An hour before the commencement of the
Drama performance, I deposited my bag carefully in a corner of the changing
room. My stomach was in knots as I entered the door of the stage. I closed my
eyes and slowly took a deep breath. It was a singular emotion that no words can
describe. It began as an aching, an unspecified tenderness in the pit of my
stomach, gradually bubbling into my chest.
Oh, yes, I forgot to write about the function.
It was our University Hostels’ Annual Drama Competition where the hostel
boarders had to write the drama script. My room-mate had written a short drama
named “The drop of dream”. The script was based on the conversation between two
ladies, one is divorcee and typically feminist who is fighting for social
rights for the women and the other one was a Tsunami victim who lost husband
and her only kid.
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| My University Campus |
Few days before the program my room-mate
told me that I had to perform the role of that widow. I denied and tried to
make her understand that I am not a good stage performer. But all my efforts
were in vain. We started rehearsal 20 days before the performance. But till the
day of stage rehearsal, the director, my room-mate was not happy with my acting.
As I had no experience in acting, I never
knew what to expect from the audience. Before entering the green room, I got a
chance to sit in one of the 200 wooden chairs in front of the stage and that
was in the University Theatre hall. I was nervous to sit under bright lights
facing other stage performers.
During my
performance on the holy stage, I gave my best try. In the 75 minutes of my
performance I noticed that there was pin-drop silence in the entire theatre hall.
Such an environment melted away all my tension. Once the drama was over, I came
out from the stage and met the judges as well as my room-mate who was sitting
with them in the same row. It was hugely enjoyable and to listen to them
praising my performance and it filled me with a spine-tingling experience that a
new playwright dreams of.
Although my performance
could not secure the first prize for my hostel, I was thrilled to receive the considered feedback from the judges. From being just an audience, I became a performer.
What a different person I've become but I still love being an audience. But if
I am given any opportunity to be in either a stage performer or an audience, I
will definitely choose the first one.
