Mysuru:  I Can The Learning Centre School’s Theatre Club  “Chakalagulli” hosted a unique Playback Theatre Workshop for its parents  for over three weeks recently. Artist Aeryk from New York has been performing and teaching Playback Theatre in the US for over 20 years in all levels of education, and in the community and has been lending his time and talent during his visits to Mysuru mostly with local families and the teachers of the school. The workshop culminated on Aug. 2 at the school’s Intimate Theatre Auditorium with the Playbackwallahs’ show.

While compassion and listening are the primary skills, the format includes sharing a live story or episode from the audience  from their own life and the performers / actors immediately create a piece of Art on the spot with sound, movement, dialogue, and whatever else they bring.

The conductor holds the show together and improvisation has never been as exciting especially live. There are certain ‘forms’ or stylised ways the stories can be re-told giving some structure to the improvisation, and include Fluid Sculpture, Pairs, Tableaux, Chorus and a full story as some of the styles, says Capt. Audrey Maben, School Head.