Youthra 4.0- The Annual Street Theatre

1st of February saw the return of Youthra, an annual street play event organized by PRIA. Conceptualized in 2017, this event encourages the youth to ponder upon the topic of “Democracy in Everyday Life”, provide them with the space to voice their concerns through the medium of street theatre. With nukkad natak (street theatre) being a medium of raising awareness on important themes and imparting information to the public, Youthra has a two-fold aim of enabling the youth to think upon these matters as well as sensitize the public regarding them.

With this initiative to inculcate more spaces of public dialogue around issues that are relevant for the future of our country, the fourth edition of Youthra took place in Delhi Haat, INA.

With registrations being opened in November 2019, this year the event was pan India, inviting participation from colleges across the country. 37 entries were received which were then assessed in two phases. In the first phase, the teams were judged on the basis of the synopsis of their plays, which led to 26 teams making it into the next round. The second phase took place online, wherein all the teams were required to upload a short clip of their play on the Instagram handle of PRIA Youth (@pria_youth). 26 videos were uploaded and the top twelve with the maximum likes then entered the final stage. The shortlisted teams were then judged by a panel of experts consisting of Rahul Singh from Sukhmanch Theatre, Shikha Mittal from Be.artsy and Tanya Dikshit from PRIA.

Touching upon the various themes of everyday life, the plays left a deep impact upon the public, with the spectators showing a range of emotions as the day progressed. With topics highlighting the water crisis, the problem of hunger, bullying, honour killing, mental health, ghost villages in India, the idea of justice and the current political scenario of the country, the performances covered a wide range of aspects of democracy in everyday life. While these issues are prevalent in society, with each one of us being aware about them, we often tend to turn a blind eye, focusing more on our personal problems. Through the medium of these nuddak nataks, it was conveyed to the public that each one of us are accountable and can play a role in improving the current scenario.

In this edition of Youthra, some additional time was provided to the teams in order to engage with the audience, allowing them to express their opinion, clarify doubts and provide some comments. During one of these interactions, a schoolteacher present in the audience applauded the performers stating that while textbooks often touch upon these topics, the plays did a fantastic job in helping the common people understand and relate with the issues. Another interaction which was held after the performance regarding the Ghost Villages in India asked the crowd to write down one thing that they felt when they heard the word “gaon” (village). Some of the heart-warming responses were “Dadi yaadh aati hai (I remember my Grandmother), “I am not afraid to admit my roots” and “I miss the village life”.

It was an evening full of learning about what different people associate with the theme of “Democracy in Everyday Life”. With each performance setting the bar higher than the previous, the competition was tough yet the winners had to be chosen. This year, the first place was awarded to Janaki Devi Memorial College (O Baith Kaga), the first runner’s up place was bagged by Hindu College (Mental Health & Anxiety). The organisers also acknowledged the team with the best theme revolving around Hunger performed by Jesus and Mary College. Lastly, an anonymous award for the boldest theme was presented to Motilal College for their performance around the current socio-political situation in the nation.

Check out our YouTube channel to watch these amazing street theatre performances:  https://www.youtube.com/user/PRIAIndia