Far out

Smriti Daniel catches up with Tracy Holsinger about her latest cyber -world theatre adventure in Chatroom

Six teenagers, one chatroom; a drama of control and despair; of light flirtations and studied malevolence… all orchestrated by the notorious Tracy Holsinger. Is it any wonder we're curious?

It doesn't help that the Mind Adventures Theatre Company – the first man standing in the lonely world of Sri Lanka's experimental English theatre – has never worked with teenagers before. But if there's one thing Tracy can't seem to resist as Artistic Director, it's pushing the envelope – the offbeat, so to speak, is her beat. That she does this regularly is testament to her passion for what she does. We caught up with her before the rehearsal of her newest play, to pump her for information on her debut performance (as a poppy), the "shwang thing" and of course, Chatroom.

Tracy found Chatroom by Irish playwright Enda Walsh on the web. "Everything just went from there, I even had the call for auditions only on the Internet," she explains, adding appropriately enough, "most of my cast and the people who've worked on the design have turned out to be bloggers." Rehearsals are currently underway, and Tracy has spent an intense few weeks on the play, preparing her young recruits for the glare of the spotlight. "The unique thing, I think, is that it's set on the Internet," says Tracy, explaining that the play's real uniqueness lies in the fact that its six characters never make eye contact even once. "There are intense relationships between these characters, but they never see each other." In the complex web of relationships that result, more than one life is changed forever.’

"I have my own way of approaching things," she says. As a director, Tracy works a lot with characters. She emphasizes improvisation and character building and, interestingly enough, seems to be having the time of her life working with the most inexperienced cast she's ever directed.

"There hasn't really been anyone new in a long time," Tracy says, reflecting on how it's about time younger actors were given a chance to take centre stage. At the auditions, Tracy picked out three boys and three girls on the basis of what she likes to call the "shwang thing" – that indefinable something, that spark, that sets an actor apart. "I look for that, and I also look for people who are more than a little aware of their surroundings," she says explaining that an actor must be observant and quick.

"The ideal actor is one who can just shift from one thing to another, instead of just freezing up," she says. Not that Tracy gives any of her brood a chance to relax. Keeping them off balance and on their toes seems to be first on her list of director's duties. "I like doing it," she confesses mischievously, "but I always settle, at least about two weeks before the actual show, I stop experimenting." Nothing kills a good play faster than over rehearsal. "When you're acting in a play, you need to be absolutely alive, you need to be absolutely on the edge," she says, and for a moment it sounds like bungee jumping. Which is quite a good analogy for what Tracy demands from her actors – a no holds barred free fall into the intensity of the play and the demands of their character. "I have a six week rehearsal period," she says, "and we meet very frequently and it's very intense." Mind Adventures,(which is essentially Tracy and her partner Akhry Ameer who looks after the production side), will never have the kind of backing that translates into an elaborate and expensive production, instead genuinely excellent acting must be relied upon to hold the attention of the audience.

Tracy brings a lot of her own experience as a young director and actor to her interaction with her cast. She began acting when she was 4, starring as a poppy in a production of the Wizard of Oz directed by a then 14-year-old Shyam Selvadurai. In the years that followed she would run through the gamut of school production, invariably, it seems in retrospect, choosing something deep, dark and intense. When she was 16, Tracy acted in a play by Rupert Brooke called Lithuania; she played a woman who though slightly touched in the head, managed to conspire with her parents to murder a stranger and take his money – only to discover that the stranger was in fact the long lost brother/son.

Predictably, Tracy remembers thinking that this was it; this was what she wanted to do. A year later, she directed her first play. And as fate would have it, she's never looked back.

Chatroom will be staged at the British School Auditorium on February 23, 24 and 25 from 8 p.m onwards. Tickets will be available at the Wendy Whatmore Academy on 13th Lane from the February 6. Media sponsors for the event are Yes FM and The Sunday Times and The Daily Mirror.