SAIIER 2018:The Unicorn Collective – Season 2

Stewardship for New Emergence		“Veil: Two Sisters”
The Unicorn Collective – Season 2

Entity::The Unicorn Collective creates experiences as magical and ephemeral as a unicorn sighting at an unexpected moment. Season 2 of the Unicorn Collective strove to bring more artistic happenings into the community of Auroville at large.

Through 3 different plays, presented under the name of “La compagnie SDF”, the collective engaged with all ages and languages to bring high quality theater in the community in outdoor spaces through the 2017-18 season in Auroville and Pondicherry and actively worked for upcoming events.

Description of project:

The main head in the Unicorn Collective activities has been Celine. She was actively supported by Christophe in all the projects. A group of more than 25 Aurovilians, guests, volunteers and Newcomers where also involved at different times of the season including 3 kids from Transition School and 3 students from Last School.

The Great Procession /Le grand Processus was the first surtitled performance in Auroville. It presented an original setup of the second chapter of On the Way to Supermanhood by Satprem. It was performed by four Aurovilians: two of them had a previous experience with me and two of them were new as actors. For all of them it was a great experience as well as for the audience. “The Great Procession” was performed 3 times in Visitor Center in September 2017. Audience is eagerly waiting for the following chapters.

Ubuntu was performed in January 2018, twice: once in Pondicherry, once in Auroville by three kids from Transition School and myself. Kripa and Christophe helped us with feedback and technique. It was a creation based on two traditional tales and one popular French song. Part of the script was written by the students. Their commitment was very intense and joyful.

State of Siege / L’etat de Siege by Albert Camus was a site-specifc setup of a French play performed in its original language with English surtitles for 3 evenings in March 2018. It involved 20 Aurovilians including three students, video and audio soundtracks, a spinning stage and 15 actors on the stage. The audience expressed its amazement and joy of witnessing such a show in Auroville regarding the space occupation, the surtitles, the fluidity of the performance and the global high quality of the performers and the show itself. The huge success met by the audience was a great delight for the all group after more than a year of process and 4 months of intensive work and hundreds not to say thousands hours of preparation. For many performers it was their first or second experience on stage but everyone was at its best, fully dedicated and determined to present an unforgettable event to the community.

More projects were about to be done but due to various reasons (lack of human resources, funds or time) it hasn’t been yet achieved. For example the alive-large-scale Chess game needs not only funds but also to be turned into a precise scenario / story board in order to facilitate the casting and the rehearsals.

The fish puppets were re-use in the 2018 Trashion Show.

Outcomes:

Created:

1 surtitled performance closely connected to Auroville’s aspirations.
1 show with 3 kids and 1 adult performed in Pondy and Auroville.
1 surtitled play, site-specifc show involving 20 Aurovilians and volunteers, including 3 Last School students.
Refection and maturation of 4 to 5 new coming projects

Beneficiaries:

The Auroville community: benefits include delight, wonder, imagination, self-refection and deepening of Auroville’s ideals for the audience and all. Those that performed gained new skills, including voice training, self-confidence, perseverance and working together to achieve a high quality project in the allotted time. The kids increased their knowledge in French and French culture to the biggest delight of their parents.
Visitors and guests to Auroville: benefits include beauty, a sense of Auroville’s cultural scene, a surprise and good value for Auroville artistic landscape. Some people expressed their amazement in finding such a high quality of art in Auroville. A visiting art critic compared the quality and originality of the play she just saw to one of the most famous festival in France!

Reflections:

The most meaningful part of this project was bringing Aurovillians that never performed before to their best shape on the stage. Each one was extremely touched by and grateful to receive so many positive feedback on their performance increasing their level of self-esteem and self-confidence which are undoubtedly very precious for our life in Auroville. The inner way of each individual during each work is definitely the most meaningful aspect.

Receiving support and enthusiastic feedback from so many people from the audience including professional artists from Auroville and aboard was also very meaningful, especially from non-French speakers enjoying a full show in French with the help of the surtitles.

It was very difficult to fit to the goals set up in May 2017 as events, creation and opportunities are very changing. For me it was difficult to keep separated my theater activities; even if I can clearly see to which collective they are related to, I cannot push myself into a direction that seems not pleased the divine will. I have learned to let go and allow the creation to be its own master: If a certain project has more funds and more people to be part of it at a certain point, it makes sense to achieve it and change the plans. People are coming and going, bringing inputs, ideas, skills and possibility. Creation is a very unpredictable process which requires great flexibility. Creation with the divine will makes things much easier when you follow its voice and not the human desires or forecasts. That is why we end up doing these 3 shows as the other projects were obviously not ready on the divine plan.

Conclusion:

As long as I (Celine) will be the only project holder for Unicorn Collective and SDF (the French Theater group), I will present only one proposal including many performances possibilities and theater propositions fitting in both projects, and continue to follow my inner guidance to achieve what is feasible and ready at the time.