Written in contemporary verse, Water for Kings is a poetic tragedy about change. A power struggle within the Royal Family leads to disastrous consequences for the people of this mythic land.

Water For Kings deals with the divide between the majority Wet Zone dwellers and the minority Dry Zone dwellers, who are further marginalized by a deliberate restriction in terms of access to water. The play examines opposing ideals of equality, of how the ‘other’ within a populace is created and perpetuated.

Directed by Tracy Holsinger

Written by Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe

CAST
Saumya Liyanage, Shala Amarasuriya, Brandon Ingram, Hidaayath Hazeer, Tharusha Kumarasinghe. Sonali Wanigabaduge, Nabeel Nooramith, Dinuli Mendis and Udula Karawita.

"The Gaza Monologues are testimonies written by ASHTAR youth in 2010, after the first war on the Gaza Strip. Tragically, these Monologues are still accurate today. They are highlighting the horrors, hopes and resilience of the courageous Gazans to a wider audience, bringing out the voices of children and people in Gaza."

- ASHTAR Theatre, Palestine

Together with over 2000 performances in over 40 countries, Mind Adventures and Stages Theatre Group presented the #GazaMonologues on the 29th of November 2023, to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Watch the full reading on Youtube

Strangers In The Night

Written by Mike Masilmani

Directed by Tracy Holsinger

Strangers In The Night is a rhythmic, spoken-word poem for several voices. Set in Sri Lanka in 2005, it refers to incidents of escalating violence, abductions, and harassment against the Tamil community at that time.The title Strangers In The Night refers to people feeling unsafe and alienated in their hometowns and amongst their neighbours. With no Set, and minimal use of props, the mood is created entirely with the use of movement, voice, and a number of large instruments, including a Koto, drums and a ‘cello.

The work is trilingual, and is a collaboration between theatre makers from Bogawantalawa, Colombo, Jaffna and Kandy. The performance is followed by a mediated conversation between the audience, the actors and the director. This conversation often lasts longer than the actual performance!

This show is currently touring Sri Lanka, and we are actively seeking funding for its support, as the performances are free of charge.

Cast: Seelan Saththyaseelan (Jaffna), Selvaraj Leela and Logananthan Rasaiha (Bogowantalawa), Piorina Fernando ( Colombo), Marlon Ariyasinghe (Kandy), Andre Howson (Colombo), S.Nirththika (Jaffna), Balasingham Vishnu (Jaffna).

The Anatomy Of Dreams is an 8 part audio play that is created, written and directed by Tracy Holsinger. We were funded to make Episode One: The Bus Ride. We are currently looking for funding to make episodes 2 - 8.

The Anatomy Of Dreams is set in Sri Lanka in 2030, during the outbreak of the Omega variant of Covid-19, amidst the run up to a presidential election.

This audio work is part of a pan-Asian project begun by Teater Garasi from Indonesia. In 2019, Teater Garasi won the prestigious Ibsen Award with their concept of ‘Huhu and the multitude of Peer Gynts’. They were unable to finish the work due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and decided to invite other artists and create a virtual platform from which to share the ongoing work.This is a link to the dramatigurical framework for the project.

http://ibsenawards.com/scholarship/winner/multitude-of-peer-gynts-unmapping-the-verge-of-asia/

Our work is looking at the themes of messianism and 'othering' and ghost worers. It is inspired by lines in Act V of Peer Gynt, made by The Skinny Man or The Strange Passenger, depending on which translation you know. This character asks Peer if he can have his body when Peer dies, as he wants to find out where dreams come from. Hence, the Anatomy of Dreams. There will be 8 episodes, and it is written in verse form.

Episode 1 is titled The Bus Ride. It's mastered in stereo, so best listen with a headset to get the full effect of the sound design. It's just under 20mins.

Maya

Mind Adventures celebrated 20 years of making theatre in Sri Lanka by creating an original play about an exceptional warrior in troubled times.

Inspired by extraordinary women in Sri Lankan mythology and history, our story focused on communal attitudes towards love, marriage, sacrifice, duty and power.

Using mask, live music and movement, this production fused traditional and contemporary techniques of storytelling to create a predominantly non-verbal performance.

Maya was supported by the Embassy for Switzerland and the UNFPA in Sri Lanka.

THE STORY

Plot— When an invading Prince abducts the queen of Serendip, Maya, a fierce, young warrior and her guru Nambi must survive a kingdom descending into chaos and rescue the queen.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Artistic Director:
Tracy Holsinger

Musical Director:
Ruvin de Silva

Cast:
Shala Amarasuriya, Tehani Chitty, Sachini Gnanapragasam, Hidaayath Hazeer, Ryan Holsinger, Andre Howson, Tracy Jayasinghe, Lihan Mendis, Vindhya Fernando, Suhashana Wijayaratna and Tashyana Handy.

Venue:
The Lionel Wendt Theatre (Colombo)

Dates:
6th - 8th September 2019

We are ridiculously thrilled to have introduced Forum Theatre to Mongolia!

In December 2018, we were contracted by German NGO The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH or GIZ to work in Ulan Bator, Mongolia for 10 days. We were tasked with creating theatre that dealt with the severe social and economic issues that are rife in the country due to its informal employment crisis.

Tracy Holsinger spent 3 days teaching Forum Theatre and the principles of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed to the Artistic Director and actors from the Erdeniin San theatre group. Over the next 5 days, she crafted two original plays based on true stories that were performed at the GIZ headquarters to invited audiences.

In 2018, as recipients of the British Council’s Women of the World ‘Voices & Choices’ grant, we made a forum theatre play on cyber sexual exploitation.

Press:

https://roar.media/english/life/in-the-know/nude-culture-and-tackling-sexual-violence-online

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8uYL63ObiE&t=157s

Consent and Complicity was based on a true story and focused on the consequences of sexual exploitation and blackmail in teenage relationships.

The play was filmed in front of a live audience and shared with schools as a free, subtitled educational resource with accompanying literature on the rights of children, girls and recourse to professional help.

Since then, the play has been performed five more times, most recently on 6th March 2020 at an event focused on cyber violence hosted by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

This on-going project also aims to add data and statistics to the field of gender justice by asking audience members to fill out responses to questionnaires based on Gender and Personal and Sexual Health and Safety.

Artistic Director - Tracy Holsinger

Cast: Shala Amarasuriya, Usitha Ranatunge, Dinoo Wickremege, Mayanthi de Silva, Charith Dissanayake, Thanuja Jayawardene, Nivendra Uduman, Ruvin de Silva, Dharini Priscilla, Suranjika Bartholomeusz, Andre Howson, Piorina Fernando.

A dramatised reading of ‘Arcadia’ by Sir Tom Stoppard.

Directed by Tracy Holsinger.

Cast:
Mohamed Adamaly
Shanuki de Alwis
Shanaka Amarasinghe
Tehani Chitty
Meth Dias Bandaranaike
Gehan Gunatilleke
Pia Hatch
Lihan Mendis
Dylan Perera
Anushka Senanayake
Arun Welandewe-Prematilleke
Subha Wijesiriwardena

In Aid of the Tea project: http://www.theteaproject.co.uk/tea_project_sl.html

Dear Children, Sincerely...' A Conversation Across Generations.

In collaboration with Stages Theatre Group

Directed by Ruwanthie de Chickera and Tracy Holsinger.
Designed by Jayampathy Guruge.

Dear Children SIncerely (DCS) #dcslanka is a project that collects the stories and experiences of those born in Sri Lanka in the 1930s. This remarkable generation has lived through Colonialism, Independence, Insurrection and War. This production looks at moments in Sri Lanka's recent history in a series of short performances that explore issues at the core of our communal conflict.

An initiative of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation.

Written and Directed by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

BLOWHARDS consists of three satirical 20-minute plays that focus on social issues. Each of the plays takes a humourous view on Colombo society at large and their responses and actions towards a particular subject. 

‘Tea/Coffee’ looks at armchair activism, ‘Eco-Warriors’ on environmental issues and ‘The Corn’ on political discourse within a family. All three look at social conventions and our own self-image and how they form our opinions and the stances we take on topical issues, the production harpoons the facile and facetious in us all.

Tea/Coffee
Ruvin de Silva Thanuja Jayawardene

Watch Tea/Coffee: http://vimeo.com/82248477

Eco Warriors
Leah Bazalgette Pia Hatch Tracy Jayasinghe Ryan Holsinger

The Corn
Tracy Holsinger Shanuki De Alwis Brandon Ingram

Read the Sunday Times review here: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150809/plus/incisive-take-on-the-rich-and-indulged-159829.html

'These cities were built by Kings, now they are crawling with the fallen. Let's build a fort for our own protection.'

Written and Performed by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and Alice Malseed.

Loosely adapted from Irish mythology and the Mahavamsa, the play will use our histories as a springboard to examine young people living in post-conflict cities and their disconnect from the world around them. Set around a multi-storey apartment complex, the denizens in and around the building will each lend a window into their lives as Kings and Queens of their own private kingdoms.

Performed by the Janakaraliya troupe and directed by Tracy Holsinger.

The play centres on a group of actors who travel around the country performing plays for a living. Each has a story to tell and each has a reason for wanting to continue they journey for as long as possible.

Adapted and devised from ‘The Boy Who Speaks In Numbers’ by Mike Masilamani, the Kaerakena Keliya follows the fortunes of the citizens of the Small Village of Fat Hopes, who are caught in the crossfire of a Civil War of Lies. They find themselves marooned in a camp for Ignored Defeated People along with A Mad Uncle, A Constantly Complaining Cow, A Lying Lizard and a myriad of other stranded people.

This allegorical tale uses humour and physical theatre to explore the themes of displacement, alienation and the collateral damage of war.

A Play by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and Tracy Holsinger

Directed by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

'Legend of the Amazon: The Secret of Wonder Woman' looks at the origins of the popular comic book character Wonder Woman. Created by William Moulton Marston in the 1940s, the inventor based the character on his two wives; Elizabeth and Olive. The play looks at the intricacies of lives lived beyond the norms of society, as these three pioneers struggle with the constrictions of their time and their place, as they work to create one of the most beloved characters in popular culture.

Cast:

The Marstons

Elizabeth                     Tehani Chitty

William                        Ruvin De Silva

Olive                            Vindhya Fernando
 

The Wonder Women

Thanuja Jayawardene

Tanuja Perera

Directed by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

Commissioned by the Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO) of Sri Lanka in 2015.

Cast: Tracy Holsinger, Tehani Chitty, Rajinda Jayasinghe, Shanaka Amarasinghe and Tanuja Perera

Our show takes place in 1920s Ceylon. Under British rule, the island and its capital, Colombo have become a playground for a particular brand of the rich and powerful. People come to the small island to get away from their pasts and rebuild themselves in whatever image they please. Colombo allows solace to those disillusioned by the bright lights of home and provides a new escape. These lost souls look for meaning in whatever comes their way, desperate for a reason to exist. This yearning leads them to The Secret Order of the Golden Dawn, a society devoted to the study and practice of the occult and paranormal activities.

 This evening the Order is meeting at Zelda Fayre’s house. Zelda is the wife of an author and herself has been many things; actress, dancer, writer, painter, trophy. She is known both for her staunch belief in the mysticism of the East and for throwing a soiree like no one else can. Tonight Zelda presides over her closest circle of friends: luminaries such as Captain Aleister Fawcett, Edith Crowley and the renowned occultist Madame Blavatsky. They have gathered to meet a gentlemen of some interest. A mystic, an inventor, a doctor and a native; the gentlemen has taken Zelda’s eye and possibly her heart.

His mere presence rankles some members of the group, but the secrets he holds are too intoxicating to even the harshest cynic.

On this night, this young man will expose truths that have long lain dormant, shifting the delicate balance of the Order until it suffers irrevocable damage. He also has designs of his own, or rather a design of his own. An invention that he believes could change the world, make him rich and provide a passage out of Ceylon. He needs just one thing to complete it, and that he plans to find it tonight at the meeting of the Order of the Golden Dawn.

Written by Ruwanthie De Chickera

Directed by Tracy Holsinger

Actors

Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke, Ruvin de Silva, Tehani Chitty, Pasan Ranaweera, Vindhya Fernando

Written by Patrick Marber

Directed by Tracy Holsinger

English playwright, Patrick Marber’s play ‘Closer’ premiered in 1997 in London, making Marber and his work immediately world-renowned. Closer, the 2004 movie directed by Mike Nichols had famous actors like Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law, and Clive Owen starring in the lead roles.

Mind Adventures theatre company is staging a dramatised reading of the play at the British Council Library on September 13,14 and 15. This production is the third in a series of events planned as part of Mind Adventures’ stint as Artists in Residence at the British Council.

The centre of the story is a love rectangle. The characters: a young and rebellious stripper, a shy but ambitious writer, a middle-aged dermatologist, and a photographer who hides her feelings with rigidness.

Their fates interlink for almost five years, all of them getting lost in the labyrinth of desire. ‘Closer’ is about love, the desire to own each other, and revenge, where fundamentally lonesome and interdependent people look for happiness and fulfilment in each other, trying to redeem their own lives through one another.

Dan    Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

Anna  Tehani Chitty

Larry  Chris Burgess

Alice  Shakthi Ponniah

Inspired by Michael Tomlinson's 'The Most Dangerous Moment'... 

It is April 1942 and World War II has spread to the East. Lenny, Charles, Jack and Godfrey are four Allied airmen stuck on an observational airbase in Ceylon, as far away from combat as they can imagine. Their days consist of humour and hijinks - anything to keep themselves occupied - until one day they receive an order that could change everything.

Amidst the backdrop of when the Japanese fleet attacked naval bases in Ceylon, 'Only Soldiers' looks at the bonds of war, the families formed and the friends lost.

ONLY SOLDIERS is the first production of Mind Adventures' year in residence at The British Council.

Written and directed by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

Additional writing by: Ruvin de Silva, Brandon Ingram, Rajinda Jayasinghe

Cast: Ruvin de Silva, Brandon Ingram, Rajinda Jayasinghe and Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

Sound Design: Ranil Goonewardena

Wonder Woman is based on The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2015. This year, the corporate buzzwords have been Gender Sensitivity. We were commissioned to make this by Citi Bank, Sri Lanka for International Women’s Day and subsequently performed it for John Keells Holdings at their Chairman’s Awards ceremony. JKH asked us to include an LGBT segment for their function. 

Directed by Tracy Holsinger

Cast: Tracy Holsinger, Tehani Chitty, Thanuja Jayawardene and Tracy Jayasinghe

In July this year, we collaborated with award-winning London-based Look Left Look Right theatre company. Mimi Poskitt (Artistic Director) and Molly Taylor (Writer) were with us in Colombo for nearly two weeks.  

The resulting performance concept is very exciting for us, and we have begun work on raising the funding in order to realize the final production.  

Later this year, we hope to invite you to immerse yourself in a series of snapshots that reflect Sri Lankan life and people, as you hop on board a unique bus journey. 

As our bus travels, we will focus on social issues that the majority of Sri Lankans face in common, quite apart from religious and ethnic concerns, through our characters and their stories.

Watch an excerpt from the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-JxwkjiqA

In the year 2013, the island of Sri Lanka finds itself at a crucial point in its history. Isolationist for years under the rule of an all-seeing, unseen Great Leader, the nation's people work hard, fast and happy as long as they take their government prescribed dose of Uppeka, the equilibrium drug.

As preparations for the Victory Day celebration go along, a spanner drops into the works. A section of the population has become immune to the drug. Now they are sick, tired and angry. Angry about a system that has worked to oppress and silence them for too long.

The play follows ten interweaving characters from this world, whose narratives play out simultaneously, offering the audience a chance to follow any character, wherever he goes. There are no seats, there is no stage. You will create your own adventure.
 

Director: Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

Cast: Ruvin De Silva, Shehara De Silva, Chinthaka Fernando, Ryan Holsinger, Tracy Holsinger, Brandon Ingram, Tracy Jayasinghe, Thanuja Jayawardene, Prasad Pereira, Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and Subha Wijesiriwardena

Lighting Design: Ryan Holsinger

Costume Design: Deeandra Bulner

Set Design: Yashodhara Pathirana

"The triumph of Paraya was its ability to immerse us in the milieu and expose us for our complicity ... [The play] remains not a mere critique of the state, but a critique of our collective apathy—our willingness to tolerate impunity."

-- Gehan Gunatilleke, groundviews.org

Written by Jithendra Seneviratne

This play explores the trials and tribulations of youth involved in university, competitive sport and governance and the play’s themes include justice, conformity and courage. “After Class” portrays the experiences of characters that are willing to fight for their rights and you will find that the characters’ lives and issues are ones that we as human beings can all relate to. The characters combined with the thrilling narrative make this play inspirational and heart-rending

Director: Ruvin de Silva
 

Cast: Eshara Silva, Thanuja Jayawardena, Brandon Ingram, Pasan Ranaweera, Gehan Blok, Sulakshani Perera, Jehan Gunasekara, Rebecca Munasinghe, Niren Ranasinghe, Dinesha Senaratne and Anuk De Silva.
 

Lighting Design: Ryan Holsinger

Costume Design: Deeandra Bulner

Set Design: Thilini Perera

Set in a fictional isolated seaside town in the aftermath of a brutal double murder Rondo explores the stories of its inhabitants as they grapple with moving on. This is a devised piece commissioned by the Sunethra Bandaranayake Trust that explores the idea of reconciliation and what it means in Sri Lanka’s current post-war context.

Director: Tracy Holsinger with Arun Welendawe-Premetilleke

Cast: Brandon Ingram, Subha Wijesiriwardena, Ruvin de Silva, Venuri Perera, Arun Welendawe-Premetilleke, Tehani Chitty, Benjamin Aluwihare, Kimaya de Silva.

Set, Costume and Sound Design: Tracy Holsinger and Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke

Lighting Design: Ryan Holsinger

Venue: Punchi Theatre, Borella, Colombo.
 

Teams of four unprepared, unrehearsed contestants pit themselves against each other in a series of impromptu theatre-games leading to a grand final. A high energy, audience-interactive competition that is outrageous and quirky, challenging the teams to show their best in spontaneity, humour and showmanship.

Adapted and devised from ‘The Boy Who Speaks In Numbers’ by Mike  Masilamani, the Travelling Circus follows the fortunes of the citizens of the Small Village of Fat Hopes, who are caught in the crossfire of a Civil War of Lies. They find themselves. They find themselves marooned in a camp for Ignored Defeated People along with A Mad Uncle, A Constantly Complaining Cow, A Lying Liazard and a myriad of other stranded people.

This allegorical tale uses humour and physical theatre to explore the themes of displacement, alienation and the collateral damage of war.

The Travelling Circus 

Director: Tracy Holsinger

Cast: Tracy Holsinger, Gihan de Chickera, Prasad Pereira, Brandon Ingram, Tehani Chitty, Ryan Holsinger, Subha Wijesiriwardena, Ruvin de Silva, Nuzreth Jalaldeen, Thushara Hettihamu, Tracy Jayasinghe.

Lighting Design: Michael Holsinger

Sound Design: Ruvin de Silva

Venue: Nuga Sevana,on the grounds of the Cathedral (2009)

The British School Auditorium (2011)

Sri Mutta Venkatasubba Rao Memorial Hall, Chennai, India (2011)

Written by Geoffrey Case

A show primarily designed for children and young adults; deals with issues of power, greed and corruption, told in the form of fairy tale/adventure story.

Director and Set Designer: Tracy Holsinger

Cast: Wasaam Ismail, Ruvin de Silva, Nuzreth Jalaldeen, Brandon Ingram, Jehan 

Gunasekera, Subha Wijesiriwardena, Sulochana Perera, Ryan Holsinger, Mihiri 

Warnasuriya, Jehan Mendis, Anush de Costa, Aavon Fernando, Mahina Bongso.

Lighting Design: Michael Holsinger

Costume and Make Up Design: Rukshika Fernando 

Sound Design: Zafar Issadeen

Venue: British Council Garden

Enda Walsh’s taut tragicomedy about six teenagers in a virtual room. Conversations range in subject from Britney Spears to Willy Wonka to — suicide: Jim is depressed and talks of ending his life and Eva and William decide to do their utmost to persuade him to carry out his threat. From this chilling premise is forged a funny, compelling and uplifting play that tackles the issues of teenage life head-on and with great understanding. (www.samuelfrench.com)

Directed by Tracy Holsinger

Cast: Tehani Chitty, Ruvin de Silva, Brandon Ingram, Erasha Sugathapala, Arun  Welandawe-Prematilleke, Subha Wijesiriwardena.

Venue: The British School Auditorium

Lighting Design: Ryan Holsinger