I love lists and this presented an opportunity to write one – mind you this is mostly in order of appearance and not necessarily importance. Writing about my journey with Prayas in any other way would probably be lead to emotions that will overwhelm me (and by association – you) and let’s be honest, emotions are not my forte – feeling them and then being in them etc, so I decided that some sort of whimsy was my best offer.

So here goes –

Survival of the Clingiest:
A Guide to Longevity in and of Community Theatre

• Learn to squeeze 37 hours from 1 day.
• Demand more hours, demand more brain space.
• Passion – Bring it with you
• Sleep is for schmucks, forget it
• Things change all the time, get flexible
• Leave your ego at the door, there are teaching moments everywhere
• LEARN LEARN LEARN – these opportunities are manifestations of hard work for many years
• Passion – Nurture it within you
• Refuse to leave the room
• Passion – Nurture it in others
• Make room for one too many, a community, a village
• Adopt it as a second home
• Adapt to the circumstances
• Adapt to the the budget
• Adapt to the personalities
• Accept every barrier as a challenge
• Learn to swim in the deep end
• Feed the masses
• Don’t forget to ask the question that is brewing inside you for the entirety of the meeting
• Don’t hesitate to bring down the lights if the scene has overstayed its welcome
• Find allies outside the organisation – there are many, if you only seek
• You won’t always have to bite your tongue, wait it out
• Know the big picture goal
• Don’t limit yourself to the things you know
• Professionalism and work ethic are not just for day jobs
• Turn up to the adda
• Do your cartwheels in dress pants, if that’s the call of the hour
• Take pleasure in the success of others, genuinely
• Cling to the people that you find on this platform, for dear life. They are some of the most wonderful and generous people to collaborate with
• Remember who came before you got here
• Remember the ladder of success is strung together on the kindness and compassion of others
• Remember the glass ceilings that used to be there
• Look to the future
• Hold the door open
• Show up on time
• Be prepared for the drama
• Bring the drama
• The point is that you endeavour to do it (the prayas)

On a slightly more serious note, I really hope you enjoy this series of stories from our tribe of thespians – we have dug deep, found our far flung family whom we have collaborated with over the years, to bring you these little snippets of becoming us, in 2020. I don’t know how I get to be so lucky so as to produce this series and be privy to all these blogs as they came in (some as early as May!), but here we are.

2020 aye! We had SO MANY plans. A party, a brand relaunch, and we were SO SO disappointed when a pandemic decided to derail all of them. But our Prayas is resilient, and our Prayas will keep finding a lifeline. Even if we don’t get to fully celebrate the toil of the last 15 in this year – may these words remind us, reignite us, help us bear the torch forward for many many more years.

The following words are a time machine. It is a bowl full of nostalgia and feelings of warm soup on cold days, in our tummies.

A slice of our prayas, over the last 15 years. Sananda.