Pre-Departure | Joseph Westerfield

      After all the shots and packing, the reality of the trip explained to us at the beginning of this process is coming into fruition. Explaining the project to friends and family has collected a wide variety of reactions ranging form the monosyllabic "wow" to hour long conversations. With less than a week before our departure, I find myself looking back at the process and looking ahead to our stay in India awestruck finding it difficult to articulate my excitement and anticipation with anything other than a "wow."
        Before Kahani, my experience with devised theatre had been limited to campy skits in a classroom or camp setting. This process challenge my perception of theatre from the linear schedule that most of us were accustomed to an exploration of culture and systems that we play a part in our daily lives. Everyday of rehearsal felt like a performance; we would create scenes, movements  and a vocabulary to share with each other. The element of constant collaboration was one of the most rewarding  aspects of this process. I was always amazed at what the ensemble would create and the ingenuity they all possess. Kahani under Irfana's direction  lead me to view theatre less as an institution bound by books and texts, but more as a medium of art akin to paints and clays. We began molding this piece without knowing what it would be or how it would be received on the main stage. Now, after our run in Kalamazoo and on the verge of arrival in Varanasi, I am now curious to see what our work means to a completely different  and widely diverse audiences abroad.
Joseph Westerfield