1) What sort of actors is this program designed for? Is it only for professional/working actors? How beneficial/valid would this program be for me?

The program is designed for those who sincerely seek to embark on a career in the performing arts and its allied fields. Principally, we imagine in our first year, most would be those seeking to be actors, however we hope that by the time you’re done with the program, some of you would want to be directors, designers and producers as well. The main objective is to train you in the fundamentals of performance, but give you the awareness and ability to be able to make work yourself, so that you aren’t relying purely on others giving you a job.

If we were a Drama School in the west, we would not consider the second part, but here, we are cultivating an industry where none existed before, thus the Actor-Creator-Entrepreneur. Actor – You want to perform and be on stage. Creator – You want to be able to independently, or with your colleagues, know what it is to make something that can be watched, a story that works. Entrepreneur – you have to figure out how you want to go ahead and produce your own work.

The program is taught by some of the finest trainers we can find, and have had the pleasure of working with in the past during our 5 years of conducting and designing training programs for the professional actor. They all have come together to help us create the DSM, and we’re confident that this will be extremely beneficial to anyone embarking on this journey with us.

2) Is there any specific eligibility criteria other than having a Bachelor’s Degree like number of years of experience, number of productions worked in etc. ?

No, the reason we have said “Bachelors degree or equivalent work life experience” is because we want you to have had a certain amount of time in the world, as an adult, so you have personal experiences to bring to the creation of your work, a basic bank of life experiences. Other than that, a demonstrated interest, passion in theatre and the performing arts is a strong plus.

3) Is the fees required to be paid as a whole amount at once or is there a provision for it to be paid in installments or any other way that would make it easier on the pockets?

The fee is designed to be paid in a lump sum before the program commences, our program runs purely on student fees. However, we also believe that money should not get in the way of a good education, and do offer to a few students, other alternative structures of payment. However this is rare, as we do not want regular following up of fee payments to get in the way of your time at the DSM. We give such alternative structures to only those who have a strongly demonstrated situation in which such an offer is applicable, and can be relied on to honour there financial commitments in such a way.

4) Which firms can one apply to get a scholarship for this program? What will be needed to be done in order to acquire a scholarship?

Our program manager for the Drama School is busy lining up options for scholarship / partial scholarship seats as we speak. There are few, lined up so far in the way of partial scholarships, and we will be determining who to send to these foundations and firms based on merit and the application process.

5) Will the Drama School be providing accommodation (or any assistance in getting one) for its participants during the 6-months of training period in Mumbai?

We can help you with a list of hostels, or the numbers of paying guest brokers etc. That you would then have to follow up with on your own initiative. We have many friends in the actor community, who have all become professionals at accommodation, and I’m certain they could help in advising people once they have admission. If we know of more students coming in from outside Mumbai, we could put you in touch with each other and see if you want to rent something for the year, together. The commitment to being in Mumbai is one year. You have to be available to the touring production you are assigned to, and for short workshops, catchups that we will do with you during the internship stage. This is a one year program 6 months training – 6 months work experience that is structured and supervised by us.

6) Is there any age-limit for the participants?

We will consider all applications, however the final selection is entirely dependent on the ensemble of 18 actors being created, who we have to ensure train well together for the year. Basically, the ability to be physically present, able to do the hard work (a lot of it physical) to be open to new ideas, to be able to unlearn in order to learn, are the factors we will be looking for from our pool of applicants.

7) Are there any shorter programs available? Also, are there any other workshops being conducted by the Drama School in the near future?

TPPL does conduct a number of short workshops through the year, either one week long workshops for hobbyists interested in seeing what goes into performance, or advanced short master classes for professional practicing actors. However, the DSM came about because we realised that addressing the need for a comprehensive training program that lays in the foundations, is what was most required in today’s environment.