Monday Sep 16, 2024
Monday Sep 16, 2024
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of Sri Lanka specialising in different skills in the industry both on and off the stage.
The group offers aspiring artistes the opportunity to showcase and further their talents in all aspects of performance and production ranging from acting and directing to set/costume designing, cinematography, photography, lighting, sound, creative work, etc.
A collective effort, Identities Inc. stays true to its namesake with diverse personalities working together as a single unit towards an all-round amazing production of theatre or film.
Q: Who’s in it?
A: Identities Inc. is driven by Gehan Blok and Dominic Kellar, together with personalities within the English theatre circle in Sri Lanka. Most of them are attached to other theatre companies in different capacities from acting to directing to producing, etc.
Here is the list of people…so far: Miranga Ariyaratne, Dino Corera, Pasan Ranaweera, Ruvin De Silva, Nisal Attanayake, Virgil Thomas, Javin Thomas, Yash Suriyapperuma, Purnima Pilapitiya, Niren Neydorff, Nuwan Attanayake, Shazad Synon, Malaka MP, Kirsten Riezebeek, Anjelo Jones, Deeandra Bulner, Vishan Gunawardene, Isharya Fonseka, Thanuja Jayawardene, Sulakshana Dias Amarathunga, Dinesh Maheshwaran, Amrik Wilson, Anush De Costa, Shamin De Silva, Udara Fernando, Chalana Wijesuriya, Andre Perera, Shanaka Amarasinghe, Rajiv Ponweera, Hans Billimoria, Tracy Jayasinghe, Sashane Perera and Chamat Arambewela – and of course anyone who acts with us or helps out automatically becomes a part of the group.
Q: What was the purpose of forming Identities Inc. and what impact does it hope to have?
A: The purpose of forming Identities Inc was to produce good quality theatre and film with the hope of enhancing the arts industry in the country. The motive is to bring everyone together within the industry, to do different types of theatre/film projects in unison in order to utilise each other’s strengths to produce a well-rounded production all while having fun in the process.
We also wanted to give everyone behind the scenes a chance to shine and showcase their talents with the hope of them being discovered by professionals in the industry to help them go places. Our first production of film is out with the release of the trailer for ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ on YouTube – it was produced by the bunch of us at Identities with little or no professional help.
Q: What can we expect from the first production coming up soon – ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’?
A: Glengarry Glen Ross is one of the few plays in the world to win all three coveted awards in theatre – A Pulitzer, Tony and Olivier. The play is for everyone who works for a living – if you have a job or work for an office, well then this play is for you. It gives audiences and readers a chance to delve into the minds of a group of salesman who are willing do whatever it takes to survive in the cutthroat world of the real estate business in Chicago.
The play deals with Office Darwinism – which will make you laugh, cry, make you angry and finally make you question the person you are within an office environment. It’s a stellar script by David Mamet with a stellar cast directed by Gehan Blok. We hope to give the audiences a very enjoyable evening of theatre and their money’s worth.
Q: What other plans and plays are on the cards for Identities Inc. in the near future?
A: Well, we have a lot planned in terms of both film and theatre. However, our next project will be an evening of theatre comprising different short plays by a specific author which will be directed and produced by different people within Identities Inc.
Q: What opportunities will Identities Inc. offer aspiring artistes?
A: For example, if a young aspiring writer comes to us with an original script and if it does have the potential to succeed, then we will pool all our resources to produce the play similar to what we are doing with ‘Glengarry’ and give the author due recognition, which will hopefully give him the stepping stone he needs to become a professional author.
Q: What is Identities Inc.’s opinion of Sri Lankan theatre?
A: Sri Lankan theatre has always been good given our limited resources – we have something that most overseas theatre productions do not have within their productions, which is heart. This is what has kept Sri Lankan theatre going amidst all barriers and we at Identities Inc. hope to add to that in whichever way we can. We also feel that theatre should be open to people from all backgrounds and everyone should have a chance to work together, no matter what allegiances they may hold.
