Courtesy - Muse India: Issue 39, September/October 2011
Book Review
Harish Trivedi
Exit-stance
A Play
The Sharonom Media Group (2011)
895 Kentshire Drive, Dayton, Ohio 45459-2327
Pages 46+ :: Price $15.95
ISBN 978-0-578-07767-3
Drama of an old man refusing to die and hell-bent on living
Here lies OM.
OM.Com!
OM, calm at last and silenced forever!
Life has deserted OM; and Death, as always, has won!
His body was burnt not at the stakes
But at an electric crematorium. And
What remained was a heap of ashes
Salvaged from an ass-hole.
An ash hole for an asshole!
Finally dissolved with the five elements.
The above seriocomic poetic epitaph is scripted by OM – for himself, the only protagonist in the melodramatic one-Act monodrama - Exit-stance – who lives his final days in a nursing home for assisted living; and is torn between life and death, between traces of hedonism and shadowy spiritualism; and who suffers isolation and loneliness. And the character, who has none to turn to, presents us with a lot of gallows humour. In one moment, OM is curious about - and wants to see - his own death. So he says:
“No one has ever said what it’s like to be dead. I want to enjoy my death. I want to be fully aware of my final escape, the ultimate liberty!”
But in another moment, he is dead scared of death; and is insistent on living out. What for? Yes, he wants to enjoy the life the way he wants to. His libido is aroused when the nurses attend on and touch him. “… a mere thought of lust and sex keeps me alive!”
But soon he realises, albeit fleetingly, and despairs: “But what good is lust when youth has fled?” and taunts himself, “What a pathetic and perverse craving for human touch!” But is sexual urge an abomination or an abnormality for a man of his age? OM answers: “Lust and desires are normal feelings. And I think I am too just f…ing normal!” Mind you, this is not the only time OM chooses the four-letter word; he, in fact, suffers from oral diarrhoea of them. The doc tries to dissuade him from the compulsive addiction, but to no avail, for habits die hard, much less the instinctually obscene ones.
We’re treated to bouts of bawdy jokes, every now and then. He even makes fun of his name OM – the sacred Hindu syllable as well as an acronym of how he is called, Old Man. In a disgusting mood, he has this dig at his name: “I am not THAT OM! Instead of ‘OM tat sat’, I am OM tat shit…”
When it comes to the male doctors, he feels “like grabbing the crotch of a student doctor and squeezing his balls” whenever he is “upset and angry.” But the sight of a female nurse turns him on. “If this is a nursing home then why a big bosomed nurse hasn’t nursed me?” he longingly rues.
By now it’s evident that OM is certainly not in the class of a Tennyson’s Ulysses synonymous with a spirit of adventure and the concomitant heroic struggle or of a Hemingway’s Santiago, a symbol of stoic and silent struggle. OM, no doubt, has no nobler goals for the remainder of his life, yet he wages a struggle - a paranoid mental conflict; and also suffers an ethnic conflict and a cross-cultural dilemma, having his roots in India – though untraceable – but living in America. He pooh-poohs the various racial and sub-racial identities, and asks – why can’t all of us be just humans - for he finds himself to be neither an American nor an Indian? Despite his quarantined existence, “deaf and legally blind” status, a life of vacuum, “Isolation, desolation, frustration and anger,” and his body being “nothing but an ill-smelling heap of bones, skin and blood,” - he is hell-bent on surviving and continuing to live … to enjoy the good things of life!
And OM, by that very token of being an ordinary mortal like most of us, is a representative of a massive majority. So everyone can relate to and touch a chord with him. It’s how Harish Trivedi - the playwright – moulds the character of OM, in a postmodernist universal cast influenced as he is by Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett in whose birth centenary homage he wrote this play.
It needs guts and creativity of a high order to write a full length piece on the travails and derisive idiosyncrasies of a typical old man and the dreadful old age. The author has, evidently, succeeded in closely and deeply studying the geriatric psychology from various angles. He extracts the secrets from the darker recesses of the protagonist’s subconscious and makes him boldly and unhesitatingly vent his feelings.
No wonder, Harish Trivedi could bring it off what with his credentials. An Indian American – living in the US from mid 1960s – Harish has a doctorate in Theatre and Communication and is an associate of the Dramatists Guild of America. He is also a prolific journalist-poet-writer-translator – with his works appearing in English, Gujarati and Hindi. He is the founder Trustee & Chairman of the India Foundation in Dayton, Ohio; “his plays have a distinct Indian ethos” appealing to the “sense and sensibilities of viewers and readers… in the US,” says the author’s profile appended in the book.
Not everything OM chants can be dismissed as senile balderdash. Some of his observations stand out as a testimony to his wide reading, poetic taste, wit, experience, and keen observation of life. We also perceive that he is ‘bipolar’ – tossed between American materialism and Indian spiritualism, though he quips he is ‘multi-polar’ to the doctor’s diagnosis that he is bipolar. Tongue in cheek, OM remarks that the staff at the nursing home “changes frequently and fast – even more often than my bed sheets or towels.”
OM draws a nuanced distinction between freedom and liberation, while in an extreme mood of dejection. “I don’t need freedom; it is meaningless! I need liberation, liberation from my self.” All of us know that in our world - a topsy-turvy world full of hypocrisy - appearance need not be reality. See how OM puts it: “People are always pretending. Life itself is pretending – Pretending, masking, and hiding!”
Also notice how effectively OM portrays the monotony of the grind of a life lived cosmetically: “I used to go to a spa every day. Going around the jogging track, walking or running on the treadmill, lifting weights, riding a stationary bicycle… doing all that and still remaining in the same place.”
OM’s mind goes through a chiaroscuro of memories – of movies, music, books of literature, great personalities; as a result we’ve a quotation to suit his every mercurial mood. Being an American Indian, his mind sweeps across the Western world as well as India. Scriptures like the Rig Veda, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, aphoristic literature like Bhartrihari Shataka, movies like Gigi (English) Jagate Raho, and Mera Naam Joker; diverse personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, PB Shelley, Neil Armstrong, Mata Hari, Freud, Descartes, Maurice Chevalier, and Clarence Day are paraded before us.
All this hyperactivity of his mind erases the timelines for him so much so he feels that he exists “in a timeless zone!”
OM’s self-unsettling loneliness causes a mental drift in him. He imagines things; he sees a cat that isn’t there; and even plays with it, only to drive it away. He is ‘the Duke of Darkness’ and “a camera obscura, a dark chamber with a lens that has turned things upside down.” At the same time, his bizarre and disjointed thoughts sometimes glimmer with coherence and agreeable reason.
Mortally afraid of death, for all his iconoclastic philosophy, OM panics and collapses on seeing (in his hallucinations) a duster plane hovering over him. When he comes to, he flies into a flash of eschatological spirituality and reconciliation by invoking the Holy Grail, the Five Elements and the Shanti mantra; but even before the chant is over, he swoops down onto his wonted earthly bohemian reality where he belongs and declares “I do not need to find any holy or unholy grail… for me it is always going to be singing and dancing…,” unmindful of his irreversible physical limitations! So go on and celebrate the bacchanalian revelry!
Thus, “Important is the OM’s universality… He is a kind of everyman ranting about the injustices of life. His ethnic identity fixes the play in reality, but the specific Indian identification of OM transcends mere individual concerns…,” remarks Dr Robert Conrad, Professor Emeritus, Dept of Languages, University of Dayton, Ohio, and he proceeds to teleologize the character’s raison d’être: “OM maintains his dignity with irony and humor as he confronts his end. His disquieted suffering and his methods of coping provide a bitter hope to all who face the last stage of existence.”
The strength of this one-act & one-character play lies, perhaps, more in its performance than in its reading as a closet drama – unless the latter is taken up with necessary breaks, for otherwise the reader could feel some monotony however powerful the monologues are. The writer has incorporated elaborate stage directions; and set the play, aptly, in a late winter night. Following these directions and with assured technical effects, histrionics, and music regularly fading in and fading out - the punch and poignancy, the absurd and the black humour would briskly come into bold relief in performance. And yes, the play has a good track record: having been staged at Clayton and Cincinnati, Ohio; while the author rendered its staged reading at a theatre in Mumbai, sponsored by the government of Maharashtra.
Showing posts with label Exit-stance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exit-stance. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Exit-stance - More than a play on words By Tevia Abrams
Harish Trivedi, transplanted from India and residing in Dayton, Ohio, sends an old curmudgeon on a theatrical journey in a nursing home; it is a journey at once harrowing, comedic and totally existential. I refer to the one-character play, ‘Exit-stance’, which Trivedi wrote in 2006 in homage to playwright Samuel Beckett’s birth centenary, and which was premiered in Ohio in 2007, with subsequent production the following year at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Curmudgeon of the piece is OM, or Old Man, who serves, among other purposes, as metaphor for the immigrant’s condition within American society.
As I came across a copy of the script only recently, I am unable to report on the original production; however, I was impressed in the reading by Trivedi’s manner of tracing OM’s voyage in monologue form through loneliness, isolation and despair, despite the proffered medical services, facilities and managed care within the confines of his nursing home. To make matters worse for OM, he is hobbled at the very outset of his journey by the fact that he is both deaf and legally blind.
The monologue form is enlivened through the use of audio and visual effects to heighten audience interest. So there are snippets of nostalgic American and Indian songs – some even from old Indian films, as, for example, ‘Zindagi Kwab Hai’ from the film ‘Jagate Raho’:
“Zindagii khvaab hai khvaab men jhuuth kyaa Aur bhalaa sach hai kyaa Sab sach hai Zindag I kvab hai”
In his tirades, interspersed with poetic asides, OM curses his entrapped situation; but in a calmer and more thoughtful moment, he can say, with resignation: “This is a warehouse for old people. No, this is a place for rich homeless people, people whom nobody wants, society’s rejects.”
At this point in the play, we learn that the old man is aware of the broader meaning of his existence: “So OM I am. OM is the first sound, the first Word – ‘Aadee Swara’ in Sanskrit, the first symbol of the entire universe.” But he quickly turns from it: “I am not THAT OM!” This is but one of many moments where we see OM struggling with intense desire to recapture some sense of personal worth and dignity.
Personal memory is important for OM, as he turns at times to comforting passages from the ‘Rig Veda’, where the ‘dawn’ is equated with hope. Given that he is now blind, OM cannot really share that hope.
All this might suggest the work a gloomy piece, but in fact the melancholy is balanced by moments of sardonic humor and by occasional sound bites of recorded poetry by Shelly and Robert Frost on beauty and dying. Other projections of sound, music, and occasional voices of cold institutional medical authorities help to broaden and enrich the landscape and cultural dimensions of the stage. And there is a tender moment with OM’s cat, whose mewing breaks a moment of dramatic silence.
As the play nears its close, OM offers a prayer that would appear to represent an utterance from his soul, his Atman. Is he ready to be reconciled to his fate?
“Remember, O Lord, remember OM; and remember my deeds . . . Peace! OM, shanti, shanti, shanti.”
But, no, the Old Man suddenly recoils from going the way of traditional acceptance of man’s fate. He’d rather take leave of the world in a jaunty manner, “singing and dancing . . . didn’t I say I had no regrets?” At this, the stage directions call for filling the theatre with Frank Sinatra’s bravado come-what-may song, ‘My Way’, which takes the play to its curtain.
I can only imagine how audiences might have responded to Trivedi’s sensitive mix of monologue with the varied Western and Indian audio materials. They must surely have been touched to the core by the OM’s struggles with hopes and fears about life, death, and the meaning of personal and social existence.
# # #
Tevia E. Abrams completed post-graduate studies on traditional Indian theatre with research focused on the Tamasha folk theatre form of Maharashtra, India.
Mr. Abrams, a Canadian, and now permanent US resident, was recruited by the United Nations Population Fund, and served variously at headquarters and in India. He is currently retired but remains committed to his playwriting activities.
As I came across a copy of the script only recently, I am unable to report on the original production; however, I was impressed in the reading by Trivedi’s manner of tracing OM’s voyage in monologue form through loneliness, isolation and despair, despite the proffered medical services, facilities and managed care within the confines of his nursing home. To make matters worse for OM, he is hobbled at the very outset of his journey by the fact that he is both deaf and legally blind.
The monologue form is enlivened through the use of audio and visual effects to heighten audience interest. So there are snippets of nostalgic American and Indian songs – some even from old Indian films, as, for example, ‘Zindagi Kwab Hai’ from the film ‘Jagate Raho’:
“Zindagii khvaab hai khvaab men jhuuth kyaa Aur bhalaa sach hai kyaa Sab sach hai Zindag I kvab hai”
In his tirades, interspersed with poetic asides, OM curses his entrapped situation; but in a calmer and more thoughtful moment, he can say, with resignation: “This is a warehouse for old people. No, this is a place for rich homeless people, people whom nobody wants, society’s rejects.”
At this point in the play, we learn that the old man is aware of the broader meaning of his existence: “So OM I am. OM is the first sound, the first Word – ‘Aadee Swara’ in Sanskrit, the first symbol of the entire universe.” But he quickly turns from it: “I am not THAT OM!” This is but one of many moments where we see OM struggling with intense desire to recapture some sense of personal worth and dignity.
Personal memory is important for OM, as he turns at times to comforting passages from the ‘Rig Veda’, where the ‘dawn’ is equated with hope. Given that he is now blind, OM cannot really share that hope.
All this might suggest the work a gloomy piece, but in fact the melancholy is balanced by moments of sardonic humor and by occasional sound bites of recorded poetry by Shelly and Robert Frost on beauty and dying. Other projections of sound, music, and occasional voices of cold institutional medical authorities help to broaden and enrich the landscape and cultural dimensions of the stage. And there is a tender moment with OM’s cat, whose mewing breaks a moment of dramatic silence.
As the play nears its close, OM offers a prayer that would appear to represent an utterance from his soul, his Atman. Is he ready to be reconciled to his fate?
“Remember, O Lord, remember OM; and remember my deeds . . . Peace! OM, shanti, shanti, shanti.”
But, no, the Old Man suddenly recoils from going the way of traditional acceptance of man’s fate. He’d rather take leave of the world in a jaunty manner, “singing and dancing . . . didn’t I say I had no regrets?” At this, the stage directions call for filling the theatre with Frank Sinatra’s bravado come-what-may song, ‘My Way’, which takes the play to its curtain.
I can only imagine how audiences might have responded to Trivedi’s sensitive mix of monologue with the varied Western and Indian audio materials. They must surely have been touched to the core by the OM’s struggles with hopes and fears about life, death, and the meaning of personal and social existence.
# # #
Tevia E. Abrams completed post-graduate studies on traditional Indian theatre with research focused on the Tamasha folk theatre form of Maharashtra, India.
Mr. Abrams, a Canadian, and now permanent US resident, was recruited by the United Nations Population Fund, and served variously at headquarters and in India. He is currently retired but remains committed to his playwriting activities.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Exit-stance - Publisher's Remarks
Publisher’s Remarks at the book launch event for Exit-stance, April 2, 2011 at Ajanta Indian Restaurant, Dayton, Ohio.
Good afternoon everybody and thank you Dr. Percy,
A few months back I decided to start this venture or adventure the Sharonom Media Group. And I am the owner and CEO.
You were probably expecting some big shot publisher from some big city, didn’t you?
But before I go into the details about what our Media Group is all about, I would like to say that Dr. Tom Percy, the long time Trustee and former President of the India Foundation and a very good friend has kindly agreed to formally launch our first publication. I will soon invite him to formally launch our first publication.
Exit-stance is the first publication of the Sharonom Meida Group and right now, while I am talking with you, the folks at the big time local Media Company is shaking in their pants.
According to my partner in this venture, The Sharonom Media Group will be involved in all sorts of media – films, stage shows, Broadway musicals, television, broadcasting, printing and publishing. We are going to have our presence in the cyber world too.
As our first project I signed up a relatively unknown writer from this town. I had to massage his big ego, entice him and kind of seduce him with all sorts of promises … and I am happy to say, it has worked – the publication of Exit-stance – a play written by Harish Trivedi.
For this special occasion, the Sharonom Media Group is offering a special discount. Regular price less the discount makes this book PRICE LESS.
The buyers of this very limited edition book will be provided with a certificate of ownership duly signed by the author himself.
The certificate would make the buyer the legal owner of the book that the buyer can hold and cherish in perpetuity and maybe read it again and again too …
So without much ado and with great pleasure and personal pride I would like to invite Dr. Tom Percy to launch the publication of Exit-stance.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Exit-stance Ownership Certificate
Exit-stanceBook launch
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Ajanta Indian Restaurant
2 pm to 4. 30 pm
Exit-stance
Certificate of Ownership
I, (.....your name), take thee Exit-stance as my lawfully bought book at a discounted price.
I promise to protect, preserve and keep thee for life. I further promise not to loan my copy of Exit-stance to anyone or let anyone borrow thee from me.
Administrator of oath:
You now kiss your Twelve Dollars good bye and kiss your copy of Exit-stance.
I wish you pleasant reading.
Signed this day, Saturday, April 2, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Ajanta Indian Restaurant
2 pm to 4. 30 pm
Exit-stance
Certificate of Ownership
I, (.....your name), take thee Exit-stance as my lawfully bought book at a discounted price.
I promise to protect, preserve and keep thee for life. I further promise not to loan my copy of Exit-stance to anyone or let anyone borrow thee from me.
Administrator of oath:
You now kiss your Twelve Dollars good bye and kiss your copy of Exit-stance.
I wish you pleasant reading.
Signed this day, Saturday, April 2, 2011
Exit-stance: Book Release Report
This is a very belated and long overdue 'news' report of the lanuching of Exit-stance (my play)
Exit-stance book launch event news report:
Note that no big time geriatric literary figure from Gujarat was asked to do the book launch, no fanfare (well there was some of it because the big time dramatist had paid for it), but definitely no press coverage with big photos and pompous speeches... Prior to the formal launching of the book, Dr. Raghava Gowda read excerpts from Exit-stance and that was followed by Sharonjee reading three scenes from my one-character play An Evening with Mary Carpenter. Both the readings lasted a little over twenty-minutes each with a very enthusiastic and standing ovation. (The standing part was due to lack of seats in the restaurant)
And here's my totally unobjective, dramatic and very self-serving report: (Some people just have no shame or any concept of modesty)
Dr. Tom Percy launched the book by tearing off the fancy gift-wrap in which the book was ensconced with a dramatic flourish - appropriate to the occasion and made equally generous remarks about the writing skills of the dramatist and his writing skills. Dr. Percy thanked the Publisher too for this very first publication under the Sharon Media Group banner.
The Publisher then invited the dramatist for his lofty and profound remarks that included his dramatic reading of the legal ownership certificate that was to be provided to the very enthusiastic or very reluctant (take your pick) guests. Over fifty very enthusiastic or reluctant guests clamored to buy a copy of Exit-stance, get their photos taken with the dramatist and of course the obligatory autograph and signed certificate of ownership from the dramatist was provided to all...(Some of the guests took more than one copy of the signed certificate and additional copies had to be printed)
During the remarks by the dramatist and at his urging (thinking that it was inevitable) many of the guests chose to rush for the dessert or to refill their wine glasses. Incidentally the cake was covered with a photo of the cover-page of the book. The cake was covered with the said photo that was printed on edible paper. Yes, this small city in the mid-west has very good bakeries run by descendants of German, Polish and Hugarian immigrants. One could actually hear their grunts from the back rooms where they bake such goodies. (The dramatist thought that the process of kneading the dough for bread and pastries was very sensuous and at times erotic and totally irrelevant part of this news report).
Later the niece of the dramatist Alpa Mahuvakar and her family hosted that evening a dinner with assistance from the Publisher where some thirty hand picked guests were present. The dinner menu was meticulously selected or prepared by Alpa and the Publisher. Merlot from Woodridge winery from the Sonoma Valley flowed like water and was consumed by few guests but mostly by the dramatist.
Just about the time when the guest were getting ready to stagger out of the restaurant, Alpa and the Publisher surreptitiously sprang open a big box of birthday cake. Even though the dramatist's birthday is usually in January this was a surprise celebration of the historic birthday. A truly big surprise for the dramatist! Every one sang Happy Birthday, some hummed while some faked singing. The dramatist made the thank you cum after dinner speech wherein he said how he and the misses generally request to be seated in the non-birthday section of a restaurant where they do not have to listen to some guest celebrating some relative, spouse or mistress's birthdays...
The dramatist now overwhelmed by some indescribable emotions, very tipsy and suddenly feeling very OLD, thanked the guests and staggered towards the car...
It is assumed that good time was had by all or at least by one person - the dramatist!
Now if you can correctly tell me how many times the words the dramatist has appeared in this report you may qualify for a prize that is not worth a damn! (Of course void where prohibited by law or spouse)
(Excerpted from Ass - ociated Press, very Random house report, Barns and Stables news and other unheard of news and wired services)
Exit-stance book launch event news report:
Note that no big time geriatric literary figure from Gujarat was asked to do the book launch, no fanfare (well there was some of it because the big time dramatist had paid for it), but definitely no press coverage with big photos and pompous speeches... Prior to the formal launching of the book, Dr. Raghava Gowda read excerpts from Exit-stance and that was followed by Sharonjee reading three scenes from my one-character play An Evening with Mary Carpenter. Both the readings lasted a little over twenty-minutes each with a very enthusiastic and standing ovation. (The standing part was due to lack of seats in the restaurant)
And here's my totally unobjective, dramatic and very self-serving report: (Some people just have no shame or any concept of modesty)
Dr. Tom Percy launched the book by tearing off the fancy gift-wrap in which the book was ensconced with a dramatic flourish - appropriate to the occasion and made equally generous remarks about the writing skills of the dramatist and his writing skills. Dr. Percy thanked the Publisher too for this very first publication under the Sharon Media Group banner.
The Publisher then invited the dramatist for his lofty and profound remarks that included his dramatic reading of the legal ownership certificate that was to be provided to the very enthusiastic or very reluctant (take your pick) guests. Over fifty very enthusiastic or reluctant guests clamored to buy a copy of Exit-stance, get their photos taken with the dramatist and of course the obligatory autograph and signed certificate of ownership from the dramatist was provided to all...(Some of the guests took more than one copy of the signed certificate and additional copies had to be printed)
During the remarks by the dramatist and at his urging (thinking that it was inevitable) many of the guests chose to rush for the dessert or to refill their wine glasses. Incidentally the cake was covered with a photo of the cover-page of the book. The cake was covered with the said photo that was printed on edible paper. Yes, this small city in the mid-west has very good bakeries run by descendants of German, Polish and Hugarian immigrants. One could actually hear their grunts from the back rooms where they bake such goodies. (The dramatist thought that the process of kneading the dough for bread and pastries was very sensuous and at times erotic and totally irrelevant part of this news report).
Later the niece of the dramatist Alpa Mahuvakar and her family hosted that evening a dinner with assistance from the Publisher where some thirty hand picked guests were present. The dinner menu was meticulously selected or prepared by Alpa and the Publisher. Merlot from Woodridge winery from the Sonoma Valley flowed like water and was consumed by few guests but mostly by the dramatist.
Just about the time when the guest were getting ready to stagger out of the restaurant, Alpa and the Publisher surreptitiously sprang open a big box of birthday cake. Even though the dramatist's birthday is usually in January this was a surprise celebration of the historic birthday. A truly big surprise for the dramatist! Every one sang Happy Birthday, some hummed while some faked singing. The dramatist made the thank you cum after dinner speech wherein he said how he and the misses generally request to be seated in the non-birthday section of a restaurant where they do not have to listen to some guest celebrating some relative, spouse or mistress's birthdays...
The dramatist now overwhelmed by some indescribable emotions, very tipsy and suddenly feeling very OLD, thanked the guests and staggered towards the car...
It is assumed that good time was had by all or at least by one person - the dramatist!
Now if you can correctly tell me how many times the words the dramatist has appeared in this report you may qualify for a prize that is not worth a damn! (Of course void where prohibited by law or spouse)
(Excerpted from Ass - ociated Press, very Random house report, Barns and Stables news and other unheard of news and wired services)
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Exit-stance: Observations and Comments
Excerpts from comments …
"Exit Stance" is a remarkable play about aging. An old man, called only OM, born in India, who has lived most of his life in the US, now spends his final days in a nursing home that provides him with assisted living that dehumanizes him as it prolongs his life. The play is a one-man tour de force of anger and frustration relieved by passages of poetic beauty. Important is the OM’s universality… He is a kind of everyman ranting about the injustices of life, His ethnic identity fixes the play in reality, but the specific Indian identification of OM transcends mere individual concerns. His sense of rootlessness, his living between languages, his sense of belonging to no land and to no culture, his loneliness relieved only by a few memories and snippets of poetry recalled from the classical literature of his youth place OM in one of the grand traditions of literature represented best by Beckett. OM maintains his dignity with irony and humor as he confronts his end. His disquieted suffering and his methods of coping provide a bitter hope to all who face the last stage of existence.
Bob
(Dr. Robert Conrad, Professor of German language and literature, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio)
*****
The staging was effective the actor (Mohan Dali) did a wonderful characterization of Old Man.
I loved the shadow of light from the mirror on the floor. That had the touch of genius in the staging. Also I loved the screen effects and especially the large wide screen and the smoke.
...This play is complex, but it does grow on you and the play does have direction, ... It becomes more and more intimate, and then finally explodes in OM's going totally zonko and imagining that they are coming for him (death?) and then his cat (his Deva? God) comes to him and he throws him away and then finally gets into his bed terrified, only to wake up, (where?) Back here or in "heaven?"
My colleague Robert Conard, who came with me, thoroughly enjoyed the play, as you can figure out from his participation in the dialogue of the discussion session.
I believe this would do better in NYC or Chicago where the F and P and SH words and other four-letter words are common occurrence in their daily life.
From another note from Prof. Enrique Romaguera…
(In retrospect) the F word and others vulgarities are not bad, for they become a statement of who the character is and how frustrated he is to be losing his abilities.
...In my French-training mentality this is a comedy. A darkish comedy but still a comedy with a fanciful tweak. …I loved the ending with the Voices and the Cat. And the constant irruption of Indian melodies from films and of American voices also. This accents the fact that this play really takes place more in his mind than in this senior-care home.
There are very tender moments and some horribly frightening (to him) moments.
Again, I think that your staging of the production was very effective!
I sincerely hope that some time in the future Mohan (Dali) can do this play, or if not him, some other actor.
Again, I think that your staging of the production was very effective!
Jai Bhagwan! (Glory to the God )!
Narad, (Enrique Romaguera)
Professor Emeritus of Languages, University of Dayton
*****
I was able to visualize the production but the main impact was what the lead character says …his feelings and deterioration are powerful.
(The) quote "a crude, depressing and dark comedy-an existential angst form a foul-mouthed frustrated curmudgeon," certainly covers the play. But the actual content seems of a higher nature than the description. The (Old Man) is wrestling with significant issues and raging about them in intellectual and angry ways that I think will hit many people in audience right between the eyes...
Ralph
(Ralph Langer, former Editor/Publisher Dallas Morning News)
*****
The Old Man is caught in an endless loop of figuring out the ultimate questions about life and death.... I also enjoyed the sampling of songs and the deft mingling of Indian and American viewpoints...
Alpana Sharma, Associate Professor, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
*****
I found the recreation of the claustrophobic conditions very good. I (found Exit-stance) as a series of spaces - the space of the (quoted) poetry, the space of literature, of the self and finally of the home all turned in on them.
The neurosis-paranoia was indeed frightening …
… I see the point of this 'unreal' setting as being the character's very real reality (if I am making sense at all). I enjoyed … it for the extreme claustrophobia, which I mentioned above - powerful and scary, redeeming (he has not lost his humor or his literature)…
Pramod
(Dr. Pramod K. Nayar, Dept. of English, University of Hydrabad, Hyderabad, India)
*****
… I so enjoyed working with you and want to thank you for
giving my students a chance to experience some theatre of a different
variety than they are used to. I really thought the play was challenging,
thought provoking, and honest. The show's existential nature is certainly
a clear tribute to Beckett. Great work!
I hope we can work together again in the near future!
Margie Strader,
Drama teacher and Theatre Manager, Northmont High School, Clayton, Ohio
*****
It was my pleasure! My wife and I enjoyed it (Exit-stance) very much, and we spent much of the rest of the day talking about it. Certainly, parts of the story are hard for us to imagine, having both been born and raised in the US. Important, though, for us to consider those issues. And the universality of the story struck me, too, and I thought you conveyed that extremely well. We all sometimes feel removed from our environment and we're always struggling to understand why.
(People who could not attend the opening of the play) …missed a fascinating program.
Again, congratulations!
John (Harris) Executive Director, Cityfolk – a reputed cultural organization in Dayton.
*****
The community is very proud of the fact that the India Foundation has enriched our lives ever since its inception many years ago. You have done a tremendous job in bringing to Dayton a variety of plays, dances and the music concerts for our enjoyment. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to organize these events and you have done this for many---many years. The Exit-stance was such an effort and you have again done a great job in writing, producing and presenting the play on Saturday.
Congratulation!!!
Kailash Mehta
(Trustee, the India Foundation, and a former President, the India Club of Dayton)
*****
…Our community is enriched because of the programs
like "Exit-stance". Alok
(Alok Khare, a Trustee of the India Foundation, former President of the India Club of Greater Dayton)
*****
Congratulations on the successful opening of your play. Chand and I want to express our appreciation for your and Sharon's efforts to bring quality "events" to our lives. The community is indeed the beneficiary of the hard work and efforts of you two.
We enjoyed getting to know Mohan Dali (the lead actor in the play).
Rajiv & Chand
(Rajiv and Chand Verma, a long time patrons of the India Foundation).
*****
Great show. It was clear you put much of your time and heart into the production of Exit-stance and it showed. Very well done!
Mark
(Mark Taylor is a Chairman of the Centerville Arts Commission and is in real estate business…)
*****
The show was very insightful, and well produced. I'm glad I was there to see it.
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!Congrats on a wonderful production.
Suzi
(Suzi Fischer is a member of the Centerville Arts Commission and is a voice and piano teacher)
*****
You have done excellent job, it takes lot of efforts and courage and just and immense zeal to work,
I think response was good. Everybody who attended enjoyed the play.
Keep it up.
Chaitanya & Purnima
(Chaitanya Kadakia is one of the permanent Trustees of the India Foundation, former President of the Gujarati Samaj and former Trustee of the Hindu Community Organization.)
*****
"Exit Stance" is a remarkable play about aging. An old man, called only OM, born in India, who has lived most of his life in the US, now spends his final days in a nursing home that provides him with assisted living that dehumanizes him as it prolongs his life. The play is a one-man tour de force of anger and frustration relieved by passages of poetic beauty. Important is the OM’s universality… He is a kind of everyman ranting about the injustices of life, His ethnic identity fixes the play in reality, but the specific Indian identification of OM transcends mere individual concerns. His sense of rootlessness, his living between languages, his sense of belonging to no land and to no culture, his loneliness relieved only by a few memories and snippets of poetry recalled from the classical literature of his youth place OM in one of the grand traditions of literature represented best by Beckett. OM maintains his dignity with irony and humor as he confronts his end. His disquieted suffering and his methods of coping provide a bitter hope to all who face the last stage of existence.
Bob
(Dr. Robert Conrad, Professor of German language and literature, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio)
*****
The staging was effective the actor (Mohan Dali) did a wonderful characterization of Old Man.
I loved the shadow of light from the mirror on the floor. That had the touch of genius in the staging. Also I loved the screen effects and especially the large wide screen and the smoke.
...This play is complex, but it does grow on you and the play does have direction, ... It becomes more and more intimate, and then finally explodes in OM's going totally zonko and imagining that they are coming for him (death?) and then his cat (his Deva? God) comes to him and he throws him away and then finally gets into his bed terrified, only to wake up, (where?) Back here or in "heaven?"
My colleague Robert Conard, who came with me, thoroughly enjoyed the play, as you can figure out from his participation in the dialogue of the discussion session.
I believe this would do better in NYC or Chicago where the F and P and SH words and other four-letter words are common occurrence in their daily life.
From another note from Prof. Enrique Romaguera…
(In retrospect) the F word and others vulgarities are not bad, for they become a statement of who the character is and how frustrated he is to be losing his abilities.
...In my French-training mentality this is a comedy. A darkish comedy but still a comedy with a fanciful tweak. …I loved the ending with the Voices and the Cat. And the constant irruption of Indian melodies from films and of American voices also. This accents the fact that this play really takes place more in his mind than in this senior-care home.
There are very tender moments and some horribly frightening (to him) moments.
Again, I think that your staging of the production was very effective!
I sincerely hope that some time in the future Mohan (Dali) can do this play, or if not him, some other actor.
Again, I think that your staging of the production was very effective!
Jai Bhagwan! (Glory to the God )!
Narad, (Enrique Romaguera)
Professor Emeritus of Languages, University of Dayton
*****
I was able to visualize the production but the main impact was what the lead character says …his feelings and deterioration are powerful.
(The) quote "a crude, depressing and dark comedy-an existential angst form a foul-mouthed frustrated curmudgeon," certainly covers the play. But the actual content seems of a higher nature than the description. The (Old Man) is wrestling with significant issues and raging about them in intellectual and angry ways that I think will hit many people in audience right between the eyes...
Ralph
(Ralph Langer, former Editor/Publisher Dallas Morning News)
*****
The Old Man is caught in an endless loop of figuring out the ultimate questions about life and death.... I also enjoyed the sampling of songs and the deft mingling of Indian and American viewpoints...
Alpana Sharma, Associate Professor, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
*****
I found the recreation of the claustrophobic conditions very good. I (found Exit-stance) as a series of spaces - the space of the (quoted) poetry, the space of literature, of the self and finally of the home all turned in on them.
The neurosis-paranoia was indeed frightening …
… I see the point of this 'unreal' setting as being the character's very real reality (if I am making sense at all). I enjoyed … it for the extreme claustrophobia, which I mentioned above - powerful and scary, redeeming (he has not lost his humor or his literature)…
Pramod
(Dr. Pramod K. Nayar, Dept. of English, University of Hydrabad, Hyderabad, India)
*****
… I so enjoyed working with you and want to thank you for
giving my students a chance to experience some theatre of a different
variety than they are used to. I really thought the play was challenging,
thought provoking, and honest. The show's existential nature is certainly
a clear tribute to Beckett. Great work!
I hope we can work together again in the near future!
Margie Strader,
Drama teacher and Theatre Manager, Northmont High School, Clayton, Ohio
*****
It was my pleasure! My wife and I enjoyed it (Exit-stance) very much, and we spent much of the rest of the day talking about it. Certainly, parts of the story are hard for us to imagine, having both been born and raised in the US. Important, though, for us to consider those issues. And the universality of the story struck me, too, and I thought you conveyed that extremely well. We all sometimes feel removed from our environment and we're always struggling to understand why.
(People who could not attend the opening of the play) …missed a fascinating program.
Again, congratulations!
John (Harris) Executive Director, Cityfolk – a reputed cultural organization in Dayton.
*****
The community is very proud of the fact that the India Foundation has enriched our lives ever since its inception many years ago. You have done a tremendous job in bringing to Dayton a variety of plays, dances and the music concerts for our enjoyment. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to organize these events and you have done this for many---many years. The Exit-stance was such an effort and you have again done a great job in writing, producing and presenting the play on Saturday.
Congratulation!!!
Kailash Mehta
(Trustee, the India Foundation, and a former President, the India Club of Dayton)
*****
…Our community is enriched because of the programs
like "Exit-stance". Alok
(Alok Khare, a Trustee of the India Foundation, former President of the India Club of Greater Dayton)
*****
Congratulations on the successful opening of your play. Chand and I want to express our appreciation for your and Sharon's efforts to bring quality "events" to our lives. The community is indeed the beneficiary of the hard work and efforts of you two.
We enjoyed getting to know Mohan Dali (the lead actor in the play).
Rajiv & Chand
(Rajiv and Chand Verma, a long time patrons of the India Foundation).
*****
Great show. It was clear you put much of your time and heart into the production of Exit-stance and it showed. Very well done!
Mark
(Mark Taylor is a Chairman of the Centerville Arts Commission and is in real estate business…)
*****
The show was very insightful, and well produced. I'm glad I was there to see it.
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!Congrats on a wonderful production.
Suzi
(Suzi Fischer is a member of the Centerville Arts Commission and is a voice and piano teacher)
*****
You have done excellent job, it takes lot of efforts and courage and just and immense zeal to work,
I think response was good. Everybody who attended enjoyed the play.
Keep it up.
Chaitanya & Purnima
(Chaitanya Kadakia is one of the permanent Trustees of the India Foundation, former President of the Gujarati Samaj and former Trustee of the Hindu Community Organization.)
*****
Exit-stance: A one-character play about an immigrant Indian living in the United States
Exit-stance is a story of an Indian immigrant who is in his 90s and living in a nursing home in this country. He has not visited India in some six-decades. He rambles on about his living in a nursing home, life, death, identity, loneliness, his many phobias and pet peeves. “A dark... comedy of existential angst about a crude, foulmouthed and frustrated curmudgeon. Profane, profound, poetic, humorous and heartbreaking and most importantly provocative!”
It is a remarkable play about aging. An old man, born in India, who has lived most of his life in the US, now spends his final days in a nursing home that provides him with assisted living that dehumanizes him as it prolongs his life. Important is the central character's universality. His sense of rootlessness...his loneliness relieved only by a few memories and snippets of poetry recalled from the classical literature of his youth places him in one of the grand traditions of literature represented best by Beckett.
The central character’s reflection on immigrants in the U.S. and how they carry their past with them and the issue of the two cultures is very insightful...The character is wrestling with significant issues and raging about them in intellectual and angry ways that …will hit many people in audience right between the eyes... The play is complex, but it does grow and as it progresses it becomes more and more intimate, and then finally explodes.
It is humorous and heartbreaking. It is a one-man tour de force of anger and frustration relieved by passages of poetic beauty and humor. One can call it a darkish comedy but still a comedy with a fanciful tweak.
First performed on April 14, 2007 at Northmont High School Auditorium, Clayton, Ohio with Mohan Dali in the lead role.
Exit-stance was selected for performances during the Cincinnati Fringe Festival between May 28th and June 8th 2008. The lead role was performed by Dr. Raghawa Gowda.
It is a remarkable play about aging. An old man, born in India, who has lived most of his life in the US, now spends his final days in a nursing home that provides him with assisted living that dehumanizes him as it prolongs his life. Important is the central character's universality. His sense of rootlessness...his loneliness relieved only by a few memories and snippets of poetry recalled from the classical literature of his youth places him in one of the grand traditions of literature represented best by Beckett.
The central character’s reflection on immigrants in the U.S. and how they carry their past with them and the issue of the two cultures is very insightful...The character is wrestling with significant issues and raging about them in intellectual and angry ways that …will hit many people in audience right between the eyes... The play is complex, but it does grow and as it progresses it becomes more and more intimate, and then finally explodes.
It is humorous and heartbreaking. It is a one-man tour de force of anger and frustration relieved by passages of poetic beauty and humor. One can call it a darkish comedy but still a comedy with a fanciful tweak.
First performed on April 14, 2007 at Northmont High School Auditorium, Clayton, Ohio with Mohan Dali in the lead role.
Exit-stance was selected for performances during the Cincinnati Fringe Festival between May 28th and June 8th 2008. The lead role was performed by Dr. Raghawa Gowda.
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