TAOOS CHAMAN KI MYNA
A poignant tale of a father’s love for his daughter

Hindustani Play – 2hrs (with interval)


Adapted from Naiyer Masud’s Urdu story ‘Taoos Chaman Ki Myna’ published by Katha Books
Adaptation and Direction –Atul Tiwari
Music – Amod Bhatt
Production Design – M S Sathyu
Choreography – Pooja Pant

Upcoming shows
LUCKNOW - Tue 7 Jan at 7pm at Sangeet Natak Akademi, Gomti Nagar as part of 5th Repertwahr Theatre Festival

KANPUR - Wed 8 Jan at 6.30pm at Lajpat Bhawan, Motijheel as part of 5th Repertwahr Theatre Festival

NEW DELHI - Fri 10 Jan at 4pm at Shriram Centre, Mandi House as part of NSD's 16th Bharat Rang Mahotsav

TICKET BOOKING
Lucknow - Universal at Hazrantganj & Gomti Nagar Sanatkada, Cappichuno Blast and Levana Hotel

Kanpur - Mr.Brown Bakery at Civil Lines, Near Mehfil Resturant and Tilak Nagar, Near Rajiv Petrol Pump. Ph 9565121999 and 9369253011

Delhi - http://www.nsdtheatrefest.com/BRM16/tickets.php

About the play: Work is on in full swing at the Royal Peacock Garden to install a Wondrous Cage that will house dozens of talking hill mynas. Soon, the Cage and its lively, twittering occupants are entrusted to Kale Khan’s care. But he steals a myna for his little motherless daughter, who has long been asking him for one. What lies in store for Kale Khan ... and the beautiful historic city of Lucknow?
The play is based on Naiyer Masud’s Urdu short story ‘Taoos Chaman Ki Myna’.

Cast & Credits
Cast - Vianca Varma, Afsana Ahmed, Vighnesh Sinkar, Devina Medda, Manoj Karki, Sharvari Deshpande, Ghanshyam Tiwari, Sahil Gangurde, Prasad Dagare, Amit Bhargava, Harshad Tambe, John Soans, Nishna Mehta, Naman Banthia, Shreyans Iyer

Musicians - Kedar Singh, Ravindra Belbansi, Sada Mulik
Singer– Subhashree Bhatt

Production team - Anagh Banerjee, Ishita Dave, Nishna Mehta, Yashoda Joshi, Tanya Mahajan

Creative director - Shaili Sathyu

Produced by Gillo Theatre Repertory

For further details email us at gillo.gilehri@gmail.com

2013

Dear friends,
2013! What a year it has been!

We started with a short play for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival's Children Literature Fest. That was Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds. A magical book that was brought alive in a manner found strange by most adults. The interactive nature of the performance kept the young audience engaged and they thoroughly enjoyed the play. And adults enjoyed the mithai we distribute after the show.


By March we were gearing up for our summer season and started work on Taoos Chaman Ki Myna, directed by Atul Tiwari. A long drawn 6 weeks of rehearsals with 3 plays being rehearsed everyday. One more day and the team would have collapsed! A busy summer that showcased 5 plays at 4 venues with a total of 15 performances. We all needed a break!

 After a couple of weeks we began work on Mind Your Head, a play presented with objects and actors. Directed by Choiti Ghosh. And soon we were off to Bangalore with our new format of performance-cum-workshop for small audiences. At first there were was only one booking and soon there were eight. We had to use up our one 'off' day on the tour. This was by far the most tiring week of the year.


Once back in Mumbai, we started work on She-He-Shey for the Rabindra Utsav Kolkata. After an intense six week process, we were off to Kolkata, wary of the reactions we would get. Thankfully the play was well received by most.

So we actually produced four new plays in 2013!! Two were planned and two came as commissioned works. And In 10 months we have crossed our target of 40 shows and reached 47 already.
Up next is Performance Calendar

The best part has been to see the team members grow individually and collectively. For 2013-14 we have changed the structure of our repertory and we now have Repertory Artists (Sharvari Deshpande, Vighnesh Sinkar, Ghanshyam Tiwari, Manoj Karki, Prasad Dagare); Guest Artists (Hetal Varia, Vinati Makijany, Ishita Dave, Nishna Mehta, Anagh Banerjee, Janit Temkar, John Soans, Pooja Pant and others) and New Artistes on for a short period (Sahil Gangurde, Amit Bhargava, Devina Medda, Aditi Thirani, Naman Banthia, Shreyans Iyer and others).
As happy as we may be with the year, we also have 2014 to look forward to. And as you read this we would be cooking up new ideas and waiting to share these with our audience :)

More to come soon...
Shaili Sathyu, Tanya Mahajan, Yashoda Joshi, Mithila Lad, Abir Patwardhan

Gillo's Bangalore Tour July 2013

Gillo Theatre Repertory presents
A SPECIAL THEATRE EXPERIENCE
for YOUNG AUDIENCES in BANGALORE

Come watch a PLAY
and do a WORKSHOP with our actors

 
A performance that takes you beyond the story...
A workshop that takes you into the play... 

Performance-cum-workshop 2hrs 30 min Ticket Rs.500/-
Only performance 40min Ticket Rs.150/-

About Gillo
GILLO Theatre Repertory is a Mumbai based group that works exclusively in Theatre for Young Audiences, which includes content development, performance and training. Our focus is on developing and showcasing original Indian content; developing value for performing arts; creating age-specific performances; training performers and making theatre more accessible to children through performances and workshops.

Gillo and Bangalore
We have previously visited Bangalore in 2010 and 2011 with our plays Kyun Kyun Ladki and Suar Chala Space Ko.

Over the past 3 years many parents and schools have requested us to bring plays and workshops to their spaces, instead of hosting shows in a formal theatre. This planted the seed for our short performance-cum-workshop project.
So here we are, offering you specially created performances for children, along with a connected workshop that literally takes them into the play.
Every workshop is carefully designed to explore the form and content of the play. It will be an intense 2.5 hours of immersing oneself as audience and participant. Hence the group size would be 40 children.
Some of the plays have been staged for schools, communities and events in Mumbai. 

About the performance-cum-workshops

MISTER JEEJEEBHOY and THE BIRDS
Language: English
Duration: 2.5 hours (40 min performance + 1hrs 30 min workshop + 20 min break)
Age: 5+

About the play: Two siblings, one very strange Aunt, and a flock of escaped birds... Magic and mayhem comes in unexpected shapes and sizes to one small corner of a very big city.
Each part of this spectacular story by Anitha Balachandran is brought to life in an interactive form that will delight and amaze children. Come, become a part of the 'strangeness'.
This play was first performed as a commissioned piece for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai in 2013.

Cast: Vighnesh Sinkar, Sahil Gangurde, Nishna Mehta, Ishita Dave, Sharvari Deshpande, John Soans, Prasad Dagare.

About the workshop: Can this be that and that be this? We shall use drama games and activities to discover our own unique and strange qualities. The workshop will help children unleash their imagination and bring it alive through innovative theatre techniques. Mime and sound effects with everyday objects shall be used to explore wacky ideas and strange situations. The focus shall be on interpretations and original ideas.
 
Some responses from our audience:
I loved the play because the children got anything they wanted. Muskaan

I loved the play. I wish that I also had magic. This was also a very funny and a strange play. Vansh

... And the magic is so magical that we see geometrical birds all around, colourful branches sprouting, a bus appearing and disappearing in mid air, furniture boxing and the biggest magic of all, we see little children having so much talk about, think about, draw about and write about.... Meenu Thomas, (teacher at Muktangan)

GRANNY'S SARI
Language: English
Duration: 2.5 hours (40 min performance + 1hrs 30 min workshop + 20 min break)
Age: 5+

About the play: Granny's favourite sari was a very special one. Granny had washed her sari and hung it on the clothesline to dry, when the wind came and blew it away.
Granny and her granddaughter Anu go searching for the sari across the village. But do they find the sari?
Performed in a musical storytelling form, it is an adaptation of Bangalore based writer Asha Nehemiah's book published by CBT India.

Cast: Hetal Varia, Sharvari Deshpande, Ishita Dave, Prasad Dagare, Vighnesh Sinkar, John Soans

About the workshop: Rhyme and rhythm shall be the focus of this workshop. We can all make music with our body and with our voices, we don't always need musical instruments. Sound-scapes, chorus voices, rhythms with simple actions and other techniques shall be explored. The workshop shall make children more aware of rhythms around and within themselves.

Some responses from our audience:
Very encouraging workshop. Seems to be very personalised. Benedict Phillips (parent of workshop participant)

Very good performance and excellent experience! Sujata Ghosh (parent of workshop participant)

MIND YOUR HEAD
Language: English
Duration: 2 hrs 30 min (40 min performance + 1hrs 30 min workshop + 20 min break)
Age: 8+

About the play:

There was no better way to describe Aditi than 'perfectly ordinary'. Until a week ago, when her mother went to the school counselor with a peculiar problem. The problem was with her hair!

Birsa lived in the forests of Jharkhand over a 100 years ago. He was a tribal leader of 'extraordinary' qualities.

Today the perfectly ordinary Aditi encounters the extraordinary Birsa  and they find themselves in an impossibly connected situation - she with her hair, and he with his forest.

100 years is not enough to keep our lives from mingling!

A story about magic and realism, and magic-realism!
Told with Objects, Material, Music & Actors. This is a joint production by Gillo and Tram Theatre using Object Theatre form.

Devised and performed by: Hetal Varia, Prasad Dagare, Vighnesh Sinkar, Sharvari Deshpande and others.

What is Object Theatre: Branching out of puppet theatre in the 1940’s, Object Theatre is often referred to as the rebellious first cousin of puppetry!
Telling a story through ordinary things found in our homes, gardens, streets, and every other surrounding is at the heart of this art form. Like a hair dryer, rope, cups, plates, toys, soap, lock, key and all other sundry items…..Items that were not constructed specifically to create art and learning, but to merely fulfil utilitarian functions in our lives. Items that we take for granted...And makes us realise that indeed imagination is in everything and in all of us.

About the workshop: Let's transform stones, strings, toys - anything around us to express and share our thoughts. A bucket is a swimming pool. Pieces of wood make a city. A shoe and a purse go for a walk. And we can make the audience believe it. Let's imagine, discover the hidden life of everyday things and create wonderful stories for the world to see.
 
About Tram: Tram Theatre, India is a theatre company specialising in Object Theatre. It was born in 2011 with the coming together of professionals from mixed arts backgrounds., including objecteurs, actors, puppeteers, storytellers, physical theatre artistes and others. Plays include ‘Nostos’ (Homecoming), Alice in Wonderland, Bird’s Eye View, etc. Besides making plays, Tram Theatre organises workshops for theatre professionals, children and teachers.

Schedule for July 2013

Fri 26th          morning       Booked for school show 
Fri 26th          4.30pm        Granny's Sari @ Yours Truly Alma, Indiranagar
Sat 27th         morning       Booked for parents' group (private show)
Sat 27th         4.30pm        Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds @ Jagriti (Lumbini), Whitefield
Sun 28th       10.00am       Granny's Sari @ Sinchana, J P Nagar

Sun 28th        4.30pm        Mind Your Head @ Sinchana, J P Nagar
Mon 29th       morning       Booked for school show
Mon 29th       4.30pm        Mind Your Head @ Yours Truly Alma, Indiranagar

Booking

ONLINE BOOKING at www.bookmyshow.com
OR 
REGISTER by email to gillo.gilehri@gmail.com and we shall inform you about payment options (Send your name, name of play, date, number of seats and category )
BOOKING AT VENUES 
Advance booking:
Yours truly Alma - 25th July onwards, 4pm to 7pm
Jagriti - 26th July onwards, 4pm to 7pm
Sinchana - 27th July onwards, 4pm to 7pm
Current booking starts 2 hours before the show at each venue. Call 7406464356

Limited seats per show: 
Only performance 30 seats
Performance-cum-workshop 40 seats

(Performances are open to children and adults. Workshops are ONLY for children. Limited seats.)

Note:
Kindly refer to target age mentioned on previous pages before booking seats

Contact:
General enquiry: Ishita Dave at +91-9167000458
Coordinator: Prasad Dagare at +91-9820282023
Artistic Director: Shaili Sathyu at +91-9820593736
Email: gillo.gilehri@gmail.com
Blog: www.gillogilehri.blogspot.in
Facebook page: Gillo

25th show of Kyun-Kyun Ladki

On Fri 24th May 2013 Gillo Theatre Repertory staged the 25th show of its play KYUN-KYUN LADKI at the Summer Fiesta hosted by NCPA, Mumbai.
Congratulations to everyone who has been a part of this production.
And thanks to everyone who has come as audience and given us the chance to share this play.

2 short plays in English @ Temperance and AIM Studios Mumbai

Donor passes available at AIM and TEMPERANCE. Please call for further information.
TEMPERANCE 9833833270
 AIM 9820183231

Gillo presents 5 plays for children in Mumbai

Gillo Theatre Repertory, Mumbai

Summer 2013

5 original Indian stories as stage plays

TAOOS CHAMAN KI MYNA

Hindustani Play – 1hr 30min (with interval); Age: 8+

‘A poignant tale of a father’s love for his daughter’

Adapted from Naiyer Masud’s Urdu story ‘Taoos Chaman Ki Myna’ published by Katha Books as ‘The Myna from Peacock Garden’

Adaptation and Direction –Atul Tiwari

Music – Amod Bhat

Production Design – M S Sathyu

Choreography – Pooja Pant

About the play: Work is on in full swing at the Royal Peacock Garden to install a Wondrous Cage that will house forty talking hill mynas. Soon, the Cage and its lively, twittering occupants are entrusted to Kale Khan’s care. But he steals a myna for his little motherless daughter, who has long been asking him for one. What lies in store for Kale Khan ... and the beautiful historic city of Lucknow?

************************************************************************

KYUN-KYUN LADKI

Hindi Play – 1hr 10 min; Age: 5+

Inspired by Mahashweta Devi’s story Why-Why Girl published by Tulika Books

Poem Safdar Hashmi

Adaptation & Direction– Shaili Sathyu

Choreography – Hamsa Moily

Music – Mithila Lad

Design – Abir Patwardhan

About the play: How often do children ask questions and actually get answers from adults? And how often do adults enter the magical world of questions?

Kyun-Kyun Ladki is the story of Moyna and at the same time, the story of so many inquisitive children who always ask the question ‘Why?’ Performed through dance, movement and live music, the play is a celebration of this spirit.

Kyun-Kyun Ladki opened at the Prithvi Summertime in 2011 and has since been performed in Bangalore and Pune, and also at the Mumbai Literature Festival and Prithvi Festival in 2012.

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MISTER JEEJEEBHOY AND THE BIRDS

English Play - 40 mins

Age: 4+

Based on a story by Anitha Balachandran published by Young Zubaan

Directed by Shaili Sathyu

Music – Sharvari Deshpande and Vighnesh Sinkar

About the play: Two siblings, one very strange Aunt, and a flock of escaped birds... Magic and mayhem comes in unexpected shapes and sizes to one small corner of a very big city.
Each part of this spectacular story by Anitha Balachandran is brought to life in an interactive form that will delight and amaze children. Come, become a part of the ‘strangeness’.

This play was first performed as a commissioned piece for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2013.

************************************************************************

HANUMAN KI RAMAYAN

Hindi Play - 40 mins; Age: 8+

Based on a story by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik published by Tulika Books

Nautanki adaptation & music by Pt. Ram Dayal Sharma

Directed by Dr. Devendra Sharma

Musicians – Ravindra Belbansi and Janit Temkar

About the play:

Valmiki has barely put his pen down after completing his magnificent creation, the epic Ramayan, when he realises he has competition. The sage Narad tells him that there is a better Ramayan, written by Hanuman. Valmiki is devastated! And when Hanuman sees Valmiki so upset, what does he do?

The play is performed in nautanki form (saangeet) and is a part of our series of short plays for young audiences, using various theatrical forms.

************************************************************************

GRANNY’S SARI

Based on a story by Asha Nehemiah published by Children’s Book Trust

Adaption, music and direction by Sharvari Deshpande and John Soans

About the play: Granny’s favourite sari was a very special one. It had a picture of a forest printed on it. Granny had washed her sari and hung it on the clothesline to dry, when the wind came and blew it away. The story is about how Granny and her granddaughter Anu go searching for the sari across the village.

Performed in a musical storytelling form, it is an adaptation of Asha Nehemiah’s picture book published by Children’s Book Trust, India.

Schedule of shows

 

TUE 21 MAY 11am, 4pm, 7pm	TAOOS CHAMAN KI MYNA at PRITHVI THEATRE, Juhu, Mumbai A play in Hindustani / 1hr 30min / 8+ years
WED 22 MAY 11am	MISTER JEEJEEBHOY AND THE BIRDS GRANNY’S SARI at PRITHVI THEATRE, Juhu, Mumbai Two short plays in English / 1hr 30min / 4+ years
WED 22 MAY 4pm & 7pm	KYUN-KYUN LADKI at PRITHVI THEATRE, Juhu, Mumbai A play in Hindi / 1hr 10min / 5+ years
FRI 24 MAY 6.30pm	KYUN-KYUN LADKI at EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE NCPA, Nariman Point, Mumbai A play in Hindi / 1hr 10min / 5+ years
SAT 25 MAY 6.30pm	MISTER JEEJEEBHOY AND THE BIRDS A short play in English / 40min / 6+ years HANUMAN KI RAMAYAN A short play in Hindi / 35min / 6+ years at EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE NCPA, Nariman Point, Mumbai
SUN 26 MAY 6.30pm	TAOOS CHAMAN KI MYNA at EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE NCPA, Nariman Point, Mumbai A play in Hindustani / 1hr 30min / 8+ years
SAT 1 JUN 5pm	MISTER JEEJEEBHOY AND THE BIRDS GRANNY’S SARI at TEMPERANCE, Bandra, Mumbai Two short plays in English / 1hr 30min / 4+ years
SUN 2 JUN 5pm	MISTER JEEJEEBHOY AND THE BIRDS GRANNY’S SARI at AIM STUDIO, Sion East, Mumbai Two short plays in English / 1hr 30min / 4+ years

Suggested age of audience is mentioned above, but adults are also welcome!

Booking at www.bookmyshow.com

Home delivery 39895050

Box office PRITHVI 26149546 (1pm-9pm) / NCPA 22824567 (9am-7pm)  / TEMPERANCE 9833833270 (11am – 8pm) / AIM STUDIO 9820183231 (11am – 5pm)

For group booking please contact us at gillo.gilehri@gmail.com

World Theatre Day for Children 20th March

The Girl Who Caged Freedom

In January 2013 we worked on a new production titled 'Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds'. The play opened at the Children's Literature Festival at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai.
Through the 2 weeks of process that led to the final performance, we had a young visitor from Muktangan. Meenu Thomas, a teacher-educator came in as an observer. She has a Bachelors in Elementary Education from Delhi University and a Masters in Elementary Education from TISS, Mumbai. She is currently working as a teacher and also writing stories for children.
We asked her to send in a reflection of her short stint with us. Here is the story she sent...

The Girl Who Caged Freedom

Once there was Meenu. No, she was not a bird :p. She was a girl in her twenties. She did some interesting work from 9 to 4:30 and then returned back to her hostel. The hostel looked like an ugly, dark dungeon without electricity and without people around. So, Meenu got really bored. She wanted to see something new, learn something new but didn’t know where to go, what to do.

On one such similar boring day when she was deleting old messages that flooded her gmail inbox, she came across a mail from Gillo Gilheri. Her eyes shined, she had got an idea that would put an end to her misery. She wrote a sweet mail to Gillo’s main Gilheri “Shaili”. Meenu wasn’t expecting much but was overjoyed to receive a warm response from Shaili.

And so started Meenu’s journey, almost every other day from Dadar to Kandivali. She would take a local to Kandivali and then an auto to Charkop to reach Akshara School. This is where Gillo rehearsed for their new play “Jeejeebhoy and the Birds”.

Now, Meenu was here for some serious learning. So, she got her little cage along with her. She would put all that she observed and learnt here in her little cage. After all, this was the first time she would get to see how a professional play would be directed and made. She had anticipated seeing a director who would tell his actors what to do and the actors would do as directed. 

Aahhh! But if this had happened, then Meenu really wouldn’t have learnt anything new. It would have been the same as she had imagined it to be.

So, MAGIC happened. She saw and learnt something she had never imagined could happen.

The director didn’t direct. The actors didn’t follow.

Instead, director Shaili let everyone FREE. “How can Shaili do that?” wondered Meenu . “Isn’t it risky to do so when you have a performance at stake?  “Yikes” wondered Meenu. But as she experienced being free, she was in awe of Shaili. Why? For the simple fact that she made it so simple for the actors. She handed over the forbidden director’s cap to her actors. Then she gave the story to them and asked them to make it come alive.

Meenu loved the way Shaili would platter many different ideas simultaneously and let the actors experience them and cook up a recipe for themselves. In this way, everybody learnt so much through self discovery.

“It’s so easy to dictate and teach but it’s so tough a task to facilitate. You are an awesome facilitator” smiled Meenu. 

Meenu had fun being in the camaraderie of the wonderful artists of Gillo. It’s a secret but she found out that each one of them had superpowers. The superpowers worked for the best when all of them got together to create magic.

“The magic is simple. I’ve sneaked their recipe” winked Meenu

“Just take a huge pot. Put 3 table spoons of Sharvari’s musicality, 4 teas spoons of Shahid’s simplicity, 2 cups of Vignesh’s inquisitiveness, 5 drops of Manoj’s thoughtfulness, 1 small katori of Ishita’s sincerity and 1 layer of Sahil’s focus. Stir it with Nishna’s readiness and garnish it with Prasad’s imagination.

That’s all and the magic is created on stage. And the magic is so magical that we see geometrical birds all around, colourful branches sprouting, a bus appearing and disappearing in mid air, furniture boxing, a boy flying and the biggest magic of all, we see little children having so much talk about, think about, draw about and write about.

Hmmmm…so what happened to the girl Meenu and her cage?

 Well her cage didn’t have anything captured in it for the first time ever. Her cage simply lay open for she had caged freedom.

THANK YOU GILLO :)