Simple themes, confident performances

CEVA had conducted a workshop at the Vivek High School for children between 9 and 12 years. Nearly 35 children had attended the month-long session.

The main emphasis of the workshop was on encouraging the children to come up with their own ideas. The result was that the children themselves scripted and enacted the plays staged this evening. They also selected songs and wrote short poems. A bit of polishing by the CEVA activists was all that the plays needed.

8220;Joota Gaya Jungle Mein8221; dealt with the theme of wild life conservation. Through an incident of Shah Rukh Khan8217;s missing 8220;joota8221;, the children showed how animals dreaded the thought of man interfering in their peaceful system in the jungle.

The second play, 8220;Kukad Da Gawacha Anda8221;, was presented by the students of Guru Nanak Public School. Since the workshop was meant for hostelers, the theme of the play naturally focussed on their plight and questioned whether parents were justified in sending their children to hostels. Through the journey of the wayward egg, children also showed how polluted Chandigarh has become.

It did take some time for CEVA activists to bring the students out of their shell. And the improvisations and exercises of CEVA helped in bringing out the children8217;s creativity to the hilt.