By Rayyan al-Firdausi
GOMBAK, 7 March 2016: After four years in existence, the IIUM Disability Grand Awareness Campaign (IDGAC) will be incorporating theatrical play for the first time this year as it strives to serve the disabled students’ justice.
The yet-to-be-named play is a product of collaboration between newcomer Silver Spades and much more senior Notorious Playhouse. Spades agreed to provide majority of the casts and all of the crew members while Notorious brings a script to the table. Both houses will provide their own director. This was done through the offer made by IDGAC organisers.
Amirul Hakimi bin Mohammed Nor, 21, a second year English Literature student will be representing Silver Spades as half of the director duo while third year Islamic Finance student, Sarah Amlina Azizul Rahman, 22, is the other half. President of Notorious Playhouse and English Literature alumni, Farah Adilla Ismail, 28, will be writing the script.
Early production process has already begun, while nothing is set in stone but the script is in the process of finalising with some fine tuning being made to it. The available synopsis as to date is the journey of an able-bodied female reuniting to a musical prodigy disabled male that she seems to have a lost connection with. This story will be told from the perspective of an able-bodied person.
“If I want to tell a story from their perspective, I don’t know how their lives are and I don’t have friends or family with disability. Doing research through movies or books would take too much time. I don’t want to do a story that might not do justice. So, I decided to make a story on disability through the point of view of people like me,” said Adilla.
Talents provided by Spades are relatively new to the scene but everyone involved has a high hope that they will not disappoint. Amira, Aimi, Aza and Alimin are slated to be the main casts of the untitled play.
“I’m confident with the casts, where together, their shared experience in Getaran Jiwa, Penumbral Lament, BENL Writers’ Festival 2015 and other production houses onstage or backstage will elevate this play to the next level,” said Hakimi.
The play is planned to be performed at Main Auditorium on 7 April. Ticket selling will start around a week or two prior to the date and the price is still unconfirmed. However, “it may be less than RM10″, according to Faiz Fahmi Musa, 21, second year English Literature student and President of Silver Spades.
“IDGAC, as the name suggests, is to promote awareness about student disability to IIUM’s community specifically about their existence in our university. It is also to remind able-bodied IIUM Community members to not abuse facilities provided for them,” said Ain Syuhadah Idrus, a third year Literature and Linguistics student and Programme Manager for IDGAC’s Theatre.
“With theatre, it is easier to attract audience and people are more receptive towards it. It is easier to comprehend and it is fun,” said Sarah when asked on reason for the play incorporation.
On the whole, IDGAC is a campaign that involved programmes such as usrah, sports, exhibition and performances. The campaign is organised with a collaboration of IIUM Disability Services Unit, Office of Deputy Rectors & Student Affairs, Welfare Secretariat and Ibnu Ummi Makhtum Club (I-MaC).***