IFA@Delhi: An Evening on Street Theatre | Studio Safdar | June 23, 2017

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA)
in collaboration with
Studio Safdar & Janam
presents
An Evening on Street Theatre in Delhi
by
Deepti Priya Mehrotra & Jana Natya Manch
Friday, June 23, 2017 | 07:00 PM
2253E Shadi Khampur, Guru Nanak Nagar, New Ranjeet Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi 110008

Join us for an evening on street theatre of the 1970s and 80s in Delhi, at Studio Safdar, on June 23, 2017, with Deepti Priya Mehrotra (of Sampurna, a feminist initiative) and Jana Natya Manch!

Deepti will recall stories, memories and histories of feminist street theatre from the 1970s and 80s, including readings, along with Savita Sharma (activist, counselor, Saheli member), of excerpts from vintage plays from the women's movement - Om Swaha (1979) and Ahsaas (1979).

Jana Natya Manch (Janam) will provide a succinct narrative of street theatre in Delhi. The presentations will be followed by readings selected from Janam's plays and performed by their members, including Moloyashree Hashmi, who, from the early 1970s to the present, has been a leading participant in the history of street theatre in Delhi.

While Deepti's presentation will examine the legacy of the feminist street theatre born out of a vibrant women's movement of the '70s and '80s, Janam's will explore this idea through readings from their plays - Aurat (1979), Halla Bol (1988), Voh Bol Uthi (2000), and Yeh Bhi Hinsa Hai (2005/2013).

Deepti is an independent scholar and a Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, researching towards a book on a spectrum of social movements in India of the '70s and '80s. Her publications include Gulab Bai the Queen of Nautanki Theatre, Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur, and Home Truths: Stories of Single Mothers.

Jana Natya Manch was founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's radical theatre amateurs. They have completed over 8,500 performances of nearly 75-odd street plays and 15 proscenium plays, in 140 cities across India.

Studio Safdar is an independent, non-funded space for arts and activism, established in 2012 by Jana Natya Manch.

Sampurna Trust received a grant, with Deepti Priya Mehrotra as the Principal Investigator, under the Arts Research programme of India Foundation for the Arts, with part support from South Asia Women’s Fund (SAWF). This presentation in Delhi has been fully supported by SAWF.