theatre club@vidhya niketan

since 2009, theatre Y has worked closely with vidhya niketan school, coimbatore, to set up the theatre club for the entire school. we have trained over 200 students of the school, ranging from the age of 7 to 18. Every year the training culminates in the annual day production where the students put up a play. theatre Y’s interventions have helped the children to script, direct and act in the plays and over the years a number of plays have been performed, not only in the school but at public venues as well. since 2009 we have also performed poetry regularly at the school.

return of the gandhi - 2009
the students of vidya niketan school performed 'return of the gandhi' on their annual day, in 2009. the basic concept was conceptualized by the children from the theatre club. the concept was then developed into a full length play, scripted and directed by yog japee. the play deals with a hypothetical question:  if mahatma gandhi were to return to india now, what would be his reaction and what would happen. gandhiji decides to return to india, and encounters a lot of scenarios - corruption, politics being maligned, politicians buying votes, the common man, especially youth, being indifferent to the sufferings of others and the injustice around. what he decides to do next, and whether he is able to bring about change, forms the rest of the play.
from our shadows – april 2011
the students from the theatre club of vidya niketan performed 'from our shadows' at the music academy –mini hall in chennai to a public audience.  this was an edited version of the previous year’s  annul day play. 
mYths: point Ya no point - 2011
the students of vidhya niketan performed 'mYths: point Ya no-point', at their annual day in coimbatore. the show was also performed later at a public show in new delhi at the sriram centre auditorium. 
the play, scripted and directed by yog japee, was performed by the talented students of the school’s theatre club, and presented some of the well known, and some not so well known, stories from mythology. hand-picked and woven into a contemporary, fast paced drama set in an ensemble style of theatre, the play raises many questions in its journey to seek out an answer to the age old question – “do our myths have a place in our lives today?”
health and hygiene – 2012 
the students from the theatre club of vidhya niketan, trained by yog japee, conceptualised and directed a play – 'health and hygiene', as an entry to the national science  drama festival. theatre y trained the group to prepare for the national science drama festival in kolkata, organised by the national science museum and the ministry of culture in association with vishweshwaraiya institute of technology- bangalore.  the group went to the finals and emerged as one of the top performers in the national festival at kolkata.  
coming of age - 2010
the students of vidya niketan school performed 'coming of age' on their annual day in 2010. the play was conceived, scripted and directed by yog japee.  the performers were all part of the theatre club and had attended theatre sessions with theatre y, throughout their academic year. the theme of the annual day was ‘civilizations’.
the play was enacted in three episodes, each depicting an age: stone age, reptilian age and the modern age. a unique aspect of this play was that the stone age episode for about 15 minutes was completely performed in gibberish, by all the actors, except towards the end where the message was conveyed in gibberish and translated in english. this episode dealt with how the weak need to be treated with equality, and how a ruler has to be just and fair in the treatment of her citizens.
the reptilian episode was a story within a story that elucidates how discrimination in any form, to any being, be it animals or human beings can wreck the balance. the human characters depicted in this episode learn the lesson of unity and harmony from the story within.
the modern age dealt with the future where, because of our callousness, the animal kingdom lives only in pictures and in museums. the play spelt out the causes for extinction of a number of rare species, especially the tiger, in the future. 
rhyYthm of life - 2012
'rhYthm of life' was performed at vidhya niketan’s annual day in 2012. the story was conceptualized and written by the children from the theatre club, and scripted and directed by yog japee. the children played an active role in building and scripting the play. it dealt with episodes in a mother and daughter’s journey through a day. 
the mother and daughter set forth on a journey to find the answer to a question raised on a reality show on television in order to win some prize money. they meet a fake saint, a fake doctor and a politician and just when they are disillusioned, they find their own answer to the question - what is the ‘rhYthm of life’?