Thesis to the Real World

From the Thesis to the real world, it has been a long journey, but I must say, all the intense research, teacher/student critiques and existential questionings - it paid off. I feel more prepared to jump into the real world with my dream project, sharing stories and poetry and connecting people through these stories. 

After all the running around to as many schools as I could possibly get into without them thinking I'm some fresh out of college crazy lady, my next step was to have a 'Spoken Stage' event, one of the first with around twelve performers who would grace the stage by performing their original spoken word performance pieces.

Now Spoken Word in Karachi, Pakistan is a very obscure and 'hipster' trend. Of course I feel it is generally considered a hipster trend, but in Pakistan where the landscape for this art form is like a tumbleweed dance floor, it is at a whole new level of being hipster. So encouraging people to come and support this wonderful reading is a tough job. Especially if it has to be done alone, phew. 

However we got quite lucky, Karachi has a great space called 'The Second Floor' or T2f that has a cafe and a space downstairs where events, readings, open mics etc take place. It is a gallery as well as a stage and the administration and owners and some of the most supportive people I have had a chance to be acquainted with. Therefore the space situation is sorted out of course. In the past T2f has also supported British performer and poet Lemn Sissay, so they were quite familiar and enthusiastic about the Spoken Stage's endeavour. 

Step 1

Spread the word - so I personally went to schools and tried to spread the word. haha. 

Step 2

Find a good group of people who will support you and find a reliable space. 

Step 3

Find people who are writers and performers and are generally interested in spreading the word and telling stories. 

Step 4

Pick a date and organize!!!

Poster for the event that took place in March designed by me :)

The kid is a 14 year old writer and performer that I met via suggestions and I also happened to do a presentation at his school. (He's really good) and these kind of things are what keep me going. It's the summer now of course so going to schools might be tough, but I hope to continue next semester.***

Spreading the Word

My passion for spoken word poetry seeped into my design thesis.

As it manages to encapsulate all my favourite things - theatre, performance, writing and visual arts, I realised there is so much potential to explore this particular craft, especially in a richly diverse country like Pakistan with an immense amount of indigenous ingredients to choose from and concoct our very own version of Spoken Word Poetry. 

As part of my Design Thesis, I created this portable booth that goes from one school to the next promoting freedom of expression.

1. The booth is foldable and hence portable, relatively light weight and can fit into a big car, like a van

2. There are writing prompts in the form of photographs available on the booth that can make some creative juice to start flowing

3. Since I wanted it to be interactive communicative and mostly focused on a younger audience due to the booth travelling to different schools, there is a lot of social media being explored.

4. There is an area in the middle where one's phone can be kept and you can either;
a. take a picture of what you wrote on the prompt card
b. record yourself performing or reciting what you wrote on your prompt card

5. This can then be shared on the instagram page @spokenstage or uploaded on facebook!

 








so this is how the folding happens:
The two doors shut like a closet 
and it's time to take it to another place. 

Oh! and in case it wasn't showing in the images,

the table in the center panel also folds down 

to allow the two doors on the side to close in.