Deepti Swamy and Anu Ganapathy were regular mothers wondering about ways to keep their little tykes engaged when they hit upon the idea of starting a theatre club to harness some of that kiddie energy.
Deepti Swamy and Anu Ganapathy were regular mothers wondering about ways to keep their little tykes engaged when they hit upon the idea of starting a theatre club to harness some of that kiddie energy.
“The idea was to keep children engaged in doing something creative,” says Deepti Swamy, founder, Mom and Me Crocodile Tears and mother to 10-year-old Ahan.
“It has proved to be a platform where children can learn a new skill. Putting up a show, rehearsing it has also given us more time with our children,” adds Swamy.
The theatre club is ready with its first production, a dramatised version of ‘The Magic Drum’, a popular short story from a collection of folk tales written by Sudha Murthy.
“The Magic Drum celebrates the nature-given imaginativeness and creativity in children. Storytelling, which used to be very much a part of Indian heritage and culture, is dying out these days. Through this play, we want to familiarise children with the magical art of story-telling once again,” says Swamy. No less than 18 mothers and 27 children are taking part in putting up this production on November 13 at Seva Sadan.
The club considers itself lucky in having a dedicated theatre teacher from the Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT), the city’s oldest theatrical club. BLT has set up an Academy of Theatre Arts with a mission to enrich the educational system through theatre education. Crocodile Tears has leveraged this program.
According to Swamy and Ganapathy, theatre helps nurture a child’s basic instinct to perform, act and entertain. It provides an outlet for their natural creative instincts and prepares them for leadership roles and for being confident about performing in front of audiences.
“I have seen kids who were initially shy and hyperactive, focus and blossom through working on this play. There is a lot of camaraderie amongst the kids,” says Swamy.
“Gearing up for a production is like working towards a family event, with people pitching for potlucks, costumes, props, ferrying kids for rehearsal, design etc,” she adds.
For Anu Ganapathy, co-founder, Crocodile Tears, and mother of Nikhil (10), the changes in her child have been positive. “Theatre has given him a platform for self-discovery. Nikhil now wants to write the script for a play that he plans to direct next year,” says Ganapathy.
For Shilpa Alur, the theatre workshop has helped her children gain confidence.
“To be able to get up on stage and deliver your lines is a talent by itself. This has brought out new sides to my children’s creativity and made them more confident,” says Shilpa Alur, mother of 10-year-old Tanish and eight-year-old Trisha while Chaitali Singh, mother of a seven-year-old, says has seen a marked improvement in her child’s group interaction skills ever since she started participating in group theatre activities.
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