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.***

Portable Booth goes to schools!

Ever since the launch of my project - where I spread spoken word and performance storytelling in Pakistan I have so far covered around three private schools! 

My aim is to go to government schools as well so I can start sharing their work across instagram (@spokenstage) and twitter (@spoken_stage) to build a unified platform and bridge the gap of education that seems to be creating a cleft in society. 

Main issue is:

Private Education is in English so yes they end up getting all the really cool jobs and opportunities. 

So therefore, I have kept Spoken Stage as an Open Source platform, I want to encourage people to utilize this platform to the fullest and encourage free speech in their own communities. (Eventually) ahhh wishful thinking. 

Furthermore due to my passion for writing and performing I want to somehow create some sort of an audience and sow the seed of performance art and poetry in Pakistan to encourage this art form to flourish. 

So this is Step No. 1 in my journey. 


So what exactly do I do when I go to these schools? 

I do a small presentation about performance storytelling and poetry as well as a small performance of a piece I like to call 'The Spoken Stage Slogan' 
(YES! a three word alliteration)

The presentation that I do includes videos from spoken word artists around the globe, as well as videos by umangpoetry.org - a digital humanities platform that puts up videos of poetry from South Asia with translations (and I happen to work with them!) And lastly I show them videos of poetry and performance that has been interpreted in different ways, with music, animation stage shows etc. Basically, to show the broad spectrum of innovation that performance storytelling and poetry has to offer. 

This is the piece I perform at the beginning of each presentation.


'Write to Ignite'

Don’t seal away your freedom of expression
With the arrival of your wisdom teeth
Don’t lead your life without asking questions
and telling stories and poking at society
And as for
‘log kya kahein gay’ (what will people think)
take this clumsy arrangement of words
and burn it from your memory
Let your eyes wander and find their own path
Try looking through the cracks
that we created when we rattled the earth
we let the dust from our stories rise above us,
like trapped spirits they are set free when we  
walk,
dance,
jump,
When we counteract gravity,
that might pull you back to sanity
Because, it’s okay to let go
Of what you’re told you should know
Because,
Your words are more than
a blinking cursor on a screen
More than the strings of letters
that you make dance through your vocabulary.
 
You might get lost in translation sometimes,
And your thoughts and intentions might get lost
between the crevices of what is and what should be
But there is no right way to write.
So just write to ignite
Light this life up with torches
That glow with your illumination.
And when you wave the light
into the deep down and dark,   
Take a hook and chase down your thoughts,
fish closer to the sea bed.
You’ll find stories, feelings and thoughts,
that you didn’t even think existed

We all have something to say,
We all have bones
that can make our own music
when they are rubbed the right way
so make fire with the friction
between your spine and your mind
And just speak.

I guess the point of opening my presentation with this piece is to encourage the kids to realize that it doesn't matter how and what you right as long as it's coming from within, and as long as it's lighting a fire from inside yourself. 

Here are some pictures of the schools in Pakistan that I visited and tried to spread the joy of storytelling and performance art!

Kids hold up what they wrote! They took the cards from the booth and just wrote whatever came to mind.

Intently listening to the presentation 

Her card says ' I wish to be the first Pakistani woman to reach the moon'
Love Dreamers!. #dreamsdocometrue

Another talented young lady from 9th Grade shares her piece on the Spoken Stage platform!

Kids line up to share their thoughts and and then perform what they have written!

Amazing imagination!

Now last but not least is a lovely little girl Ameera from 7th grade who performed her piece for us when I visited her school!

Click on this link to watch her amazing performance!

Ameera performs! (7th Grader)

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.