Art imitates life & vice versa for these schoolkids

Ten-year-old Salman never spoke in class and was scared to air his views. Today, he is one of the lead actors in a play that received a thunderous applause when it was staged last year.

Salman is one of the many children from government schools who are using theatre as a medium to spread awareness on social issues. From scripting, character selection, costume design, art direction to rehearsals, the children take care of everything. Draamebaaz, an organisation that works with children in government schools to impart theatre skills, is the brain behind their activities.

Founded by Prashant Nori and Sowmya Kavi, Draamebaaz uses theatre as a tool to teach life skills to students from low-income communities.

Over 285 children from 18 government schools in the city are being trained in theatre. The students come up with topics like domestic violence, girls’ education and women’s empowerment, inspired by real-life incidents.

“We impart training to fellows from Teach for India organisation as part of the fellowship. These fellows, in turn, train children in theatre after school hours. For a period ranging from 45 minutes to one hour, the children are imparted training in the conception of an idea, scripting the story, script analysis, role playing and rehearsals,” said Nori.

“The programme has four main objectives — boosting self-esteem, collaboration, confidence and problem-solving. We try to imbibe theatre skills in students,” said Nori.

Recently, the Draamebaaz children’s troupe from Hyderabad enacted the play ‘Naina ki Kahaani’ — based on the theme of girls’ education — at Tedx, Halasuru.  “It is because of theatre that we look forward to going to school. We have been part of plays like ‘Patthar’ and ‘Naina Ki Kahaani’ staged at various places. It boosts our confidence when people appreciate our work,” said Ihtishaan Zareen.

“Most of these children come from vulnerable communities, where they see violence and injustice on an everyday basis, like their sisters being deprived of education and domestic abuse of women. It is these personal experiences that inspire them to come up with their own stories,” said Nori.

“We only act as facilitators. It is the children who bring the stories to life. They prepare the script in a language they are comfortable with. They also go back and implement what they learn in their personal lives,” said Rohit Balakrishnan, who teaches drama at the government higher primary school, Gangondanahalli.