Bookworm Trust

A short play, intended to give an insight into the various programmes at Bookworm, was held on 11th July for participants of the Library Educator’s Course. The play was scripted and directed entirely by Stephie Madurai, a young bookworm colleague who has a deep connection with theatre as an art form. During a meeting, when everyone was discussing the events and various programmes for the LEC contact period, Stephie quickly volunteered to script a play.

While she kept telling all of her colleagues and friends to make time for practice, a lot of us often found ourselves busy with work and not listening to patient Stephie. If that wasn’t bad enough, the number of the participants for the play kept changing as a couple of members had other commitments to attend to. Stephie stayed calm, with her vision in her mind and consistently calmed a harried Sujata that all would be well !

Although the script idea was pre planned, the dialogues were added on the spur of the moment. The play was made up of three scenes, where each scene was further divided into two acts. These two scenes happened simultaneously, while one was the action the other froze. One of them was to bring out Bookworm and the difference it makes.

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Looking back, we barely put in practice time, but just the team work made it work just fine. We did the play for two different batches of participants. The first time we performed was in fact the first time all the actors were performing together. Before this all our practices were in small parts. By the second time we performed it, we were confident. It was a great experience, doing what all of us do daily but this time from a looking from the outside perspective.

The visitors got a viewpoint on how we function. At the end they had questions which just meant they paid close attention to us through out. The visitors were a kind audience, who sat through our play in silence, slowly absorbing everything that happened. It was a pleasure meeting them.

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When asked Stephie, how she felt about it, she had a lot to say. “With Bookworm I have found areas of doing creative work.  Sujata, ( Bookworm Director) is always open to new ideas. She was open to the idea of presenting our work to the LEC participants through a performance. I was given the charge and also the freedom of choosing as many actors as I wanted. Since the people working at  Bookworm are not always at the library (as they are more with children and books), the rehearsals happened as and when we got time. The group surprised me with their improvisations during the performance and I feel that our work at the library somehow makes us better actors, as we get into different characters for different Read Alouds. For me it was lovely to enjoy my work and my interest while preparing for this performance.”

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