Yet another step of Room Theatre.
Saturday 28 March 2015
Naurangi Natni on World Theatre Day
Yet another step of Room Theatre.
Thursday 26 March 2015
Three Cheers with Three Plays on World theatre Day (WTD)
A
very good wishes to all theatre lovers and creative personas for World Theatre
Day (27th March). Just a few ours are remaining to entre to the gala
Day. So, let celebrate the Day with the various forms of theatre-
revolutionary, poetic, folk! You might have been thinking that where should we
go and enjoy these varieties of theatre? Do not roam here and there. Come
tomorrow i.e. March 27, 2015 at 4.30 pm at YWCA, 53, JP Road, Andheri (West),
Mumbai, (Near Navrang Cinema) and be with the line and life of theatre, form of
theatre, enjoyment of theatre.
Because,
AVITOKO and Virat Kalodbhav jointly have put the effort to serve you the
different genre of theatre and bringing THREE plays on the Day for you- 1."Shahadat
ke Baad", 2."Sharmila Erom- Ek Anugunj" (Dir. RS Vikal) and
3."Naurangi Natni" (Dir. Rajendra Joshi) with Vibha Rani, Sangita
Vaajpei, Ram Giridhar, Rajesh Gupta, Kuldip Vashishtha, Akshay Yadav, Subodh
Shrivastav and Ram Milan. For any kind of assistance or further plan, you may
contact us here: 09820619161/gonujha.jha@gmail.com.
"Shahadat
ke Baad" is a collage of the post Bhagat Singh condition of the country,
where the play puts a question, that whether we got the freedom or whether we
are serving our own people? 
"Sharmila
Erom- Ek Anugunj" is based on the poem on the woman activist Sharmila
Erom, written by Dr. Narendra Mohan. It reveals the crude face of the system
and the softness of a woman, who has taken such a harsh decision. Both the
plays are directed by theatre veteran RS Vikal.
Naurangi
Natni is a story of a mother and the challenge she accepts from a powerful king
for the bright future of her son. It is also an illustration of a collective
awakening felt by the mass and how they mobilize against injustice and deceipt.
Based on a folk tale, the play has been written in free verse. The audience
travel with the sentiments and emotions of Natni, her role and ambitions as a
mother, the deceitful game of the king and the power of a congregated and
awakened mass through various traditional songs and rituals. There is a
delightful combination of folk traditions and theatrical experimentation in the
play. The play has been directed by another theatre veteran Rajendra Joshi.
So,
now, its your turn. Come and see the play, understand the life.
Wednesday 25 March 2015
AVITOKO celebrates World Theatre Day (WTD) on March 27, 2015
I
celebrated World Theatre Day (WTD) in a jail with the inmates. Unfortunately, I
am unable to remember the year. Perhaps, 2008.
Last
year, in 2014, I was totally sick and had just started AVITOKO Room Theatre on
March 3rd. Now, 27th March! It was too close to organize any
other program. I wonder, if I will open up my mouth, my family will throw me
out. But hats of them!
Two
young boys, Vinay Vinu and Shyam Dangi were studying theatre at my place. I
gave them a challenge to observe the Day on 27th. Though they were
new to Mumbai, Somehow they managed. In the meantime, Shri Hrishikesh Sulabh
(Bhaiya), noted story writer, playwright and theatre persona had arrived in Mumbai.
He is my brother-in-law also. He is very affectionate to me and wished to see
me. Sitting with him and listening to him is always a very pleasant moment, not
only for me but for my entire family.
He
came on 27th afternoon along with Subhash Mishra, General Secretary,
Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA), Raipur. He, every year organizes theatre
festival. In 2012, I had also participated in it. Actor Pankaj Tripathi had also
arrived at the same time. Avinash Das had invited him.
Sulabh Bhaiya told that he will not sit
for a long, because of his pre-occupation. Before that, I had requested him to
address the children. But he showed his time constraints. I thought that no
problem! It will be two programs in a Day. He has enormous numbers of interesting
stories realated to theatre. He is a great travelers and lots of untold
incidents are in his kitty. His art of narration can be learnt and can be
followed. He came as usual and we got glued with his talks and experiences.
Time was running and I was praying that he should forget the time. Some young
boys came with Vinay and Shyam. They were introduced to everyone. They
performed short story, poems and one boy performed a ten minutes act. Sulabh Bhaiya
gave them valid and useful tips. Subhash ji addressed them and valued the role
of theatre in our lives. Pankaj too participated in the discussion.
Unknowingly, the entire program went of very well. Credit goes to Sulabh
Bhaiya, Ajay, my husband and Toshi and Ali, my daughter and son-in-law.
This year also, we are celebrating WED on March 27, at YWCA, Andheri (West), Mumbai at 5pm with three plays. 1."Shahadat ke Baad". 2."Sharmila Erom- Ek Anugunj" (Dir. RS Vikal) and3."Naurangi Natni" (Dir. Rajendra Joshi) with Vibha Rani. Sarita Hussain, Sangita Vaajpei, Ram Girdhar, Rajesh Gupta, Kuldip Vashishtha, Akshay Yadav, Subodh Shrivastav aur Ram Milan. March 27 @4.30pm. Venue: YWCA. 53,JP Road. Andheri (West). Near Navrang Cinema.
There is a question that what is World
Theatre Day? We just hear about it and start saying about the day. Here is the
detail.
World Theatre Day was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI). It is celebrated annually on the 27th March by ITI Centres and the international theatre community. Various national and international theatre events are organized to mark this occasion. One of the most important of these is the circulation of the World Theatre Day International Message through which at the invitation of ITI, a figure of world stature shares his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace. The first World Theatre Day International Message was written by Jean Cocteau (France) in 1962. It was first in Helsinki, and then in Vienna at the 9th World Congress of the ITI in June 1961 that President Arvi Kivimaa proposed on behalf of the Finnish Centre of the International Theatre Institute that a World Theatre Day be instituted. The proposal, backed by the Scandinavian centres, was carried with acclamation.Ever since, each year on the 27th March (date of the opening of the 1962 "Theatre of Nations" season in Paris), World Theatre Day has been celebrated in many and varied ways by ITI National Centres of which there are now almost 100 throughout the world.
| The author of the Message of World Theatre Day 2015 is the Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski! World Theater Day Message 2015 The true masters of the theater are most easily found far from the stage. And they generally have no interest in theater as a machine for replicating conventions and reproducing clichés. They search out the pulsing source, the living currents that tend to bypass performance halls and the throngs of people bent on copying some world or another. We copy instead of create worlds that are focused or even reliant on debate with an audience, on emotions that swell below the surface. And actually there is nothing that can reveal hidden passions better than the theater. Most often I turn to prose for guidance. Day in and day out I find myself thinking about writers who nearly one hundred years ago described prophetically but also restrainedly the decline of the European gods, the twilight that plunged our civilization into a darkness that has yet to be illumined. I am thinking of Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann and Marcel Proust. Today I would also count John Maxwell Coetzee among that group of prophets. Their common sense of the inevitable end of the world—not of the planet but of the model of human relations—and of social order and upheaval, is poignantly current for us here and now. For us who live after the end of the world. Who live in the face of crimes and conflicts that daily flare in new places faster even than the ubiquitous media can keep up. These fires quickly grow boring and vanish from the press reports, never to return. And we feel helpless, horrified and hemmed in. We are no longer able to build towers, and the walls we stubbornly construct do not protect us from anything—on the contrary, they themselves demand protection and care that consumes a great part of our life energy. We no longer have the strength to try and glimpse what lies beyond the gate, behind the wall. And that’s exactly why theater should exist and where it should seek its strength. To peek inside where looking is forbidden. “The legend seeks to explain what cannot be explained. Because it is grounded in truth, it must end in the inexplicable”—this is how Kafka described the transformation of the Prometheus legend. I feel strongly that the same words should describe the theater. And it is that kind of theater, one which grounded in truth and which finds its end in the inexplicable that I wish for all its workers, those on the stage and those in the audience, and I wish that with all my heart. Krzysztof Warlikowski | © B |
Sunday 22 March 2015
Is everything the responsibility of system or government only?
June month is
denominated as World Environment Day (WED). It is celebrated
every year on 5th June to raise global awareness to take positive environmental
action to protect nature and the planet Earth. It is run by
the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). Media and celebrities have encouraged World Environment
Day Celebrations by endorsing and taking part in it. United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) goodwill ambassadors including supermodel Gisele Bündchen are
sending an SOS to the world to take action for World Environment Day 2014 by
joining one of their teams to combat climate change. Their call to action,
Message in the Bottle, asks individuals around the world to join one of the
celebrities’ teams and make a difference by pledging to take action in support
of World Environment Day, which culminates globally on 5 June 2014.
Each year celebration of the World Environment Day is
based on the particular theme decided by the United Nations to make the
celebration more effective by encouraging mass people worldwide to hugely take
part in addressing environmental issues on global scale. The theme of the year 2015 would be “One
World, One Environment”. The theme of the year 2014 was “small island
developing states” or “SIDS” and “Raise your voice, not the sea level”.
After
working 3 months on Stories, poems and satire genre of literature, I wanted to
work on visual media. WED is very closed to my heart. Sundarlal Bahuguna had
started Chipko Andplan to save the trees and thus environment. The Chipko
movement or Chipko Andolan is a movement that practiced the Gandhian methods of satyagraha and non-violent resistance, through the act of hugging trees
to protect them from being felled. In legend, this practice began with Amrita
Devi while protesting against a King's man who wanted to cut a tree. In
khejarli village, 363 Bishnois sacrificed
their lives in 1730 AD while protecting green Khejri that are considered sacred
by the community. The modern Chipko movement started in the early 1970s in the
Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, then in Uttar Pradesh with growing awareness of rapid deforestation. The landmark event in this struggle took place
on March 26, 1974, when a group of peasant women in Reni village, Hemwalghati,
in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, acted to prevent the cutting of trees and reclaim
their traditional forest rights, which were threatened by the contractors
assigned by the state Forest Department. Their actions inspired hundreds of
such actions at the grassroots level throughout the region. By the 1980s the
movement had spread throughout India and led to the formulation of
people-sensitive forest policies, which put a stop to the open felling of trees in regions as far as the Vindhyas and the Western Ghats. Today, it is seen as an inspiration
and a precursor for Chipko movement of Garhwal.
I thought to
show some movies on environment. Sachin suggested some names and assured to get
them. As usual, he did not get time. But he suggested for the very famous song “Gaon
chhodab nahi.” I searched it on youtube and fell in love with it. Layout of the
program for June was taking shape in my mind. Ww will start the program from
this song. You may also see. Link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFmsl7KrZn8
After this? No clues. Finally I put it on FB
and on Whatsapp group. My friend Amal Rai has given the reference of Ashok
Patel, Who had made a documentary film “God on the Edge” on the life and danger
of elephants, which narrates the story of a 60-year-old mahut and his
relationship with pachyderms. The documentary was premiered in Mumbai in
February 2014.
At 11 p.m. on September 23, 2010,
three female elephants, three calves and one male tusker were mowed down by a
speeding train in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. Ashok made this film based
on such reports of recurrent deaths of elephants on railway tracks, shines
light on the continuing man-animal conflict in the region.
Though the film highlights the
larger issue of grave concern, where over 50 elephants have been killed on the
168-km-long Siliguri-Alipurduar railway track over the last decade, the
narrative is woven through the life and experiences of Jaan Baksh.
As an 11-year-old Jaan Baksh
applied for the post of elephant-handler for the erstwhile Maharaja of
Coochbehar in North Bengal and was heartbroken when his elephant Shivaprasad
was shot after it killed one of its handlers. He resigned.
But he could not stay away from
his ‘love’ too long. He returned in to train elephants again in 1985, when a
young cow elephant Urvashi was refusing food and was on her deathbed.
The 46-minute-long documentary
which was adjudged the best film on environment at the 10th IDPA (Indian
Documentary Producer’s Association) Excellence Awards, also deals with a unique
human –elephant relationship through the eyes of Jaan Baksh. The film is an
official selection (in competition) at the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival,
New York, 2014.
The mahut, who has so far trained
over 50 elephants and 25 handlers, says each elephant has a distinct
personality and how humans can prevent the conflict with herds of wild
elephants going from one habitat to another.
Ashok, after getting his contact
from Amala, was very kind enough to show the film in a very informal atmosphere
as his objective was to show the film to more and more people.
What next? I suddenly remember one of my
friends Nivedita Kothare, a film maker. Long back, She had made a small
documentary film on the effect of post immersion of Ganpati. I had written a
song for the film. Later on what had happened to the film, I did know. We lost
connection. Somehow, I could contact her on her mobile as she had not changed
her number. We old fashioned people! I laughed. Nivedita told that she has
another film on using plaster of Paris (POP) and plastics etc while making
Ganpati for Ganesh Chaturthi. It is in Marathi. As I have not put language as
bar, Nivedita very happily agreed to show her film.
8th June! My home. No projector. “Gaon
Chhodab Nahi” song suddenly gave some problem, so could not get connected on TV
Set. So we compromised it with laptop version. “God on the Edge” was shown on
my TV set. People were watching with quite interest. Film came to an end with
Ganpati Mahotsav!
“What a coincidence!” Nivedita screamed! “My
film starts here, where his film gets an end!”.
“Utsavachi That ani Paryavarnachi Vaat!” (Dameges
of environment because of festivities- a very rough meaning of the title). Pen,
a place of Maharahtra, where ganpati idol and decorative items are being made. Usage
of POP, thermocol and plastics make the festival very bright and colorful, but
leave a damaging impact on environment.
Both the film were excellent. Discussions
started. In Ashok’s film, everyone started talking and blaming the system and
the Government. It is very easy as we just shrug our shoulders and move out. Nivedita’s
film was addressed to every man. People, observe Ganesh Chaturthi with
pomp and show. Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s main objective to unite people through the
celebration is getting defeated day by day as every house and everyone has now started
observing it at their homes. Naturally, dirt will be more. When we started
discussing on our responsibilities, I found again people are shrugging their shoulders.
But this time, it is shrugging off from their own responsibilities! Means,
everything is the responsibility of the system or government only?
Thursday 19 March 2015
May 2014- Meet the Author with satirist Prem Janmejay
Room Theatre kept me alive. Poetry performance of multilingual
women poets were done. I was in the hospital so could not attend the same. No
one had sent me any photo. But Sachin later on had prepared a report and
published in a Daily newspaper “Absolute India” and mailed me the link.
I started thinking- “What Next?” I got a notification on
Facebook from the famous Hindi Satire writer Prem Jamnejay of his arrival to
Mumbai. My mind started thinking. If he will be during the 1st week
of May, i.e. 1st Sunday of May, then Room Theatre can schedule a
program on him and his satirical writings. I messaged him. He very kindly
replied and confirmed that he will be available on the date, May 4, 2014. We exchanged our phone numbers. I Talked to
him and elaborated the concept. He was very happy. I requested him to mail some
of his satire so that the same can be given to performers. Now, I was phoning
people to get suitable persons to justify these articles. I contacted many
people.
Prem ji mailed me 4 articles. All were sounding very good
though I was not much impressed in first reading. But I knew that when these
will be read in a performing form, impact will come. Finally, Amala Rai, a
senior pass out from National School of Drama, Priyanka Charan, A theatre
practitioner, Amajad Khan, a young theater person and Film/TV writer and Rashmi
Ravija, blogger and writer.
Room Theatre program was conducted in my 12x14 drawing room.
In Mumbai, its jokingly said that Mumbai’s hall is not a hall, but it’s a hole.
I have no other choice to organize here. Secondly, I am very experimental. I
wanted to try that whether we can arrange any program in this small room or
not. After shifting furniture here and there, there was sufficient place for
30-35 people to sit. Our target was not more than that.
Program started in scheduled time. Priyanka came and asked
whether there is any food at home as she directly is coming from rehearsal and
is quite hungry. Luckily, Rohu fish was cooked in mustered masala
in Bihari style. Priyanka is from Jamshedpur (Early a part of Bihar, now
Jharkhand) and is very fond of fish. Satisfied with fish and rice, she sat and
started looking the article, which she was supposed to read. Amala had knee problem and preferd sitting on
sofa. Amjad and Rashmi sat on the mattresses.
Program started. Satire were read out by these 4
personalities. Hall was roaring with the laughter of audience. Our mentor
Sudarshana Dwivedi, a senior journalist had come. Noted writer Sudha Aroda had
come in the last. Prem ji spoke later on. We did video shooting of some of the
part and later on uploaded on youtube. Links are given down for your ready
reference. ###
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oTxoU9OVf8
–Amala Rai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd6ynyhWycg
–Amjad Khan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrojQbBT7rI
– Rashmi Ravija
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tigqXURafjg
–Priyanka Charan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKNjX-OHVGU
– Prem Janmejay
Wednesday 18 March 2015
April - International Poetry Month: The show must go on!
So I got the
theme. 3rd April is being celebrated as World Hindi Theatre Day in
India. We discussed with our group mates and fixed April month program on
performance of poetry. To give additional flavor and being a female, I have an
additional soft corner for women weavers of all fields. Poetry performance of
women poets! Putting another flavor, it was decided to organize it as
multi-lingual poetry performance of women poets. More enthusiasm sometimes
creates more confusion.
We announced the
program. But working always comes to me only. I started talking to
multi-lingual people, started getting data of women poets of different languages.
I thought that in Mumbai, getting women poets in various languages will not be
a difficult job. But thinking and implementing are quite different chores.
With great
difficulties, we managed women poets from Hindi, English, Marathi, Urdu,
Maithili. It was in our charter of the program to involve more and more people from
all the creative fields, we decided that poems will not be performed by the
poets themselves. Listening own poems from others give a new bundle of
experience and charm. Poetries will be performed by other talents, may be by theatre
enthusiasts. I started searching and talking with theatre people. After all,
it’s a performance. 
But it’s said
that man proposes, God disposes. Just before one week, my sickness relapsed.
Infection occurred and I was hospitalized. My main worry was to conduct the
program. The show must go on. I requested my other members that though I will
be in the hospital, but the program should not get postponed or canceled due to
absence of one person. And my fellow members did the job in a great way. Now,
there was no performance. It was a poetry recitation. Poets other than Hindi
and English recited their poems in their own languages and translations were
recited by other members of Room Theatre. Poets, who came on my invitation, got
disappointed not to get me there. But listening the reason, they all cooperated
with full of their heart and zeal. AVITOKO Room Theatre- beginning a new dawn
Theatre always attracts me. It energises me. Working through theatre, I got an opportunity to learn and develop a lot. Doing theatre in school college days and in the late 90s in Delhi, I had taken myself in back foot from active theatre from 1987-2006 to fulfill my domestic, family and office responsibilities. In the meantime, I kept continuing writing plays along with short stories, poems and doing translations. Books were published. Got many awards. But active theatre was kept honking me. And finally, from 2007, I jumped into active theatre. My 1st play was Mr. Jinnah, directed by theatre veteran Mr. RS Vikal. I thought, after 20 years, why I am returning to theatre, if I have no visions for it. Solo performance is a great challenge for theatre actor and I accepted it. From 2007 onward, I prepared 7 solo plays in Hindi, English and Maithili, which are being staged in and around the world.
In the month of October,2014, I was caught with Brest Cancer. 1st November, surgery was done. Chemo was started from the last week of November. My movement got restricted. Doctor clearly said that you are a free bird but you will have to fly within the sky of your house. 
I obeyed him and made my home ceiling as an open sky. I thought, what can I do for theatre? Some like minded people, such as Sudarshana Dwivedi, Sachin Shrivatva, Sarang Upadhyay, Ajay Brahmatmaj, Vidha Saumya, Koshy Brahmatmaj, Aditya Prasad, Parany Narain sat together and thus Room Theatre came into existence with the objectives
2. To get expert advice and interaction with the veterans of their respective fields, and
3. To provide good and meaningful theatre in a nominal cost.
First Sunday of March 2, 2014, the 1st Room Theatre program was organised with the performance of short stories of two young Hindi writers Gaurav Solanki and Sarang Upadhyay. Young film maker Shriram Dalton has performed Gaurav's story while Fil, TV actor Pranay Narain has performed Sarang's story followed by discussion.
And journey of AVITOKO Room Theatre began.......! ####
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