Like many of her ilk her inclination towards acting began at a tender age and Trishla Patel has come a long way since her debut in a school play. With more than two decades of acting experience Trishla is not just an actor but a producer and director as well. Having started her own production house Tpot, in 2010 along with her husband they launched their first production KUMBH KATHA which was based on a mythological legend. Currently busy curating for her theatre festival in March, Trishla speaks about the upcoming event and her journey so far.  By Vipul Mahagaonkar With plays like AAJ RANG HAI, CHAAR SMALL, JANNAT CENTRAL, CATCH 22, ZINGA ZINGA ROSESBLACK WITH EQUAL, THE MAN OF LA MANCHA, THE EXCHANGE STUDENT Trishla Patel has a lot to be proud of. On starting her own production house: When I started I didn't know what a huge responsibility I was taking on. Now I know. It was a natural progression. I wanted to see on stage what I have not seen. And Dubeyji (Satyadev) used to make me his assistant in all his plays and then Rage had given me a chance to direct a play for Writer's Block, then Akvarious gave me a chance so I felt pretty confident of myself and that I could write and direct my own plays. In fact I am thankful to many for my journey. Why the name Tpot: My husband named this so many conversations happen over a cup of tea. Because we get high over chai and acting and discussions. So many ideas get exchanged over a humble cup of tea. So this is my tpot of creativity. On wanting to be an actor: Yes, since the age of three I always wanted to act. My in my first play, SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL I played the monkey. I loved acting and would look forward to singing and dancing. I used to be involved in more than one play for the school annual day and I enjoyed every bit of it. I would look forward to every annual day as I was totally involved in all the plays. On her professional debut: It was the play MAHATMA Vs GANDHI directed by Feroz Khan. It was experience that can never be replicated because it was my first professional debut. I was in Law College when one day by chance I entered a dark dingy room where an actor doing a monologue in Marathi and he lit up that dirty room, smelling of piss. And I said to myself what am I doing? Why am I not writing and directing my own plays? In fact when I participated at the Sophia College annual event, Kaleidoscope I won the first prize and that was it! A friend then introduced me to Feroz Khan and then there was no looking back. I began to learn from Dubeyji, Kay Kay Menon, Makarand Sir and these are the teachers I respect to date. On her upcoming festival: There are 12 plays lined up for the festival from March 22-27 which will be performed in Prithvi theatre and Prithvi house. Out of these two are children's plays and with the current pandemic fears I hope all goes well and the kids can perform. Since I love doing work with new actors and directors I have invited Hidayat Sami to put up an excerpt of his upcoming play, GULDASTA. We did workshops together and has all the actors from the workshop so I wanted them to be part of it. Another play that I have produced called TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN by Mohit Agarwal will also be staged. I am reviving an 11 year old play of mine called KUMBH KATHA which I am re-writing as I am nothing like it now. It was tpot's first play. I am recasting it and it is a tough task. There will be smaller shows at Prithvi house and then shows in the evenings at Prithvi theatre and a Master Class by actors like Ratna Pathak Shah and Neena Kulkarni who are both students of Dubeyji. Like that I have curated five days of master class. This also will be ticketed and be there every morning. On the pandemic impact: The pandemic has played havoc in a creative person's life. Web serials has opened up another avenue for actors and a lot of actors have gone away. I can't blame them as they need the money. But sadly many who can't act are there too. In fact they don't realise that theatre is a great honing ground for all actors as one gets to do so many rehearsals and this helps one grow as an actor. This has posed a big challenge to me as I have to recast often as they keep moving to the OTT platform. But the good thing is that live theatre has its own audience and even when I did two of my plays recently we had a full house. I agree I have nothing to give my actors in comparison to OTT platforms and I wish there were unions and they could be paid better. On doing Gujarati theatre: I always wanted to venture into Gujarati plays but I speak like a propah English speaking person and always was shy to cross to the other side. But never say never. Might take the leap. On making the choice between the big screen and theatre: It's not that I don't want to do films but I have nobody to look after my production house and hence I have made this choice. It's very hard to leave theatre but if I get someone to manage it I may do films and even write and direct. Theatre is definitely a passion. Dubeyji always told us to pass on what we have learned or it will not live. So whatever I have learned from him, Makarand Sir, Kay Kay I will pass on. On promoting theatre in smaller cities: Hats off to people like Shaili Sathyu of Gillo Repertoire and Sanjna Kapoor with her Junoon who have been doing this so passionately in small towns and cities. I feel one has to be invited to these places and when I have done workshops in places like Agra the response is overwhelming. People are waiting and I wish I could take it far but I don't have the finances needed and hence my hands are tied. *Jahnavi Pal is a journalist, writer and theatre buff read / post your comments More Interviews Neeraj Shirvaikar Ram Ganesh Kamatham Tannaz Irani Lillete Dubey Sharodiya Chowdhury and Sarthak Sharma Interview With Vishaal Asrani and Jiji Subhi BAKUL THAKKAR AND SURYA GOVLE Devendra Rao Interview Sharvari Lohokare Interview Vijay Kenkre Interview Trupti Thakkar and Ankit Gor Interview Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor Umesh Shukla Interview Interview With Juhi Babbar Soni Mallika Shah Interview J BRANDON HILL INTERVIEW Anahita Uberoi Interview Interview with Jeff Goldberg Dr. Shweta Pendse Interview Interview with jamini Pathak Ashok Pandey Gagan Dev Riar Interview Taranjit Kaur Pankaj Pathakji Interview Vipul Vithlani Interview Saurabh Nayyar Interview Mukta Barve Interview Vihaan Samat Interview Vijay Kumar Interview Umesh Kamat Interview Jatin Sarna Interview Debanshu Shekhar Interview Vandana Bhushan Interview Vikas Bahari Interview Trinetra Tiwari Interview Anand Ingale Interview Deshik Vansadia Interview Kapil Dev Interview Arvind Gaur Interview Niketan Sharma Interview Ipshita Chakraborty Singh Interview Ramesh Talwar Interview Nivedita Bhattacharya Interview Jeff Goldberg Interview Ajeet Singh Palawat Interview Amitosh Nagpal Interview Ajitesh Gupta Anshulika Dubey and Aakash Prabhakar Ulka Mayur Shiv Tandan Interview Hemant Jha Interview Sangita Joshi Interview Akarsh khurana Interview with Parul Rana Satchit Puranik Interview Raell Padamsee Interview Simar Singh Interview Siddharth Randeria Interview Chandrakant Kulkarni Interview Trishla Patel Interview Danish Husain Interview Anju Makhija Interview Swati Das Interview Paromita Chatterjee Interview Akriti Singh Interview Vivek Raj Tandon Interview Avneesh Mishra Interview Imran Rasheed Interview Choiti Ghosh Interview Ila Arun & KK Raina Juuhi Babbar Sonii Interview Jay Upadhyay Interview Bhakti Rathod Interview Chandrashekhar Gokhale Interview Preeta Mathur Interview Denzil Smith Interview Rajendra Butala Interview Amitesh Grover Interview Vighnesh Joshi Interview Rajesh Deshpande Interview Mohammad Ali Baig Interview Dolly Thakore Interview M. 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