Baked in Bangalore
“We really, really love potatoes.” “They also really really love theatre, so much so that they believe they even worship it.
Meet Baked Potato Productions, who’ve got the recipe to good theatre figured out..
Requirements:
23 year old Prarthana Gupta, whose obsession lies in abstract theatre.
22 year old Bhargav Sanketi, to add a flavour of realism.
Procedure :
- Combine to get a pot full of plays about the nitty gritties of human psyche.
- Add multiple rehearsals at odd hours, sprinkled with discipline, for seasoning.
- Bake at 26 degrees celsius of Bangalore.
And Viola! You have it. The end result- Tons of people calling Baked Potato to let them know how influential their plays really are!
So far they’ve been available in three distinct flavours:
Shards of a life – The people around a girl who kills herself
Leviathan – A story of a psychotic killer and rapist
Schadenfreude – A poetic ode to the working of a sadist’s mind
With a spoon full of mystery and a dash of thrill these plays are just the BEST which co-incidentally also happens to be the acronym for their project – Break Every StereoType.
In order to see this project through, the Baked Potato Team requires strong willed individuals. And that means an arduous audition process.
The audition process usually sees a variety of faces, receiving about 100-150 registrations every time. Some of these are absolutely new to the field of theatre whereas the others are enthu cutlets that had been practicing for years. For the three plays they’ve made as of yet, the participants were subjected to a bunch of heated questions – to gauge their personality- and on mashing in the newcomers with the familiar faces, the team of Baked Potato finally boiled it down to actors firm in their determination and strong-willed.
It mustn’t have been easy, with busy schedules and the emotionally challenging content. The prospects of getting too sucked into a character, especially one with depression, were high. But the actors testify otherwise. The plays, they say, turned out to be therapeutic. Meanwhile, even the peeps who auditioned but didn’t make it to the final cast kept in touch and came in for feedback.
This very interest of the people in their thoughts and vision – a phenomenon alien to them during their college years- is the motivating factor for Prarthana and Bhargav to produce various influential pieces, most of which are written by them or their friends.
And now with both the founders travelling abroad within the next few months, Baked Potato sees a possibility of spreading their seeds further.
With a new pair of directors who have the constant support of Prarthana and Bhargav as well as their constant supervision (God bless the internet), Baked Potato will also continue its journey in India.
Prarthana and Bhargav also plan on producing and directing various pieces during their stay abroad. With the kind of initiative, talent and hardwork the team has displayed, one thing you can vouch for – these definitely aren’t your regular potato chips packet with more air than substance.
Thespo Ink 