In Brief
Grease Yaka is an original devised play about Sri Lankan society, its doubts and its fears, real and imagined, that will make a lasting impact on all who see it. Created entirely by young people and directed by well known dramatist Ruwanthie de Chickera, the play stars students & young alumni of Ananda College Colombo and a handful of invited guest performers.![]()
Grease Yaka debuts at Colombo's Lionel Wendt Theatre on 8th & 9th August.
Though a few corporate sponsors and individual donors are helping us stage this production, we need your support to make Grease Yaka a truly unforgettable theatre experience. Your contributions will help us stage the play in the way it deserves, and your support will encourage us greatly just before we take the stage.
Who We Are & The Story So Far
AnandaDrama is the theatre collective of Ananda College, comprising students and young alumni. It grew from an initiative that began in 2006 to improve the English skills of students through theatre. In 2013, we set up AnandaDrama as a proper theatre company and staged two very successful public shows.
The first of these, Alles in Wonderland, was an original political satire that began as a championship winning entry to an inter school drama competition. Due to popular demand, it was later staged as a sell out public show seen by top officials and even identified in local discourse about Indo-Sri Lanka relations. Next came Kensuke's Kingdom, a lyrical full length play that explored different aspects of theatre and gave our young cast fresh challenges.
When we started work on our production for 2014, we wanted to set the bar even higher by involving everyone in the cast in the creative process. Instead of performing to a pre-written script, we decided to devise an original full length play.
In January, we invited internationally acclaimed playwright, screenwriter and director Ruwanthie de Chickera and the Stages Theatre Group to help us devise. Workshops started in February. In the first few weeks, we worked on our acting skills and also talked through the stories and issues that really moved us as a group.
We realised early on that we all wanted our play to be more than just entertainment. We wanted to tell a story that would provide important insights about our society. The idea of using the Grease Yaka as the vehicle for our play sprang up during one workshop, and immediately caught everyone's interest. Over the next few months of devising, the play took shape.
Why Grease Yaka
Sri Lankan society tends to get worked up about all sorts of things--quite often, for little or no reason. The Grease Yaka phenomenon that gripped the
country not so long ago is the metaphor that we have used to hold up a mirror
to society.
Yaka is the Sinhala word for demon, and describes many mythical beings that have populated Sri Lankan folklore for centuries. The Grease Yaka is much more recent: it is an urban legend about a grease covered, near naked man who delights in peeping at unsuspecting women. Some believe that the Grease Yaka is more than a really creepy voyeur: robbery, rape and murder have also been laid at his door.
There was a sudden uptick in reported Grease Yaka sightings all over Sri Lanka a few years ago. This led to a social phobia that almost veered towards mass hysteria. Our play is a fantasia that charts this process. Though it employs a very light touch, the play poses searching questions about what sort of society we want ours to be.
At a time when there are distant (and not so distant) rumblings of new confusions, phobias and hysteria in our midst, Grease Yaka is topical and very relevant. And, needless to say, as a piece of original devised theatre, it is also hugely entertaining.
Why We Need Your Help
The devising is done. The script is ready. The theatre is paid for. The set design is done. The posters are up. The actors are pumped. Come what may, we will put on a show to remember... and to provoke thought. But we need your help!
Immediate Requirements
We need you to help us pay for the Set, Costumes, Props and Makeup. These are turning out to be a lot more expensive than we initially thought, but if we can afford them, they will contribute hugely to the magic we hope to create on stage.
We also want to share Grease Yaka with more people than just the lucky 1,240 who will get to see it in the theatre this August. If we reach our funding target, we will make sure that a performance of the play is made into a professional DVD.
After the Production
Grease Yaka is part of the Stages Theatre Group's Education Outreach effort. This involves educating students from selected schools about the process of creating and shaping the play. Workshops will be held before and after the production, and a comprehensive Resource Pack will be shared with students and teachers to encourage further learning. Your contributions will help make this happen.
Even more importantly, we believe that the play and its message are important enough that Grease Yaka needs to be seen much more widely. We have plans to take it on tour around Sri Lanka and maybe even perform it abroad. While we are not looking for funding for this just yet, your contributions at this stage will help us create the magic in the initial production that will make touring almost inevitable.
The Funding Situation At The Moment
This is the estimate of what we will need to stage Grease Yaka in style:
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This is where we stand now (just two weeks to go to the performance!)
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We need approximately $9,000 more to ensure that the play is fully funded!
How Things Could Play Out
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We meet our target: We put on a show that will forever be remembered by its audience, and is available on DVD for posterity, and is turned into a creative learning experience for a large number of students in Sri Lanka.
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We exceed our target: Every single cent above and beyond what we spend on the play (as well as all proceeds from the play) will be used to fund English and Theatre development activities at Ananda College.
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We don't meet our target: Indiegogo will send us whatever funds we do raise, so hopefully we will have something significant to work with even if we don't reach our target. No matter what, the show will go on!
Please Help Us!
Please donate whatever you can. Any and all financial contributions are most welcome, and we have special perks lined up for contributions of a certain value.
Please spread the word. We want everyone to know about this play. Please share our campaign with people who you think will be interested in helping us, and people who may be interested in seeing Grease Yaka.
Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to know more about us. Our website is right here.
We've put our hearts and souls into creating
Grease Yaka and we're really, really excited about sharing it with the public in the most magical way possible. Please help us make this happen!