Giving children theatre a boost

In the recent past, the theatre by children was only restricted to metros in the country. However, recently it is also foraying in small cities and towns. To promote children’s theatre, Palasa has initiated Children Drama Festival at Bapatla and later it was shifted to Hyderabad.

In this regard, the AP government had included plays by children in Nandi Awards with other categories to promote the children’s theatre. Using this opportunity aptly the various schools in the city have showcased their student's talent on the stage. Many writers like MS Chowdary, Kamalakar, PNM Kavi, Valluri Sivaprasad, Kavuri Satyanarayana, Madugula Ramakrishna, A Bhaskarachandra, and A Venkateswara Rao have penned plays to encourage the children theatre in Andhra Pradesh.

MS Chowdary, who strived hard to promote children theatre for the last two decades opined that the children’s theatre will be encouraged only when the drama is included as one of the subjects in schools and also college level. He thanked the parents for sparing their children to exhibit their talent on stage. Chowdary also expressed that the organisations in Andhra Pradesh should also give priority to this movement.

In addition to the encouragement given by the Government, organisations like Nagarjuna Kala Parishad and Kondapalli are also conducting competitions from last year.

About six plays were staged during last year and this year they are planning to stage another six plays on November 13 and 14 at Siddhartha Auditorium.

Two teams Young Theatre Organisation, and Daksha & Sidhartha are gearing up for staging the plays from Vijayawada. The Hans India interacted with the team members and the parents who were present at the Veledandla Hanumantharaya Grandhalayam for practice. The mentors for the play ‘Devunni Mingina Manishi’ penned by Akurati Bhaskarchndra are giving training to kids for their performance. The director V Sasidhar was also present and was giving instructions to the assistant directors.

R Vasudevarao, production designer, said that the kids are paying keen interest in the theatre activity. He also said this activity will improve the observation and knowledge of the children. He added that parents must give time to their children for these cultural activities, which gives the much need relaxation to kids thereby to improving their willpower. The parents also complemented the mentors Giri, Dileep, Munna for their patience in giving training.

Chandramouli, M Avanthi, M Madhuravani, Lalita Rani, Shalini, Chandranarayan parents of the participants expressed their happiness for participating their children in these creative show. They have also accepted that the schools and colleges should implement these activities regularly in addition to the academics not only to exhibit their talent but also to improve the communication skills. Sushmita, Priyanka, Sameksha, Akshara, Peyush, Doondi, Aishwarya, Jwalita, Navgavalli, Rishita, Bhavana, Jayachandra, Maheshbabu, Rijita, Harsha, Eswar, Aparna, Balaji, Cherry, Poorvika are taking part in this children play.