National theatre festival for children kicks off
It is a colourful festival : Ratan Thiyam
Source: The Sangai Express / Manipur Info Centre

New Delhi, November 02 2014: The 12th edition of the National School of Drama's (NSD) National Theatre Festival for Children began here with a solemn opening ceremony at the NSD Open Lawn, Bhagwandas Road here today.

Himani Shivpuri, eminent theatre and film actress was the chief guest of the opening ceremony.

Ratan Thiyam, the Chairman of the National School of Drama Society who presided over the ceremony inaugurated the 13-day long festival.

The ceremony was followed by a performance of Bal Rang by child artistes from Odhisa, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi guided by Laique Hussain.

Featuring 26 performances in eight languages - Assamese, Bengali, English, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri and Hindi from 14 States, the festival will continue till Nov 14.Plays will be staged at three different venues namely Bahumukh, Abhimanch and NSD Open Lawn in the NSD complex.

Ratan Thiyam addressing the theatre festival for children

Five plays namely- Sakal Desher Sera (Bengali)directed by Joy Sarkar Bhattacharya from Tripura, Apunbana Panganli (Manipuri) directed by N Jadumani from Manipur, Khel-Na (Hindi) directed by Manik Roy from Assam, Geete Gathe Milan Mala (Assamese) directed by Bhagirathi from Assam and Paruar Processionot Urahor Uuh (Assamese) by Dinesh Kakoti from Assam were picked from the North East India.

Theatre in Education Co.'s (TIE) this year's edition of 'Jashnebachpan' envisages maximum participation of child performers, adult performers and experts in the field.

Ratan Thiyam described the festival as the festival of colours and innocent souls.

"From the next year, we will witness the mega events of children theatre with participants from other countries as we are planning the festival as an international festival.

By organizing such theatre for children, we are preparing a generation which will be more creative, responsible and sensitive to their environment," he said.

"NSD's TIE Co has been instrumental in training the young minds for thinking out of the box and it has also introduced motivational aspects in creativity in Indian education," Thiyam added.

"Children's theatre is the need of the hour as it is important in shaping a child's personality, confidence, vision and sensitivity as an artist.

Children theatre is a very important part of theatrical experience and it is time we should include theatre as part of the curriculum," NSD Director, Prof Waman Kendre said.

This year, the NSD had invited participation from zonal cultural centres to get involved and extend encouragement and support to the various participating groups for increasing regional participation.

In its silver jubilee year, TIE Co.

is also organizing its first ever three-day seminar during the festival.

A seminar- "Theatre for children; whose need is it ?" from Nov 12-14, will have well-known theatre personalities like Rudraprasad Sengupta, Feizal Alkazi, Kanchan Sontakke, Bansi Kaul.

A director's meet will also take place every morning from Nov 4-11 .

'Jashnebachpan' was started in 1998 by TIE Co., NSD in order to contribute to the growth and development of children's theatre across the country.