The Oasis English Press sat down with the Coordinator of the Department of Theatre (DoT), Diya Narayanan, for a quick discussion about the work that DoT does for the fest.
Diya explained that DoT is responsible for conducting the seven kernel cultural events of Oasis that ‘bring in the majority of outstation participants’. She added that the seven events have been established for several years and garner participation from cities like Delhi and Jaipur.
Diya then proceeded to explain the lineup of events organised by DoT. She started with the music events — “Tarang” and “Pitch Perfect”. Tarang is a fusion music event, while Pitch Perfect is an a cappella event. She then explained that their dance events — “Street Dance” and “Choreo” — dealt with hip-hop and contemporary styles, respectively. Addressing the theatre events, she said the first is an old-school style “Street Play” or Nukkad Naatak, and the second is “Stage Play”, held in the main auditorium utilising mics and other props. She also said that the final event, “Fash-P”, is a ramp-walk style fashion show competition heavily frequented by teams from the Delhi circuit. She added that this year, the department has introduced a theme for this event by incorporating the fest theme, “Grimoire Galore”.
She explained that the preparatory work regarding the organisation of these involves arranging for the judges for these events, handling team participation, and various other logistics. She added that the logistical and scheduling timeline starts around two months before Oasis. She said that DoT also works with the Department of Sponsorship and Marketing to secure event sponsorships to reward the participants with incentives beyond normal cash prizes.
Diya added that DoT is also in charge of the rulebook governing the seven kernel events. She mentioned that the rulebook needs to be updated every year considering the problems that arose the previous year to ensure that the event is relevant enough. The events also do not undergo any major changes since they are classic events in very niche categories, according to Diya. ‘They do not require much publicity as they are already very well known in other colleges, these are events that the clubs and teams prepare for every year.’
She said that during the fest, the department handles in-person registrations of all the participants, ensures the teams are well-informed about the rules and timings and that the required items are all present. It is also responsible for judge care and ensuring that the judge sheets are not tampered with.
The main challenge that DoT faces, according to Diya, is not being able to obtain an ideal schedule and secure maximum viewership, since the events do not run parallel to each other, and hence the timings for some of these are quite odd. ‘People who would be interested to watch them as an audience wouldn’t be able to because they’re at really odd times.’
Diya added that apart from Sponz, DoT works alongside the Department of Controls for handling the logistics, Reception and Accommodation for acquisitions, and majorly with the Department of Publication and Correspondence to handle participation.
Diya found that her biggest learning as coordinator revolves around the connection of cultural fests all over India and how business around talent management agencies works. She would like to increase the publicity of the department’s events and introduce a new event occasionally, to find new cultural talent.
To conclude, she urged all BITSians to ‘come by and watch these events, as they are an incredible display of talent.’