Theatre Talk
Uncle Sam can sing and dance:
Bringing on Broadway in Pakistan
Nida Butt returns from training in the States to take musicals to a whole new level in Pakistan

Muniba Kamal
Karachi

It was a unique evening, not a grand affair by any means. "Pakistan American Cultural Centre and Made For Stage Productions cordially invite you to a Broadway Theatre Acting Music and Dance Performance by American Voices Group," read the card. The security was scarily secure though. The invite cautioned you to "bring this non-transferable invitation card with envelop with you. Please also carry your original NIC."

PACC is an institution where plays and jam sessions are held every other week. It's also known for teaching people English. One has had a number of household help who went there to study the language and moved up to careers more substantial than cooking and cleaning. Made For Stage Productions is Nida Butt's company that has put a whole new spin on theatre in Pakistan buy putting up plays like Chicago and Mamma Mia!. The only unknown factor in the evening's equation was American Voices.

It's an interesting company. Created after the break up of the Soviet Union to "fulfill the need for quality, constructive American cultural programming in the newly independent nations of Central and Easten Europe," according to the brochure. American Voices is one example of how the US reaches out to influence hearts and minds and create goodwill beyond high handed interventionist politics it is notorious for as the sole superpower in a unipolar world. After that American Voices has developed programs for countries in the Middle East like Iraq and Lebanon and the Far East like the Philippines. And goodwill was exactly what theatre professionals like John Ferguson, Carole Hanna McCann and Michael Parks Masterson created in the 30 odd students they had in Karachi.

The performance that featured songs from musicals like Grease, Hairspray and Les Miserables amongst others was outstanding. Forget the dancing; the choreography was fantastic, better than anything one has witnessed locally so far - it was the vocals that blew one away. Theatre actors like Kiran Chaudhry, Sanam Saeed, Zoe and Rachel Viccaji, Tara Mahmood, Nadir Hillfram and others who one has seen perform on the Karachi stage sang as one cohesive whole, even when singing different parts of a song for effect. The vocal training they had received made the songs come alive like no one's business.

"I knew they could sing, but I didn't know they could sound like this," an exhilarated Nida Butt told Instep Today after the show. She was also thinking about getting a Broadway professional down for her next production to "train the hell out of them." Nida built bridges with theatre people in the States after going for an Art Presenters program at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. and if she builds this relationship, this evening is a sign of things to come.

In between the many costume changes, Michael Parks Masterson, a vocalist, dancer, choreographer and director regaled the audience with Broadway songs, to John Ferguson's tasteful piano playing. However, one felt that the songs they chose were too slow and were quite a come down after the hyperkinetic performances by the Pakistani performers. Perhaps they needed to keep it low key, because just imparting all that training for a week must have drained them completely.

On coming out of the theatre, I was laughingly asked the question, "What do you think of the colonization of our theatre?"

I said it then and I'll say it again. This was a brilliant effort. Apart from Nida, there was a gentleman there by the name of Omair Rana, a theatre person from Lahore who was just as exhilarated after. He's making a living out of doing and teaching theatre, not an easy task in a city where threats form extremists and corporate sponsors pulling out has shortened the list of nine plays he was supposed to stage to a paltry three. He found the experience to be a revelation as did everyone else.

American Voices left the next day to train more people in Islamabad and Lahore. At the PACC they also announced that two more people have been selected for the program at the Kennedy Center, including one from the National Institute of Performing Arts (NAPA) in Karachi. Since NAPA is concentrating on doing plays in Urdu, it will be interesting to see what they get out of the Broadway experience. Recently NAPA sent Kalidas's Shakuntala in Urdu (directed by Zain Ahmed) to the largest theatre festival in across the border that's organized by the National School of Drama in Delhi. It was a musical with original compositions and won rave reviews across the border. Seeing the way Nida Butt's musicals have been received and with the theatrical expertise of NAPA in mind, it will be interesting to see where they take the genre should they decide to delve in it.

In a country where dance is all but dead; the government of the day frequently clamps down on theatre and sponsors aren't willing investors, if it takes Uncle Sam to give the industry a much-needed lift, so be it!

Project Runway
"More employment opportunities are being created through the fashion weeks"
– Feeha Jamshed

Instep Today: What's your collection for the umpcoming PFDC Fashion Week about?

Feeha Jamshed: My collection is called the  Diamond City. It is basically targetting the different aspects of Lahore: the different social classes and sectors and how they dress, from the desi, rural girl, to the modern urban chick. I am also including menswear in this collection. Why the collection is called Diamond City is because to me, Lahore is the diamond city of Pakistan. It has come along a long way, and has evolved in so many different ways. Apart from that, the city has alot of political as well as cultural importance, more than any other place.

Instep Today: What is your view of holding two/four fashion weeks?

FJ: Well, practically speaking, it is alot of hard work, and requires alot of time and effort from everybody involved in it. However, i do agree that it's great! It's great that so much work is being generated through it not only for our designers, but for also the labour and unskilled workers. More employment opportunities are being created through the fashion week. We're also increasing the national revenue for our country.

Instep today:How will the industry benefit from regular fashion weeks?

FJ: The industry is benefitting in so many ways through this initiative. Firstly, the buying clientale is increasing. Through this, we are publicly displaying our work to the masses directly, rather than keeping private shows which are only attended by the elite of our country. There is more awareness about designers and their works, and it's much better to let the consumers have a look at the work firsthand. Some people follow designers from magazines and fashion shoots, but honestly, some of these shoots can be deceiving. People can get a much better idea of the clothes when they see them worn by models. Therefore its a good way of spreading and increasing business.

Instep Today: When will you be retailing your collection in Lahore?

FJ: I do own a store in lahore actually, but it has been closed for some time due to renovation. However, in case I do find a good offer from a retailer who would like to collect my work temporarily, then i would be glad to look into that. But for the time being, i am waiting for my store to get done with its renovation.

-- Manal Faheem Khan

StarBytes
Amitabh stars in aging hero action flick

The angry young man returns. Well, sort of. Budha: Don't F**k With Him. Yes, that is the name of the film that Big B will be bringing to all kinds of screens near us, possibly a year from April 2010, when shooting is expected to commence.

The firs thought upon reading the title is that Amitabh Bachchan is going to star in a film which puts him in character as someone as revered as Big B is in Bollywood. The next, upon reading the tagline is, well, what the?! The film is being produced by Ram Gopal Varma and some seem to think the tagline is his baby. After all, RGV is someone who likes to make waves when he is not busy taking his mum to awards shows.

Says Jagannath, director Budha, of Mr Bachchan's role in the film: "Mr Bachchan's character is actually quite angry and very violent. I've written the role especially for him. It is that of a 60-year old man who refuses to accept his age. Any time someone calls him budha (old man) he flies off the handle."

Jagannath, who recently remade his hit Pokhiri as Wanted with Salman Khan actually devised the Budha role especially for Amitabh Bachchan.  "Budha is an original screenplay written especially for Mr. Bachchan," says Jagannath, "the challenge was to cast him as a character he hadn't done before. After seeing Paa, I wonder ed what any director can make him do that's new!"

So came about the idea of re-introducing Bachchan to action flicks as an angry…man. However, Jagannath kept in mind the whole age thing.

"The character had to be modified to suit his age. So I thought of a 60-year old man who thinks, acts and fights like a young man."

Rihanna: Please just stop the weird outfits

Something seems to be very, very wrong with certain celebrities nowadays: The term "fashion sense" probably doesn't mean anything anymore. One artist, who illustrates this beautifully, is Rihanna. As if her overly 'funky' hairstyle wasn't enough, she has started to dress in an odd manner, which makes us wonder if she's alright, really.

   She has been sighted wearing some of the most ludicrous of outfits lately. Firstly, her ridiculous ensemble at the Grammies: She seemed to be wearing a dress which looked like abstract art gone wrong. What's worse is that apparently, the fashion critics declared it as a bold attempt, and something uniquely designed, and that she had "rocked the outfit". Has everyone else gone blind too? Why are we encouraging such abnormality?

   Also, one should check her out in her football-inspired outfit. We understand how she might be promoting the super bowl, or showing her love for the sport, but seemingly dressing up like a football, with hoop earrings the size of a goalpost, seems slightly bizarre.

   Another interesting creation is the black and white suit she wore while performing for the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam in Miami. So it helped to attract the attention away from the Big Game for a while, but still, the recurrent theme is evident here too: outfits which are illogical and don't make any sense.

   Therefore, we understand she might be going through a rough patch in her life, or trying to make a statement about her independence as an individual, but dressing up in a way which makes people doubt your sanity, in not the way to go.