Children's theatre festival to begin in Delhi Sunday

The 12th edition of the National School of Drama's (NSD) children's festival will begin here Sunday, a statement said Saturday.

Featuring performances in eight languages - Assamese, Bengali, English, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri and Hindi, the festival will continue till Nov 14.

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.

"Mega events of children theatre should happen regularly at the national level. By organizing such theatre for children, we are preparing a generation which will be more creative, responsible and sensitive to their environment," NSD society chairperson, Ratan Thiyam, 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.

"This year, the NSD has 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," the statement said.

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

Also, this year NSD includes "not only children of the privileged strata as audiences but also the underprivileged. For every show, NSD will invite maximum number of children with the help of various NGOs from Delhi NCR," the statement added.

The festival will feature works of directors like Swatilekha Sengupta, Laique Hussain and Sripad Bhat, and Jaimini Pathak.

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.