Who are we?
We are a 78-member team of first and second-year undergraduates from Sai University, a private liberal arts institution in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. As part of our foundational curriculum, we take the Literary and Artistic Appreciation course, in which we have been tasked with adapting “The Bones of the Earth” into a stage performance.
Despite our lack of formal theatre education, we are taking on various roles and responsibilities, bringing together our diverse academic backgrounds in various fields, all with the common goal of exploring other domains and emphasizing inclusive and diverse collaboration based on an ethics of care.
We have immersed ourselves in the theatre process for two months and documenting the journey, with the aim to demonstrate the power of creativity in the arts and raise awareness and catalyze action through storytelling.
Backstage
The theatre production of "Bones of the Earth", adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin's Tales of Earthsea, is a collaborative effort between the directors, actors and production team. The process involved adapting the story for the stage, casting actors, designing costumes and sets, and rehearsing tirelessly to bring the story to life. The end result is a captivating and visually stunning production that brings Le Guin's beloved characters and world to the stage
Acting Workshops
To keep you sliding to the edge of your seats, we underwent acting workshops because we are not just masters of on-the-spot drama! Having learned to express with intent and delivering dialogues with eloquence, we hope to stage a truly wholesome rendition of the magical story for you. We were mentored by our very own Madam Akhila, Theatre Nisha and V Balakrishnan with acting skills aplenty.
Music Workshop
The plan was not just to act pretty, but intertwine it with equally good vocals in this little theatre stint of ours. Guided by Mr. Vedanth Bharadwaj, a professional musician, it seemed like all the right ingredients fell into place for us by choosing to include musical tones in the production. We hope to share a multilayered artistic endeavour with the world, harmonizing all these elements.
PC: Grace Joy
Directors' Note
As we bring “Bones of the Earth” to life on stage, an adaptation of the profound work by Ursula Le Guin, we delve into a narrative that transcends time and space. This play is not just a performance; it is an exploration of the human condition, our connection to the planet, and the intricate dance between progress and preservation.
In directing this piece, we endeavor to capture the essence of Le Guin’s storytelling—the subtlety of her characters, the depth of their emotions, and the universality of their experiences. To make the stage a canvas, where the past and future converge, inviting the audience to reflect on their place within the continuum of history.
Our talented cast and crew have worked tirelessly to embody the spirit of the story, ensuring that every movement, every line, and every scene resonates with authenticity and purpose. We are grateful to our sponsors for their unwavering support, which has been instrumental in bringing this vision to fruition.
To our audience, we present “Bones of the Earth” with the hope that it will stir your imagination and awaken a renewed sense of wonder for the world around us. Join us on this journey through Le Guin’s visionary landscape, and may you leave the theatre with a heart full of questions and a mind brimming with possibilities.
Literary and Artistic Appreciation
This foundation course explores literary and artistic expression as a human impulse, a means of experiencing and understanding our world. It invites us into a vast array of disciplines that provide perspectives and tools with which to undertake literary and artistic appreciation - performing arts, visual arts, literature, new media/technology and media studies, art history, creative writing, film studies, performance studies, ethnography, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, environmental studies, business management, politics, social/cultural studies, public policy, law, and philosophy (aesthetics and ethics), to name a few.
Interactions with artists, authors, makers, scholars, and audiences will be afforded both inside and outside the classroom as part of the course. Combining theory and praxis, students will investigate what social, political, economic, and cultural processes – then and now – shape the creation, production, distribution, and reception of literary and artistic works.
The course seeks to engage students in both the making and analysis of literature and the arts, fostering a more nuanced understanding and appreciation of the roles and responsibilities of writers/artists and audiences, and of imaginative representation, performance, and reception in the world. It simultaneously invites questions on which practitioners, genres, regions, and areas of literature and the arts are valued or privileged in different cultures by different constituencies, which are not, and why.
Providing exposure to a variety of written, visual, and performance texts and contexts through readings, lectures, discussion, field observation/research, and student engagement in creative/scholarly activities and projects, the course will open a window into the world of practitioners, scholars, collectives, and institutions engaged in the making and study of literature and the arts.