The chronicles of student life

The theatre scene in the City is active and vibrant and a number of talented students are making good use of this.

Roger Joseph Lurshay, who studies in St Joseph’s College of Business Administration, is one such student who staged a widely appreciated production called ‘Lessons of Life’, which revolved around the life of a Josephite.

The play was an interesting study of the high points of a Josephite’s life from the day of his admission to his graduation day.

“I have studied in the St Joseph’s all my life. I did my schooling, PUC and degree there. And now I’m pursuing my masters there too,” says the student of second-year MBA. “The musical was about my personal experiences,” he explains.

Apart from writing and directing the play, Roger played a few roles in it and even penned the lyrics of some of the songs.

“It was a little humourous and showed the experiences of students with regard to admissions as well as in the classroom. In any of the Joseph’s institutions, learning is not always limited to the classroom. Students also learn the lessons of life and that’s what my play was called.”

It took Roger two to three months to write the script.

“I wrote it during my summer holidays,” he recalls.

Soon, with the help of 14 actors and six crew members, he successfully staged the production. “Each of the Joseph’s institutions was directly or indirectly involved in it.

While many students of St Joseph’s College of Business Administration and St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science acted in the musical, some were from St Joseph’s College of Commerce as well. Even the staff and management of the St Joseph’s Boys High School helped,” he explains.

Though he doesn’t have a name for his team, he refers to it as a ‘Josephite Production’. 

The musical was first staged in February last year in the St Joseph’s Indian High School auditorium.

“It was a charity show and we raised money for the underprivileged children of Bijapur,” he recalls.

Post that, the play was staged again in the St Joseph’s Boys High School auditorium and received great feedback.

However, Roger doesn’t plan to stage it too often. “I don’t want it to be repetitive. I’d rather work on new ideas,” he notes. 

Roger wants to focus on academics for now and keep theatre strictly as a hobby. “Compared to other cities, the theatre scene in Bangalore is very good. But if you look at it on a global level, it still requires a lot of improvement.

Theatre doesn’t receive that much support and publicity,” he notes.

“Also, most groups keep doing adaptations of popular musicals. It’s high time we do something new and original. We have to take the risk and that’s how we will set a benchmark,” he sums up.