Drishti has designed street theatre campaigns and supported long-term street theater troupes, while also conducting short-term street theatre workshops for social activists, tribal and rural women, and students.  Our activism in the theatre community has helped groom a generation of theatre artists and directors with an activist bent.  

We are committed to reaching out to newer audiences, especially young people. In a city like Ahmedabad, where cultural spaces are shrinking by the minute and young people are getting fragmented by the second, where restaurants and ‘chai kitlis’ are the only available common spaces, theatre can prove to be a meaningful, entertaining and highly creative way of sharing common joys, concerns, aspirations, and talents.

When Ahmedabad hosted a two-month long Fade In theatre festival, greatly supported by Drishti, over 10,000 students came to watch 80 young actors  perform in nearly 40 plays. It proved that quality and imaginative theatre productions do have an audience and should continue!

An example of plays Drishti has supported and been involved with...

E Loko / Veh Log / The Other
55 minutes. Solo Performance by Aditi Desai. Gujarati. Hindi. 2003 

A ‘wall’ is found on the outskirts of the city. What should perhaps have been an object of mild interest for historians becomes the source of conflict between two communities leading to riots. Hindus believe it to be the remains of a temple, while Muslims claim it to be the remnants of a mosque.  

If this wall creates a major storm in the city, it has also creates a minor storm in a small family where Bimal(husband) is a Hindu, Safeena(wife) is a Muslim, and Shanta(Bimal’s mother and Safeena’s mother-in-law) is a Brahmin widow. It becomes the source of distrust in this family. The two women, Safeena and Shanta, blame each other for all their woes in their lives. Their hate simmering for nearly twelve months bursts into a torrent of accusations and counter-accusations, when they come face to face. Both have suffered at the hands of their communities but instead hold it against each other. Safeena has been struggling with the agony of social ostracisation within her community for marrying a man from a different religion, while Shanta, struggles with losing her husband at a young age and then being forced to forgo all pleasures of life by her own community. 

Altaf, a young man, fed up with violence that erupted due to the wall, demolishes it and is on the run. He takes refuge in this family and becomes the catalyst in breaking down the wall—the wall of prejudice, miscommunication, guilt, distrust and hatred. 

-- Written by Abhijat Joshi. Adapted/Translated by Saumya Joshi.  Directed by Rajoo Barot 

Ek Suraj Amari Bhitar / A Fire Within
60 minutes. Gujarati. 2004 

The play is an attempt to bring the issue of violence against women out from the privacy of the four walls of home and place into the public space. It is an attempt to engage audience in a dialogue—to speak up!  This play weaves together experiences of various characters—both men and women, through a narrator—Satya. The story of a Chaula, teenage girl; the story of Ratu, a young dalit woman; the story of Razia, a young muslim woman; the story of Jivli, a tribal girl; the story of Jaina, a middle-class, middle-aged woman; the story of Nalini and Suni; the story of Satya’s mother; the story of Prakash’s mother; the story of an unborn girl-child — all stories of women suffering violence in their lives, irrespective of their socio-economic status. The play portrays their grief, unhappiness, silence, voice of protest, and determination, and anger, at the double standards of our society. The play is not anti-men. It simply demonstrates how deep-rooted patriarchy is in the psyche of men. The play highlights women’s inner strength, their search for peace, a better environment and their spirited response to life itself. 

-- Written by Himanshi Shelat. Directed by Rajoo Barot