NSD children theatre festival to kick off on Oct 10
New Delhi, Oct 3 (UNI) Children are in for a treat. National School of Drama's children theatre festival is all set to kickstart on October 10 in the national capital with the staging of 'Panchtantra' by celebrated Little Ballet Troupe from Bhopal as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the institute.
''This is an effort to bring together children from various regions of the country where they can have dialogue and exchange of thoughts. It is an earnest attempt to bridge the social-urban divide which is widening by the day. They should mingle and know about each other,'' NSD Director Anuradha Kapoor told a news conference here today.
''Two instalments of the festival 'Jashnebachpan' and 'Bal Sangam' are being held simultaneously and they seek to bring children practising traditional performing arts from rural areas, theatre companies doing theatre for children and theatre directors practising theatre with children broadly from the urban backgrounds,'' she said.
Earlier, the two instalments were held on alternate years and it was in 2003 that the duo were held together.
During the extravaganza, 22 plays of several languages from various regions of the country are scheduled to feature in which 428 artistes, including 213 children, will be participating. For the first time, a play from Seoul, Korea, has also been invited for participation.
Ms Kapoor said under the festival 14 groups of children will also stage their traditional performance consisting of music, dance, acrobatics and martial arts. Five art and craft workshops will also be open for participation of audience during the fiesta.
Questioned
about
the
future
of
theatre
at
a
time
when
numbers
of
multiplexes
were
mushrooming
across
the
country,
Ms
Kapoor
sounded
rather
upbeat
and
said:
''See,
I
am
aware
multiplex
culture
has
taken
the
nation
by
storm,
but
I
must
emphasise
that
there
is
no
need
to
write
an
obituary
of
theatre.
Earlier
also,
people
started
writing
an
obituary
of
theatre,
but
see
it
is
still
alive
and
kicking,
and
I
am
very
hopeful
that
in
future
its
participation
will
increase
rather
than
decrease.''
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