The idea behind the tour
While travelling theatre troupes and performances are an intrinsic part of the local culture in several parts of India, children, however, are usually the secondary audiences of such performances. It is time to change this. It is time to take the magic of live performances to children across the length and breadth of India, through plays specially created for them.
We at Gillo would like to make a small beginning in this mission.
Giving children access to live performances: We at Gillo would like to share our performances, that have been created and designed especially for children, with young audiences across India, but most particularly, in non-metro areas, where the opportunities for children to access such experiences is limited. In our seven years of working with and for children, we have seen the joy and transformative power that live performances can bring to children and we really want to extend ourselves to reach more children in more places.
Seeding TYA along the route: The specialised practice of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) is at a nascent stage in India. Through this road trip, our endeavor is to introduce schools and other institutions working with children to the ideas and work of TYA, and with continued interactions and exchanges after this road trip, to work with them and bring about gradual changes in the ways of understanding, learning and working with children in their formative years, using theatre.
Building a network: One of our long term objectives is also to create a network of institutions that are interested in arts and cultural experiences for young audiences and to enable other practitioners to engage similarly with them, all around the year.
So in November this year, we are off to Karnataka, to share our performances, our stories and our dreams.
We hope that this tour is the first of many! From the multiple directions, routes and circuits available to us, we have selected a route and itinerary, based on some of our past engagements and interactions.
The tour rests on partnerships with local organisations in Gubbi, Bangalore, Mysore, Chamrajanagara and Heggodu, who are already engaged with children and / or theatre, either through schools or other organisational models.
WHAT are we taking to communities?
- Plays (English, Hindi, non-verbal, storytelling)
- Theatre Workshops for children
- Theatre Workshops for teachers
- Artistic exchange workshop with local arts community
- Mobile Library (300 books)
