Category: Theatre For Change

  • Summer Theatre Workshops

    October 17, 2017

    Khursheed ran away from a broken family when he was 7. After reaching Delhi he lived a life on the streets before being rescued by the Salaam Balak Trust. With Salaam Balak he gets a roof to live and an opportunity to complete his education. He develops an avid interest in theatre and gets associated with our Theatre for Change Program at the age of 13. Since then, he’s gone places. Working currently with the Salaam City-walk Project, he works as a tour guide, taking tourists on a never-before seen side of Old Delhi. He also works with street children using the arts. Khursheed has partnered with us as an actor in street plays and two International Theatre Festivals, The Tin Forest Theatre Festival in 2014 and most recently, the Home/Away Festival in 2016.

    The Yuva Ekta Summer Theatre workshops were started a decade ago with a need to inspire students to engage with social issues beyond their textbooks. Working with a host school, we invite senior school students from private schools and NGOs in Delhi to participate in a month long Expressive Arts Program.

    Each year, we work with a theme that has captured the imagination of the citizenry. Over the last 10 years, we’ve worked with issues like HIV/Aids Awareness, Child Rights, Women’s Rights, Malnutrition, Community Responsibility etc. The workshops become active participation forums, bringing together a wholesome social experience for the participants. Art workshops with Master Practitioners, periodic field trips and community interventions inculcate values of pro-active citizenship.

    15-20 sessions are culminated into an interactive theatre performance inspired from Augusto Boal’s principles of ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. This performance is then taken to public venues and schools in Delhi, where the Yuva Ekta participants conduct open ended discussions with the audience. Performances are designed in such a way that they evoke responses for everyone, including the participants to answer.

    In a month-and-a-half, the group is empowered to represent the organisation and the cause they’ve been diligently working towards. The issue/topic/cause becomes a unifying factor that is able to dissolve boundaries like class, region and gender, justifying the group’s idiom: “Yuva Ekta, Youth Unite”, said as a chorus at the closure of all performances.

    Our workshop model from this project is applied to most of our current working programs, allowing us to bring together a diversity of experiences onto a single platform. Bluebells School, Modern School (Barkhamba Road) and Salaam Balak Trust (Tis Hazari) have been gracious hosts for these workshops over the years. Other Schools from Delhi including Gyan Bharti School, St. Mary’s School and Vasant Valley School have had active participation as well.

    Through these workshops, we’ve created a network base of active volunteers who continue to give their time and energy to the Foundation.

     

     

  • Theatre For Change

    • Tin Forest International Theatre Festival

      Pankaj is an established actor, director and choreographer who’s bagged roles in Bollywood films like ‘Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!’ and ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhag’, ‘Road to Ladakh’ and ‘Murari, The Mad Gentleman’ among others. He has a longstanding job as an actor in Kingdom of Dreams’s production, ‘Jhumroo’.  He ran away from his village Firozpur (Uttar Pradesh) as a young boy and came to Delhi to start life anew. His years at the Salaam Baalak home take him through school and college, as his interest in Theatre grows. Today Pankaj teaches theater in different schools, has performed in dance shows in India and abroad as a member of the Astad Deboo Dance Company. He was one of the actor’s in the group that represented India at the Tin Forrest International Theatre Festival organised by National Theatre of Scotland in 2014.

      Pankaj first became a part of Yuva Ekta through the Summer Theatre Program. Starting off as a participant to becoming a facilitator, his association with the organisation has grown stronger over the years. He shares his experience saying, “I got chance to meet many friends from across the world. I also participated in different workshops with them and learnt new things about performing arts. We were representing India at an International Youth Theatre Festival in Glasgow and it was a great feeling.”

      The Tin Forrest International Theatre Festival was organised by the National Theatre of Scotland as a part of the Glasgow Cultural Festival during the Commonwealth Games in 2014. It got together youth theatre groups and performers from the Commonwealth Countries for a one-of-a-kind celebration of the arts.

      This was our first attempt at preparing an international production and getting on board a cast and crew that could travel abroad.

      Our play, “Shoonya se Shikhar – a Journey of Transformation” brought together stories that criss-crossed length and breadth of India, weaving a tapestry of progress, hope and empowerment. The story talked about the challenge of Democracy and Diversity, of expanding the scope of development to go beyond mere economic definitions, to include social empowerment of the marginalized… stories of the soil, of struggle, transition, change and growth.

      The process of planning and strategizing for the Tin Forest Project began in December, 2013. Open auditions were conducted through which cast of 12 performers was selected. The group was representative of India’s social reality, as young people from different socio-economic backgrounds, harbouring different aspirations, came together on one platform. Through a series of workshops and brainstorming, we zeroed down on the concept of the play that we wanted to showcase – representing the diversity of India, and questioning the change and development happening in our country through the lens of our nation’s Youth.

      The play premiered at the ICCR auditorium on 8th July, 2014. Our audience included Mr. Satish Mehta, Director General, ICCR, Mr. Vivek Mansukhani, Director Arts, British Council India, Ms. Sarbani Chakravarty, Confederation of Indian Industry, children from Salaam Baalak Trust and students from different schools and colleges across Delhi.

      Glasgow was a great experience for the entire team. For most of the members, it was their first trip abroad. Islam from Salaam Baalak shared his experience with the audience at Tin Forest as well, saying that he never thought he will get a chance to travel abroad, and this trip was like a dream come true for him.

      We performed on 25th July, the second day of the festival. Since our plot had a lot of scenarios, transitions, characters and costume changes, all we hoped for was that the audience would understand and connect with the story. After the performance, audience members met the caste and crew backstage. Many told us that the subtitles weren’t necessary as our story and portrayal aptly represented our intent. Others were becoming aware about the sub-continent’s problems for the first time. The response we received was amazing, and it was heartening to see audience come up to us share their feedback and love.

      Most of the feedback we got was that it was very brave of us to talk about issues that we feel strongly about.

      “I think your performance was great – I liked how you incorporated personal stories into it. The ending was quite a strong one. I don’t think the subtitles were necessary when the characters were speaking English but they didn’t bother me at all. I think the ‘from nowhere to somewhere’ was very clear so I think you did a great job.”

      –  Andrea, Teatru Manoel, Malta (Festival Participant)

       

      Click here to know more about the Festival!

      https://stv.tv/news/scotland/283429-scotland-tonight-tin-forest-introduces-games-cultural-programme/

      http://www.thetinforest.com/in-pictures-international-theatre-festival-performances-friday-25-july/

  • Theatre For Change

    • Sounds Of Freedom- Youth Outreach

      “It was great to be a part of ‘Naatya Raasta’ and performing in the Sounds of Freedom Festival. It has always been enlightening working under the direction of Mrs. Puneeta Roy. I think we as artists should come up with more programs like this. All the workshops, interactive sessions, performances took us a step closer to reality of Gender Issues. It was my very first theatre project and all the techniques and exercises were new to me. It helped me express myself better as a performer. I found a new direction, and different perspective for art.”

      Amber Sahni worked with the Foundation for the first time as a part of the Sounds of Freedom Youth Outreach Program- 2015. A passionate dancer, Amber wants to dedicate his life to this art form. His hard work and commitment has helped him grow as an actor as well. In 2016, he played the character of ‘Munna’ in our play ‘Bargad Ki Chhaon Mein’ which traveled to Glasgow for the Home/Away International Theatre Festival. His journey has been quite an incredible one.

      Conceptualized and produced by Teamwork Arts Pvt Ltd, Sounds of Freedom Festival provided a platform for Indian and International musicians, human rights activists and thousands of people to join hands in their efforts to raise consciousness and encourage Freedom of Expression, dialogue and discussion towards inclusive social change.

      The Yuva Ekta Foundation was the outreach partner for the concert in 2014 and 2015. We conducted workshops across schools and colleges in Delhi/NCR that engaged the students through art workshops, performances, competitions and exciting interactions.

      In 2014, as a part of College Outreach, students from various colleges across Delhi participated in theatre and music workshops held at Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. These workshops centered around Arts as a means of advocacy and spreading awareness on ‘Human Rights’. We invited college societies to work together on theme based performances with facilitators such as Taru Dalmia a.k.a Delhi Sultanate, Chayan Adhikari and Ujwal Nagar from Delhi fusion band Advaita, Pramada Menon (a dynamic gender activist and performer), Gilles Chuyen (choreographer and theatre performer). Our facilitators worked with students from different colleges to come up with original songs and nukkad naataks based on ‘Human Rights’. These nukakd naataks were then performed across the city to raise awareness about these theme as well as the concert. The music groups composed songs based on the theme, which were recorded and compiled into an online downloadable album: The Sounds of Freedom- a Beginning.

      For the School Outreach, we selected five schools where the YUVA EKTA theater group performed a street play that focused on Gender Justice titled- “Garv Hai – Main Aurat Hoon”, kick-starting a conversation with senior school students on this theme. This was followed by an interaction with Taru Dalmia aka Delhi Sultanate – a rap, hip-hop and reggae artist as well as a Performance Poet, in which he shared his work with revolutionary singers across the country – from the fiery Dalit Singer, Bant Singh in Punjab, to Bhagwan Majhi, an Adivasi leader from Odisha. Inspired by Taru’s empathy and cutting edge lyrics, the students were invited to participate in 4 different workshops – expressing themselves through music, drama, creative writing, or art. The results were compiled into an online exhibition on the website.

      Everything culminated at the concert venue, through the Expression Zone, which was a partnership between The Yuva Ekta Foundation and eight other NGO’s from Delhi. Each NGO had a stall with activities and information regarding social issued that they work on.

      In the 2nd edition of the Sounds of Freedom Festival- 2015, the participation increased manifold. For that year we chose ‘Gender Justice’ as our theme.

      Sounds of Freedom Youth Outreach Workshop was conducted at India Habitat Center on 31st August, 2014. A total of 175 youth attended the workshop. After the Outreach Workshops, auditions were conducted to select a choir-Vocal Raasta and a street theater group- Naatya Raasta. 

      Naatya Raasta worked with 20 actors for 6 months and created a street play called ‘Gender Bender- A step towards Gender Justice’- a play that questioned gender based stereotypes, patriarchal mindsets and social conditioning. Naatya Raasta did 11 performances in institutions and public venues across Delhi/ NCR.

      Vocal Rasta trained 15 musicians in songs of Freedom and collectively re-arranged popular freedom songs: “Ederlezy” by Goran Bregovic, “Earth” by Imogen Heap, “Abantwana Basethempeleni (Children of the Temple)” and “Hum Dekho Chal Pade” – The SOF Anthem, composed by Kailash Kher. Also, the choir created original compositions “Freedom”, “Love”, “Respect”, “Chain”, “right left”.Vocal Raasta did 13 performances in institutions and public venues across Delhi/ NCR.

      We have continued our association with the participants from both these festivals. Most of the participants from the group partner with us as guest facilitators and actors in several productions, projects and workshops on regular basis.

  • Theatre For Change

    • Youth Outreach Program @ Jaipur Literature Festival

      Pooja came in as a participant from Bassi village representing Doosra Dashak, an NGO working on community upliftment in various ares in Rajasthan. For the first two days, Pooja was a girl with a headscarf who couldn’t even gather the courage to hold the mike. By the time we started performing, Pooja was the star of the show with a monologue of her own. The headscarf had come off and she was a girl brimming with confidence and self-assurance.

      For Pooja and her friends, this was the first ever trip to a city. A few days after the festival, Pooja’s father called up our Managing Director Ms. Puneeta Roy, expressing gratitude for his daughter’s transformation.

      “Pooja affected me the most for I have noted a drastic change in her in the last few days. When she came on the first day she was so shy that she didn’t even want to give her introduction. But as we proceeded with the activities she started to interact a little. I could actually hear her voice her voice for the first time.  On the second day she seemed a little more comfortable. She was making eye contact with people and participating in activities more  openly and confidently. When I got a chance to personally talk to her, I found that she was a sweet and ambitious girl who loves her family and wants to help them in any way possible. She feels a little shy talking to boys so I insisted her in doing so, and she agreed. I felt as if I could trust her. Both of us share similar interests and will definitely be in contact after the workshops are over.”

      Darshi, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya, Jaipur (Workshop Participant)

      For 10 consecutive years The Yuva Ekta Foundation has conducted ‘Youth Outreach Program’ at Jaipur Literature Festival, the largest free literature festival in the world. Through this program we integrate students from Jaipur schools with participants from NGOs across the country. This diverse groups comes together a week before the festival to explore a socially relevant theme using Theatre. Through this program we have connected with over 10,000 students, teachers, community stakeholders and JLF visitors over the past 10 years.

      The idea of the outreach at the Festival is to give back to the city. Workshops usually last for 8-10 sessions divided in two halves each day. We introduce participants to techniques of theatre and expressive arts as they begin the journey of exploring ‘the self’ and ‘self in relation to the other’. Each year we take up a different theme to engage our participants. In our latest edition, we explored ‘Freedom to Dream’ as India approached 70 years of its independence.

      These themes are worked upon with creative tools as every participant brings in his/her experiences into these workshops. As the workshops progress, it becomes a mutual learning space where students unite on issues that they see beyond the rural-urban divide.

      This module culminates in an ‘Interactive Performance’ that is performed in various schools and community spaces in Jaipur before finding its way to Jaipur Literature Festival Grounds. Our participants realize the importance of their performance once they see students of their age connecting with the scenes on stage.

      When we interacted with students from different schools, we realized that many students were able to relate their lives with the scenes of our play and they said that we inspired them. This comment made me understand the power that we, the young generation possess and if we are determined we can definitely change all the ill practices around us and make the world a better place.”- Malya Sharma, Rukmani Birla Modern High School

      We have already started preparations for 11th Youth Outreach Program at Jaipur Literature Festival- 2018 with its theme “BREAKTHROUGH – building emotional intelligence through the Arts”. Following our model every year, the seven day workshop will aim at creating a performance based interaction that will be taken to various schools, communities and NGOs in Jaipur.

      To know more about our association with the Jaipur Literature Festival, CLICK HERE

  • Theatre For Change

    • Finding Me

      “Being a part of Yuva Ekta was possibly the most defining part of my school days. ‘Finding Me’ was an incredible journey that truly delivered what it promised: me finding myself. The project involved several months of workshops and rehearsal and culminated in a street-play performance in Bluebells School International- my alma mater,  and Dilli Haat. It taught me the meaning of social change and how the Arts can be an influential way of making it happen. All that time I spent with the team, having conversations about sensitive issues and laughing about our adolescent joys, changed me for the better. It not only helped me connect to the essence of our mission but also turned me into a more tolerant individual, accepting of the experiences, similarities and differences that make us who we are. I am truly grateful to the Yuva Ekta Foundation for helping me discover a piece of myself that I am now so fond of.”

      – Kamakshi Dadhwal is a student of Bluebells School, Delhi who is studying to obtain a Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology (University of Tampa) and Philosophy (University of Oxford). She has been associated with The Foundation for the best part of this decade. She loves to dance and thinks that the only way to truly appreciate cultural diversity is to travel and make friends all over the world. Kamakshi aspires to be a college professor who empowers the youth.

      We are young, caught in our dilemmas; navigating through tricky paths only to arrive at crossroads. There’s so much to do, yet we need to make all these choices. At the end of the day, who am I even looking at in the mirror? Who is my true “self”?

      A looking glass perspective on today’s youth, ‘Finding Me’ was designed as a series of sketch representations on the issues the young adults face today. Exploring the endless journey- finding our ‘self’, the play explored through everyday scenarios, music and movement the identity crises that young people everywhere face!

      With a cast comprising of young people from starkly different backgrounds, most aspects of the play were as reflective and as ‘real’ as they could get. The workshops explored complex and grave issues like drug and alcohol abuse, body image disorders, bullying etc. to understand the identity crisis synonymous with this age group. Workshops urged the participants to journey inward and develop a better understanding of ‘self” in relation to ‘others’. 

      The musical element was vivaciously strong in the performance. Artists and musicians like Anubhuti Sharma and SCORE (an acapella group of young musicians from Delhi) had partnered with the Foundation for this production. Other aspects of stagecraft including Mime Acting and Physical Theatre were explored with the help of artists like Gilles Chuyen and Dilip Shankar. These tools and more made the workshop experiences a cathartic one for the participants.

      The play was performed in Bluebells School International in front of distinguished set of guests and dignitaries from United Kingdom consisting of Minister Fiona Hyslop  (Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs and the Scottish National Party), Geoff Pope (Team Leader-Asia Pacific, International Division, Scottish Government), Rob Pyrne (Former Director, British Council India), Dana Macleod (Program Producer, British Council) and Jane Davidson (Director, Outreach and Education, Scottish Opera) among others in the delegation. The audience also included students from various schools and NGOs in Delhi.  

      The response we received for the performance was amazing. The fact that this play explore journey to discover ‘Self’ made sure it resonated with audience members irrespective of age, class and nationality.

       

  • Theatre For Change

    • Theatre Workshops at Bosco Institute, Assam

      “My time in Jorhat changed me as a facilitator. It was the first time I stepped out of my comfort zone. I was scared because I was working with students of my age who faced a completely different set of issues. But the workshops helped me grow into a more confident and passionate social worker.”

      –Rijul Kataria was a student volunteer and guest facilitator with the Foundation. He currently works as the Research Coordinator with us. To know more about him, click here. <INSERT LINK)

      The Foundation was invited by Bosco Institute, Jorhat, Assam to conduct an Expressive Arts workshop as part of the introductory module for M.A (Social Work) students in the Institute in 2013. Two facilitators from the Foundation made the long trip across the country to make this expedition possible.

      Bosco Institute’s Masters Program has a phenomenal reputation among the citizens of Assam. Youth from across the North-Eastern States apply, and selections take place only after a rigorous round of interview. This year’s batch was no different. 36 students from different ethnicities, regions and religions had met each other for the first time. Our task was to orient them as critical thinkers and activists who can ‘inspire, innovate and involve’ (Bosco Institute’s Motto).

      Only a handful of participants had previously been exposed to any kind of theatre or art. But through the week, each of them had found their own special skill and space in the group. Discussions were of a different nature than in Delhi. Many students came from areas where terrorist insurgencies are an everyday affair and many from communities that have been displaced because of development projects.

      These stories came up slowly as more students gained confidence each passing day to express themselves. Our exercises ranged from physical and body work to emotional expression and voice modulation. Each day we would ask our participants to share their stories in the form of a small skit that followed these exercises. Our most challenging task was to translate these experiences for a local audience that understood Assamese and a bit of Hindi. Most of our participants however, new neither.

      In an enriching experience, we developed a play called ‘Duniya Gol Banaya’, which represented the ‘ghosts’ of industrialisation, drug and alcohol abuse and corruption that haunt the region. The play was first performed in the Don Bosco school situated beside the institute and then on the streets of Lichubari, the town area. Mythical forces of the local areas combined with real problems, established an instant connect with the audience in the marketplace and the school. Students who’d never been involved with any form of Expressive Arts had come together and performed a play. We also used regional songs and narrative styles to put this piece together.

      The facilitators came back with a bagful of memories they cherish even today.

      “After watching this play, I realised the power I have to change things. I could have been born anywhere. But as I speak today, I promise to work towards reducing inequality between human beings”

      – A student’s response to our performance in Don Bosco School.

  • Theatre For Change