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EXPRESSIONS
THEATRE GROUP
 There
wasn't much theatre activity in the city few years ago.
People used to enjoy the occasional plays enacted by
the artists coming from Mumbai and other cities of India.
But today the scenario has changed and theatre is slowly
picking up in the city. And with it many talented artistes
are coming to the fore. Arvind Mittal is one
theatre personality who is doing an exemplary work with
his theatre group - Expressions.
Expressions is a group with many faces and expressions,
providing an access to people to get to know each other,
in the form of stage performances. The theatre group
has been successful in staging English plays in the
twin cities. "The main intention of the group
is to promote, prepare and to be best in front of the
audience," says Arvind Mittal. Expressions
has also been involved with many corporate companies
providing professional and advisory services in the
field of stage and dramatics.
 "There
were only fifteen members in the group when it started
in 1989, but now it has 40 members hailing from different
backgrounds," says Mittal. Till now Expressions
has staged 15 comedy plays in the city. The plays were
mostly in English except Kishen Chander's Sarai Ke
Bahar. "Hyderabadis love to see comedies
and these plays were really enjoyed by the people",
says Arvind Mittal.
Some of the notable plays staged by the Expressions
group include Neil Simon's The Star Spangled Girl,
Seduction, The Good Doctor, AA Milne's
The Man in the Bowler Hat, Anton Chekov's The
Bear, Woody Allen's God, and Arvind Mittal's
Jimkaladi. The Star Spangled Girl, staged
recently at ITC Kakatiya Sheraton, was received well
by t he
audience. Talking about the play, Arvind Mittal says
"The play involves two characters -an editor
and publisher and a writer of a magazine called Fallout.
They are always on the move of creating awareness of
the degenerating American way of life. Their magazine
is not doing well because of number of reasons. One
fine day a gorgeous young brunette moves into the empty
apartment next door. The play takes an exciting shape
filled with the best laugh lines of Neil Simon."
But how did it all began for Arvind Mittal? "I
was working with CMC Ltd in 1989. Then there was an
annual festival in the company. I wanted to make that
event something special and memorable one. Then I got
the idea to stage a play which was appreciated by the
guests very much," says thirty five year old
Mittal about his foray in to theatre. Any reasons for
staging only English plays? "We stage English
plays because the script is available and we are confident
in it. Good Hindi scripts are very difficult to get",
says Mittal.
 Expressions
is coming up with a new scheme to promote theatre activity
in the city. It is planning to offer membership to those
interested. "We promise to hold four stage performances
and four to six theatre workshops each year, "
says Arvind Mittal, the managing director of the group.
The memberships are priced at Rs1,000 for an individual
member and Rs 5,000 for a corporate membership that
allows eight participants. "Sponsorship for
theatre is difficult to come by" says Mittal
and hopes that getting theatre lovers to support it
would be a feasible idea.
Expressions also plans to bring theatre personalities
as guest speakers during the workshops and have several
interactive sessions. As for the performances, it seems
like a good deal because each member is entitled to
bring his or her spouse and two guests as well. But
the workshops are open to members and their spouses
only. The club also opens opportunities for those interested
in working on the production of stage performances.
Contact:
Arvind Mittal: mittalarvind@yahoo.com.
Phone: 780 1240
MAR Fareed
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