An improvised show invites the audience to think of start-up ideas, with actors taking them forward on stage
A scene from The Startups
Hark back to the times when "start-up" wasn't the buzz word it is these days. People weren't losing sleep over thinking up innovative ideas. We heard less of titles like venture capitalists and angel investors. Open offices weren't quite part of working culture either. And swanky co-working spaces were as good as non-existent. But then all that changed when an army of young entrepreneurs defeated the dominant perceptions of doing business in the country, and the old order gave way to the new.
A theatrical show called The Startups now picks up on this theme and gives it a twist. The performance doesn't involve any set-in-stone script. Instead, the audience is invited to cook up innovative ideas that are put to the vote, with the actors then improvising on the best few to build a narrative on stage.
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Adam Dow
Adam Dow, an American who's been nurturing Mumbai's improv circuit since 2009, has directed the show. He explains, "It's basically an improvised office comedy. So what happens is that the actors have worked out their background stories in terms of how they all met and their past interactions. Then they give the audience a basic outline of how the show is going to work. The idea is that it's the audience that gets to decide on what's the new revolutionary app that is going to change the world and make millions of dollars. And then the company [which the actors on stage represent] will try to market the app and you'll see how they work their way around it in the show itself."
Dow adds that the impromptu apps can, for instance, include one that does background checks on potential Tinder dates. Or, it can be an app called "Productivity", which automatically turns off your WiFi network when you're in the bathroom. It can be on anything under the sun, really. So, head for the performance if you, too, have a genius plan up your sleeve that fits the way in which we do business
nowadays.
ON August 24 and 25, 8 pm
AT Jeff Goldberg Studio, junction of 14th Road and Linking Road, Bandra West.
LOG ON TO bookmyshow.com
ENTRY Rs 300
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