What Kyla D’Souza loves the most about theatre in Goa is the audience. The founder and artistic director of Peas and Carrots Theatre Co., a theatre company that moved its base from Mumbai to Goa last year, Kyla feels, “Theatre in Goa is for everyone. The audience here doesn’t belong to any particular class. People from all walks of life here have a liking for theatre and that’s what I love the most about Goa.”
Kyla, who started her theatrical journey at the early age of four, says that as far as she remembers, she has always been fond of being on the stage. “It’s the only thing I have ever wanted to do in my life. When I am on stage, I am home,” she reveals. This brilliant theatre artiste is a graduate of the two-year acting programme at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, New York. While in New York, she worked with renowned people in the field of theatre. She has also acted in a couple of Shakespearean plays. After returning to India, she observed that the quality of theatre abroad was too high as compared to what we have in the English theatre industry in India. According to her, our country has just as many talented and passionate actors as abroad, but we lack on the front of appropriate training and technique. “I noticed that the scope of English theatre was limited in India. I have always been a ‘classics’ person. I wanted a company where we could work in the kind of plays, as I did while in New York. I wanted to stage different plays from all over the world, with Indian crew working on it. This led to the foundation of Peas and Carrots Theatre Co.,” explains Kyla.
In Goa, Kyla designs and conducts theatre workshops for children as well as adults though Peas and Carrots. Time and again, she also conducts special workshops at various institutions like International Centre Goa, Sunaparanta Goa Centre, Goa Institute of Management, etc. In these workshops, she strives to share everything about theatre that she has learnt while studying and working in New York. Kyla says, “I have closely worked with different International directors and other theatre professionals abroad. In my workshops, I merge all these skills and techniques I have picked from different people and places. I try to give a holistic approach to the theatre art by blending a variety of styles together. We train everyone, actors, directors and other crew persons.”
This ardent lover of theatre decided to move to Goa last year as she finds, “Goa has a great potential for theatre. There is too much creativity here. I am originally from Goa, but hadn’t resided here before. I came back because I was touched by the rawness Goa still has and inspired by what’s happening here.” When asked about Goa’s theatre scenario, Kyla honestly admits that she can’t say much about it as she has just watched one Goan English play until now. “I don’t know a lot about the English theatre here, but I am aware that not much is happening. People would definitely like to see more of English plays,” opines Kyla. “What I have observed is that,” she adds, “Goan audience is very intelligent and supportive. They are open to different kinds of theatre and experimentation. I have enacted two short plays at the Museum of Goa and the response we received was fabulous. We were sold out for the first show itself. This kind of response is very motivating.”
In the end, Kyla expresses, “Our country is so diverse that every part of it has a different theatre style. Goa, too, has its own unique style. I wish to work here and explore the maximum of it.”
Kyla and her crew are currently planning to stage two more plays in Goa.