CHANGE ARRIVES THROUGH THEATRE

This is magic,” 13-year-old Meenakshi thought to herself while watching the play Ek Nayi Shuruaat back in 2000 in Rohtak, Haryana. She had gone there with her father, a school teacher and theatre actor. On the way home, she wondered about the girls on the stage – were they not shamed for this? Didn’t they get a beating from their parents?

Almost 20 years later, Meenakshi, who goes only by first name, is one of the most successful theatre artists in Haryana. “I realise that I cannot bring about a revolution. But every time I perform, I am creating opportunities for girls who wish to pursue the creative arts,” says Meenakshi, member of Jatan Natya Kendra theatre group.

Ek Nayi Shuruaat, a play on gender discrimination, was shown across the state as part of the theatre wave triggered in response to the killing of theatre activist Safdar Hashmi in January 1989.

Until then, there was a tradition of swang (folk dance) and ragni (storytelling through songs) practised by a few families.

In 1991, inspired by the success of Kerala’s total literacy movement, the Haryana government involved street theatre groups or kalaa jatthas to improve the literary rate in the state. “These were small groups of eight to 10 artists. Around 20 such groups were active in every district. We trained local people and they further trained others. In 1995, the literacy project wound up. By then, many of those teams had developed plays that touched upon social issues in Haryana,” says Naresh Prerna, co-founder of Jatan Natya Kendra.

For Meenakshi’s generation, the new wave of theatre offered hope, relationships and challenges. Her first struggle was to convince her mother that theatre would not bring them a bad name. “Swaang karney jaa rahi hai. Public mein naachti hai (she is going to perform swaang and dance in public),” neighbours would tell Meenakshi’s mother, and she, in turn would reprimand Meenakshi.

Theatre brought about the proverbial winds of change. Never before had people of a lower caste visited Meenakshi’s Brahmin household. Now, they were sharing the sofa, vehicles and utensils. Changes among the male members of the group were apparent. Boys either became gender sensitive or simply quit. “We were doing a play condemning honour killing. One of the boys left our group saying that he would never support inter-caste marriage,” says Meenakshi.

Most of all, she says she can never forget the time spent with the girls of the theatre group. Previously, they had not discussed marriage, abuse or patriarchy in an uninhibited manner, but they began to do so. They would explore ways to use their similar experiences in plays.

Writers of plays would often add a joke or two to balance the serious content. “And the joke was always on us girls. We got that changed, along with insisting on more sensitive handling of rape scenes and also In Rohtak and other districts of Haryana, theatre became a medium to highlight socio-economic issues including the skewed gender ratio. Above: Members of Jatan Natya Kendra during a rehearsal.

sequences which had women talking about routine discrimination,” she says.

But the battle back home is only half won. “At present, my mother does not stop me. But she isn’t happy with me doing theatre either. One day, I hope I will have her by my side,” says Meenakshi.