I first met members of Prayas during 2009 at a café in St Lukes shopping centre with the Auckland Council Arts Officer Clare Carmody. The Council had imagined an innovative project that would bring the diverse communities of Mount Roskill, Mount Albert and Wesley together through performance. In the café Amit Ohdedar and Sudeepta Vyas told us about Prayas’s work performing classical Indian plays and we discussed the possibility of creating new work using their own experiences. We agreed to begin with a group of ten young adults creating material through storytelling and improvisation. I remember a lot of laughter and joy as we played drama games together and they began to share and dramatize their observations and memories of settling in New Zealand. There was a very fresh, open, honest quality to the work with much humour and warmth. The finished piece was titled STICKY FINGERS and was shared with the other community groups.

We then collectively devised the performance OUR STREET working with more than 150 people from diverse cultures and a team of nine multi-media artists led by the director Justine Simei-Barton. It was one of the most enjoyable collaborations that I have ever experienced as a dramaturge and much of this pleasure was due to Prayas. The group members always worked with generosity, patience and humour – whether teaching a Bollywood dance routine or dramatizing the story of a family wedding. I remember eating a lot of late-night pizza in cold halls after rehearsals and then driving everyone home. There was a wonderful dinner with Sandy Chatterjee’s family, many shared potluck lunches and delicious food prepared by the different communities during rehearsals at the town hall. People came to the shows with huge picnics and ate throughout the performances. We were nourished in every way by this experience of collective and communal sharing.

One of my favourite Prayas memories comes from a play-back theatre session when we were encouraged to share our stories of arrival in New Zealand. One man described how quiet it was when his family woke on their first day. He and his brother left the hotel in search of accommodation. They walked through some fields and came to a large and busy road. As they attempted to cross it they were stopped by the police. They were standing in the middle of a motorway. They explained that they had just arrived and were looking for accommodation. The police told them to get in their car. The police officers then spent the rest of the day driving the brothers between different addresses until they found somewhere to live. I love the open welcome and kindness that is represented in this story. The Prayas member had never forgotten what happened to him on his first day in New Zealand. It gave him hope and confidence in a new world. I continued to work with the company when they planned a second independent project working with some of their OUR STREET community collaborators. Over the years their practice has continued to develop and they have gained a strong reputation as original and creative theatre makers. I am very privileged to have heard their stories and to have worked with them as a dramaturge.

Fiona.