Third Space Performance Lab: “To The Academy”

A renowned professor and a celebrated dancer arrive, ready to share their acclaimed insights into traditional Indian theatre. As the curtain rises, so do the stakes: new technology goes haywire and their carefully crafted presentation unravels into chaos. What begins as an academic talk transforms into a fast-paced, absurd struggle for control that blurs the lines between performance, panic, and play. 

To the Academy draws from Kafka’s “A Report for an Academy” and the Natyashastra, India’s ancient text on performance. This multimedia spectacle is both a love letter to the irreplaceable magic of live theatre and a bold exploration of higher education’s future. As the characters wrestle with artificial intelligence and their own limitations, the show invites you to ask: What does it mean to be human in a world increasingly shaped by machines? And what will we fight to preserve in our classrooms, our art, and ourselves? 

Third Space Performance Lab is a collaborative project between dancer-performer Shanti Pillai and actor Marc Gomes. They juxtapose unexpected points of cultural reference to create multimedia works that blur the boundary between audience and performer. They are committed to a theatre that can provoke and delight.