Actors wanted for Gaura Purnima Festival Mayapur

[Guest guest]

Dear prabhus & matajis,

 

Please accept my obeisances. Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

 

His Holiness Bhakti Purusottama Swami has requested me to stage some of my

productions during the Gaura Purnima Festival.

I will try to stage as many of my musicals, comedies and dramas as is

possible.

But in order to accomplish that I need devotees (male & female), who are

interested to participate in my productions.

It doesn't matter if your English isn't perfect, as you're not required to

speak yourself, as all my productions are prerecorded.

If you are interested to take part please sent an e-mail to:

parividha (AT) pamho (DOT) net

Hare Krishna.

 

Your servant in the mission of Srila Prabhupada,

 

Parividha das

 

 

The following is written by Rasajna d.d. (ACBSP)

 

When I moved into the Brooklyn temple, we gradually started doing a little

theatre. We helped direct the plays in a more so-called professional manner.

I hadn't met Srila Prabhupada yet, but when he was about to come, we

prepared the play, "Krishna kidnaps Rukmini. I played the part of Rukmuni,

and my husband Lohitaksha played Krishna. When it was time for the

performance, the curtains opened, and there was a big empty space in front

of Prabhupada, who was in his rocking chair. Everyone else was behind him.

The play opens with Rukmini sitting on a stage writing a letter to Krishna.

All of a sudden I got nervous. Even after all my years of doing theatre, I

thought, "Prabhupada, oh my God, how can I do this?" This was way beyond the

fear of going to an audition. I thought, "Here Prabhupada, the spiritual

master of the universe, and I am performing Rukmini. Me. He's going to see

this as ridiculous. My knees started shaking. I tried to press it into the

floor, and then I took a deep breath.

At that point, Prabhupadals presence calmed me down instead of making me

nervous, and we had a wonderful performance. Towards the end of the play,

when Rukmi's hair gets shaved in a strange way, all the devotees laughed.

Prabhupada stoped them from laughing, saying, 'Why are you laughing? This

isn't funny." After all it was humiliating for Rukmi. Prabhupada trained us

in so many ways.

After the play we were taking our makeup off, when Mohananda,

Prabhupada's servant, came and told us what Prabhupada has said about the

performance. Prabhupada had said. "This is better than reading my books" and

"I want to take this whole troupe with me to Africa. Unfortunately that

wasn't possible because we were the main event of the Brooklyn temple's

Sunday feat program. But the fact is that Prabhupada put great importance on

theatrical performances. He wanted Krishna consciousness to be presented as

a cultural movement. Once in the Bhagavatam class he said, 'All my disciples

should act in plays because when you play the part of any of these

characters, you get the feeling of what it's all about. It becomes more

real. "We tend to forget about our feelings because we get caught up in the

process. But when you perform a part, you have to use your feelings to

portray the character. For the period of the performance you're transformed.

Prabhupada also complimented me. He said, "Rukmini, she was the best."

Another time, we had an ecstatic performance in Mayapur at the

Mayapur festival in 1977. Prabhupada was sick and not giving lectures, but

he would come to see the play and then go back to his room. We were doing a

portion of the Ramayana, and I was playing Surpanaka. Somehow we got trees

on stage to create a forest effect.

And I was coming up the stairs in the back, when Prabhupada saw me and

started clapping and laughing. During the exchange between Surpanaka, Lord

Ramachandra, and Laxman, he was laughing hard and slapping his legs with

both hands. I looked out for just a moment, and all the devotees were

watching him. He was the only one who was watching the play. Then he stood

up and gave a standing ovation. It was ecstatic.

The amazing thing is that Prabhupada did not judge. He was like a child when

he watched plays. All our inhibitions as actors and actresses would go away,

His personality was amazing in that he could be like a child and also be a

wise saintly person. It's an amazing combination.