One night – unforgotten!!!

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.

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.