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Transporting audience to reality
Theatre is a powerful medium to kindle the school of thoughts of the people, and using this platform, Chennai-based Panmai Theatre Group moved the audience with their stellar performance in ‘Color of Trans 2.0’.
Panmai Theatre Group focusses on gender diversity and aims to disseminate equality through theatre. The all Transgender group showcased their play ‘Color of Trans 2.0’ to a packed house at the HLF 2016
Theatre is a powerful medium to kindle the school of thoughts of the people, and using this platform, Chennai-based Panmai Theatre Group moved the audience with their stellar performance in ‘Color of Trans 2.0’. The all transgender 3-member team comprises of Angel Glady and Living Smile Vidya, who are trans-women and Gee Imaan Semmalar, a trans-man.
From the moment they took the stage, the audience was captivated by their performances. They narrated their own stories on stage, the discrimination they faced in the society and family was a heart-rending affair. The group showed the nuances of problems, which they face in their daily lives like how trans-women do not speak in public toilets as they have a very deep voice that frightens other women, thus creating a ruckus.
Panmai touched the soul of the viewers and made them think about the discriminations meted out on them on a daily basis – from securing a job to hunting for a rented house and how caste and class perceive transgender people. The Chennai-based group made a debut in August 2014 and since then they gave 12 performances overall with their second performance in Hyderabad. Earlier they performed at University of Hyderabad.
“I’m in theatre from past 10 years. Prior to this, I was doing normal roles on the stage. However, my whole viewpoint changed when I went to London International School of Performing Arts for a short course. When I came back from London, I decided that I will now perform as a trans-woman on the stage. I have known Glady and Imaan from a long time and we conceptualised the show,” says Living Smile Vidya.
Gee Imaan Semmalar, who was working as an RJ before joining the group says, “Every show we perform is different from the previous one. We keep experimenting and adding stuff to the play. When we started, the play was titled ‘Color of Trans’, and as it has evolved after a few performances, we have now re-titled it as ‘Color of Trans 2.0’.
Living Smile Vidya and Glady Angel are based in Chennai and Gee Imaan Semmalar lives in Bangalore. They deliver multilingual performances across the country and around the world. The powerful performance and the realistic despiction of life as transgenders moved the audience to tears and the group received a deserving standing ovation.
