Some do theatre to entertain. Some do theatre for a living and some others because theatre, they believe, can bring about a change.
The last may be right because a play on child labour staged in the slums of Hyderabad actually helped six child labours go back to school. How? “The parents of the children understood the need for education and hence the change,” says director Rammohan Holagundi of Nishumbita Theatre Group that staged that play. Similarly, a play on water conservation brought up a healthy debate on ways to ensure sensible water usage. There are many such examples of the group working to bring about a change Ram is happy that the group’s plays sometimes do not end up in fancy venues but succeed in reaching the audience they are aimed at. “We have been doing street plays for a cause, in fact that is how I began,” recollects Ram. His work with street plays have attracted attention of the Americans. Ram has recently been selected to participate in the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) on Promoting Social Change Through the Arts sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Ram the only representative from the country to the IVLP which is one of the U.S. government's prestigious professional exchange programs for foreign opinion leaders.
“The US consulate in the Hyderabad met me and interviewed me and then since there was no news, I was almost shutting my thought on the programme when I received word of my application being forwarded to Delhi and then to Washington. That is how the selection takes place. The joy for being selected is beyond bounds because I hadn’t applied for it by myself. Seeing my work, the representative from the city picked my name and contacted me,” smiles Ram.
Ram says the programme, where more than 130,000 participants — including 300 current and former heads of government — have visited the United States, is a privilege. “Many key members of Indian politics and society have participated in this program in the past, including former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former presidents K R Narayanan and Pratibha Patil. The idea of the program is to explore the geographic, ethnic, and religious diversity of the U.S. population and how innovative arts programming can be instrumental in managing conflicts, personal and community healing, and promoting peace, tolerance, and mutual understanding,” elaborates Ram.
As an IVLP exchange person, Ram will be interacting with artistes and theatre activists from across the world, sharing ideas and information about India arts and culture and particularly the theatre scenario in our country. More power to him!
