Press Release​​

• It’s No Kid’s Play at National School of Drama’s 13th Jashne Bachpan
• To be held from November 14 to 25, around 500 artistes from across the world will take part in the festival

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New Delhi, November 10, 2016: Winter is here and the weather is becoming pleasant. Children have a reason to smile as National School of Drama today announced the 13th edition of the prestigious Jashne Bachpan theatre festival, to showcase the work of different theatre groups working with and for children. The festival will be organised in the capital from November 14 to 25, 2016 and for the first time will see international participation as well.

Rechristened as Jashne Bachpan-International Children Theatre Festival, the festival is a reputed theatre experience focusing the children, representing various regions and languages from across the country and beyond. The festival features some of most eminent as well as emerging theatre directors and established theatre groups enacting plays (with and for children) with full-fledged productions.

As with the previous editions, the National School of Drama campus will be converted into a veritable kids mela for this 12 day theatre carnival, as thousands of kids are expected to be a part of the festival.

Twenty productions from India and seven productions for foreign countries like Sri Lanka (English & Sinhala), Pakistan (Urdu), Turkey (Gibberish), Israel (Non Verbal), France (Non Verbal) and Switzerland (English) will feature with around 500 artistes participating in the festival. The 20 productions selected out of 149 entries comprise of plays from Maharashtra (one), Rajasthan (one), Gujarat (one), Delhi (two), West Bengal (three), Kerala (two), Uttar Pradesh (one), Assam (three), Manipur (one) and Tripura (one). The language of the plays will be Hindi (eight), Bengali (three), Marathi (two), English (one), Assamese (three), Malayalam (two) and Non-verbal (one). The international entries will have performances from Sri Lanka (two), Switzerland (one), Turkey (one), Israel (one), France (one) and Pakistan (one).

The festival comprises of three distinct categories – performance by children, performance by children and adults and performance by adults.

The inaugural ceremony for the festival will be held on November 14th at the NSD campus at 5.30pm in the evening. Five professional groups from Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Delhi and schools based in Delhi-NCR, under the direction of Dr. Laique Hussain will perform “Bal Vrind”- a musical dance to kickstart the gala event. In the inaugural ceremony Shri NK Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India will be chief guest, Shri Manoj Joshi, eminent film & theatre personality will be special guest and Shri Mukesh Tiwary, eminent film & theatre personality will be the guest of honour. Mr Irrfan Khan, alumnus of NSD, eminent film & theatre personality will be present at the culmination ceremony.

Underprivileged children from various NGOs will be invited to come and enjoy the theatre festival. The idea is to bring those children to the mainstream and inculcate enthusiasm for art and culture along with entertainment at a global platform like Jashne Bachpan.

There will be Directors Meet where three various groups will interact everyday within themselves and share their experience with the audience. Audience would be able to interact with the directors and artistes of the plays from the previous days, to understand the nuances and craft behind making of the plays.

Prof Waman Kendre, Director, National School of Drama said, “Children theatre is the most important aspect of theatre expression. Through Jashne Bachpan we are trying to build the foundation of theatre from the grassroots and inculcate interest about theatre amongst the children from their childhood.  Children from various cultural and demographic background will get a chance to interact and exchange their ideas. In the process, they will make friends from across the world. This is a testing ground for world children theatre because if we succeed in generating interest towards theatre among the kids, this will be an opening door for them for future theatre expression.”

Prof Abdul Latif Khatana, Chief, Theatre-in-Education, NSD said, “Jashne Bachpan stands to be the first ‘National Theatre Festival’ of National School of Drama held in 1998 which was followed by Bharat Rang Mahotsav. I am very happy that TIE Co. has been able to open its window for performances from abroad. I hope the Jashne Bachpan to emerge as one of the major International Theatre Festival for children in next few years.”

There are four venues where these plays will be performed i.e. Sammukh (3.30pm), Bahumukh (3.30pm), Abhimanch (6pm) at NSD and LTG (5pm). Ticket prices are Rupees 20 for children and Rupees 50 for adults. Tickets are available at NSD from 11 November onwards between 11 am and 5pm.

Jashnebachpan was started in 1998 by T.I.E Co., NSD in order to contribute to the growth and development of children’s theatre across the country, and has now come to be regarded as one of the largest and most important theatre festivals in India for Children.

About National School of Drama

The National School of Drama is one of the foremost theatre training institutions in the world and the only one of its kind in India. It was set up by the Sangeet Natak Akademi as one of its constituent units in 1959. In 1975, it became an independent entity and was registered as an autonomous organization under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860, fully financed by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Training in the School is highly intensive and is based on a thorough, comprehensive, carefully planned syllabus which covers every aspect of theatre and in which theory is related to practice. As a part of their training, students are required to produce plays which are then performed before the public.

About T.I.E. Co.

Sanskar Rang Toli (T.I.E. Co.) of NSD was established on October 16, 1989, and completed 27 years of its existence. Sanskaar Rang Toli is the only theatre education resource centers in the country and has worked with more than 15 thousand children till date in various workshops. It consists of a group of actor-teachers working with and performing for children. The major focus of the TIE Company is to perform creative, curriculum-based and participatory plays in schools, specially designed and prepared for children of different age groups. The major thrust of the plays is to create an atmosphere that encourages children to raise questions, take decisions and make choices with an awareness of themselves within the larger social context.

The TIE Company has done more than 2000 performances in various parts of the country. More than 10 lakh children, apart from college students, teachers, parents and theatre lovers, have witnessed these plays in approximately all the states in the country and Poland, China, Philippines and Japan.

The Toli began with an objective of bridging the gap between passive education and an active method of learning by doing through its performances of varied plays, Summer Workshops on self development and social integration, Sunday Club for devising original performances with children, workshops with teachers on effective teaching-learning process. All these activities are practiced round the year as per the children annual school calendar in Delhi and other parts of the country.