The Brand You – A Drama Based Workshop by Firefly Theatre

By Rehel Hasnain Zaidi, Co-Support by Khadija Raheem

On 15th of December 2011 at PNEC-NUST, The Firefly Theatre presented a drama based workshop called ‘The Brand You’ in collaboration with the APSS board at PNEC.

Role-plays to connect with the general audience:

The Firefly Theatre is based on the objective of interactive workshops involving role-plays, improvisation techniques and interesting communication methods to get their message across. Effectively depicting real life scenarios by the help of their actors, they aim to educate the audience and guide them to a better self-assessment.

The Brand ‘YOU’:

Who are you? Do you know yourself? Do you take your own responsibility? Are you your own boss? These are some of the questions that cross many minds, if not, then the workshop placed its attendees in the thinking box and led them to identify themselves.

The workshop led by Mr. Zuhaib Sheikh highlighted the importance of uniqueness, the need to bring about change using your inimitable attributes. They started off with a little drama to get everybody’s attention. The actors that represented ‘The Firefly Theatre’ were Akbar Chaudry and Syed Muhammad Kumail (also students at PNEC-NUST), and before long the auditorium was bursting with laughter.

The key statements were ‘easy is boring’. Those who bring about innovation with their new ideas are the ones who make it further. Mr. Zuhaib Sheikh conceded with the basic concept of selling yourself as a brand; present yourself as something distinctive that would make you stand out and let people opt for you, be top of the line at the top of your mind!

How we play is what matters, not who wins in the end:

The uncertainty of the future often haunts the young minds, standing out and paving the path to a secure future is one of the ways to curb this fear. Taking the high road and being proactive makes all the difference. You may not succeed but at least you have the satisfaction of saying that you tried your best. This was inspired using a stress-relieving exercise where all the participants stood up and celebrated their failures screaming out loud saying ‘I failed! Yes! It feels amazing!’, and this was done keeping in mind the importance of being part of the game, not just winning the game.

Another fun activity during the workshop involved two football fanatics being brought up on stage from the crowd, each of them representing and defending their football club; great efforts by both the fans.

Toward the beginning of YOU:

After being served with appetizing refreshments by the hosts, APSS, the session continued with an exercise that included filing a questionnaire that covered questions like one’s vision, purpose, goals and passion in life. The auditorium was full of individuals working their grey cells. At the end the attendees made their OWN brand, representing themselves that included the attributes, strength, jingle, and also a logo of their brand.

To recapitulate, the workshop came to an end with an immense positive feedback from the attendees who considered it as an opportunity to truly discover themselves and leave with a matchless identity.

The road to knowing yourself is a constant journey which one should never stop transcending.

For those who missed out the actual event, here’s a quick preview.