JOIN USI Will Not Cry- a powerful solo play highlighting the issue of child survival in India will be staged at IHC on September 1.
Scripted and directed by Asmita Theatre Group’s Arvind Gaur, It will feature acclaimed theatreperson Lushin Dubey. The play, in support for ‘Save the Children,’ is an exceptional blend of theatre and multimedia. Through satire and music excerpts, the play brings alive the sad truth of millions of child deaths in our country. It hopes to evoke our collective responsibility, as a nation and a society to act together.
This play is in support of NGO Save the Children’s global campaign ‘New Born & Child Survival’. Through this play, Save the Children aims to reach out to the government and the public at large to advocate for change – change for India’s children, change for India’s future.
The play premiered in Delhi on 23 November 2011, followed by a dynamic discussion with eminent panelists – Shabana Azmi, Syeda Hameed, Member and Harpal Singh. The play has travelled to Jaipur, Mumbai and Kolkata and enthralled the audience with Lushin’s powerful performance.
Lushin herself is one of the biggest names in the children’s theatre movement in India. After completing her Masters in Childhood and Special Education from the US, Dubey was deeply involved in teaching mentally challenged children in the US and then in India at the American Embassy School. Lushin runs two theatre enterprises – Kidsworld and Theatreworld.
Director Arvind Gaur, known for his innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre, comments, “The rate of child deaths in India are most alarming and shocking. India has unofficially become the world’s child death Capital.
Over 5,000 children die in the country every day due to totally preventable causes like diarrhoea, pneumonia and birth related complications. Over four lakh newborns die within the first 24 hours of birth every year, which is the highest anywhere in the world, but sadly and shockingly, this is not a priority for us.”
“The priorities of our economic policies are changing and children figure nowhere there. Schemes, plans and funds are there but they don't reach their destination. Ultimately, it all boils down to corruption.”
“The objective of this play is not just to stir and sensitise the audience to the shocking and shameful number of child deaths in our country, but to also alert them to introspect on their social responsibility towards the issues,” said Arvind.