On 27th of March, 2015, Xpressions, the dramatics club of IIT Guwahati staged a grand performance of the play Jab Sheher Hamara Sota Hai, in presence of no less than the creator of the play himself, Piyush Mishra. As an active member of Xpressions, I contributed by designing its advertisement campaign, besides other whatever little contributions I could. Lets go through the story.
It all started with the call for audition. The play is based on the Broadway classic, West Side Story, which was adapted in Hindi by Piyush Mishra of the theater group act 'Act One' and staged first in 1994 with the backdrop of Babari demolition and Mumbai blast. The story depicts two juvenile gangs of confronting religions fighting for a stretch of a lane and it takes a melancholy turn when a prominent character gets killed in a trivial brawl.
The illustration here was intended to portray the serious theme of the play with an otherwise petite but tormented feminine figure ready to take on the dogmas of society.
The script was studied, the casting done and the practice started. Now it was time to reach out to the audience of the campus. Following was a series of social media campaign posters which were widely shared.
Late night practices, my Nikon D3200, 35mm lens, One by Wacom and Kozuka Gothic as the font... and that was it.
Late night practices, my Nikon D3200, 35mm lens, One by Wacom and Kozuka Gothic as the font... and that was it.
All things done, the campus was finally told that we were going to hold the staging on March the 27th. The buzz was already there, the final poster gave it the final touch.
Invitations extended...
He came...
And we did it...
Shown below is the final 13*10 feet flex poster placed in front of the Auditorium.
The play drew 800 strong audience and had some very scintillating performances which were praised by one and all. It took seven months to actualize, auditions starting in September 2015 and the play being staged in March 2016. The entire cast had 28 actors, the team on the whole was of 72 people including logistics, set design, sound design and light design groups.
This project is dedicated to the awesome people of IIT Guwahati who made the whole thing happen, their vigour and dedication. It was a pleasure working with and for you.
