Dubai: If you’re one of those who is still asking if theatre in the UAE has come of age, here’s your answer.
The Dubai-based Third Half Theatre has been invited to perform in the first Short+Sweet Hollywood festival at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre in Los Angeles this weekend (September 22-24).
Speaking to XPRESS by phone from Amsterdam en route to LA, the play’s writer and director Sanjeev Dixit said he received the invitation from global festival Short+Sweet founder after the rigorous ensemble piece won Short+Sweet Dubai.
Asked what the play is about, the 39-year-old logistics manager, said, “It’s an abstract, confounding piece that flows between different genres, time zones and periods.”
Called Tréteau, the play is a distillation of the love for the theatre that each performer shares with the audience and an attempt to convey the magic of theatre in 10 minutes, he added.
But what’s with the group’s ‘Third Half Theatre’ title? “Third Half is symbolic of our trying to capture what doesn’t already exist. There are only two halves as we know, but our art is all about finding the other.”
An amateur performer from Mumbai who has been involved with Dubai theatre for 13 years, Dixit said it feels privileged to be performing alongside teams from all over the world at the LA festival. “To be counted amongst these amazing shows and to represent the UAE in Hollywood is a dream come true for our eight-member team,” he said.
Besides him, the others in the cast include Jessica Avedikian, Akanksha Baswant, Minali Patel, Ryden Aranjo, Abdullah Al Qassab, Siddarth Sivaprakash and Dharam Veer Sood.
Dixit, who founded Third Half Theatre in 2012, said the group debuted with Michael Frayn’s hilarious Noises Off and has since gone on to stage plays ranging from short monologues, ensemble pieces to full length musicals. In fact, Dixit will be rushing back from LA to put final touches on Malhaar’s Jashn-e-Awadh which stages at the Centrepoint, Ductac on September 30 and October 1.
