Vishnudathan Devadas – Feedback on Level 1 Workshop (2023/1)
Email- vishnudathand@gmail.com
All my life I’ve wanted to express myself. Like a human being. Secretly, I’ve held back forever. I’d seen other people do it and excused myself, citing in my head the environments I was brought up in (no hate). I took this fear into class every weekend, and at first I just kind of sat there watching everyone else do their thing. Get the hang of it. Be beautiful. Be entertaining.
Very quickly, however, Vishal made me stop waiting my turn. Through repeating some dreadfully embarrassing acting exercises that broke all my inhibitions, I realized I no longer had to wait my turn. Its always your turn.
Vishal’s workshop invites you into slowly shedding layers of identity and discovering what it means to create and play a character – to consciously construct individuals step by step – their physicality and emotional makeup. This in itself is endlessly rewarding and joyful (looking in the mirror to see someone else). Off stage, in between classes, you start to notice your own makeup and identity. You start to pay closer attention to what made you who you are, and how much of it is “the real you”.
Subtle realisations like this will guide the rest of my life. Its hard to sum up how much this community of loving, encouraging, open minded, hilarious actors have pushed one another every weekend to be braver, louder, and deliberately more foolish under Vishal’s focussed, wildly entertaining guidance. I did not want it to end. But now, its over. And I have to say it was fucking great. And because of it, I’ll always remind myself: Expression is your birthright. Your face was made to goof. You don’t have to ask for permission to smile, you just have to allow it. This workshop allows it and then some.
For all of this and being a friendly intellectual, Vishal, thank you. So. So much. You’ve opened doors I didn’t know existed. (what is love, if not this post right here?)
Nazar, your craft and focus is the sole reason our play came together in the end. Your faith in us despite having to rework the entire skit several times was honestly unbelievable. We really needed that. Thank you for being a great group mentor, on top of being humble and charming and dope as fuck.
Dearest Baba, I have only known you through Vishal and the other Misfits. But I thank you for creating all of them, and through them, this home for fools. You see them carry your power and grace.