Culture, Government of India for training in the field of theatre. Her solo “Straitjacket” was performed at the Singapore Writers’ Festival 2018.Apart from being an actor, trainer, curator and arts manager, she debuted her film career in 2019 with the Malayalam movie, One.
TO THE SILVER SCREEN
Apart from being the recipient of the Scholarship of Young Artistes of Ministry of Culture, Pooja made her debut in film with the Malayalam movie ‘One’ The theatre artist also played a crucial role in the Prithviraj-starrer Cold Case.
From Aug 12 - 15
For registration: @poojamohanraj on Instagram