Over 30 plays in eight Indian languages will be staged at the 12th edition of NSD's Jashnebachpan. The festival director shares the importance of educating children through theatre
Remember the colourful characters of Pyaas lagi Hai Mercury Piyo or the honest Alibaba of Khulja Sim Sim or the ingeniously naughty worms of Kitabon Mein HulchulIJ All these interesting stories will be revived on stage at the 12th edition of National School of Drama’s Jashnebachpan. Not only this, there will be several other plays to highlight the burning issues of the day. The festival features over 30 plays in eight languages such as Assamese, Bengali, English, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Hindi and one non-verbal. “It’s important to educate children about the evolving issues of society through plays. Apart from the stories that personify kids’ innocence, there will be plays to address the new-age issues of our society,” says Abdul latif Kendre, director of NSD’s Theatre in Education (TIE) wing.
TIE is celebrating its 25th anniversary and is making special arrangements. They are inviting underprivileged kids both as performers and viewers. “We are keeping shows in open lawns to encourage more kids to participate. We don’t keep rewards for the candidates to avoid competitive clashes,” he says. The organisers also plan to invite international theatre groups. “We are hoping to have global entries from next year,” Kendre says. TIE has staged over 1,200 shows, 350 workshops catering to more than 11 lakh children so far, apart from college students, teachers, parents and theatre lovers across the world.
Apart from the shows, the organisers this time will also hold seminars inviting 30 eminent speakers. They will be discussing variety of issues relating to children theatre. NSD is also introducing children theatre programme in their curriculum. There has been shortage of quality directors, lecturers and performers in theatre.
“Everything has been done. We hope to include the new programme from the next session. This will also help us in improving the quality of theatre performers. We have been asking the government to promote theatre studies in schools and colleges. Theatre nurtures overall personality of kids. It enables them to become a better human being, more creative and hard working,” says Waman Kendre, NSD director.