Cultural Empowerment of the Poor and marginal people

CULTURAL EMPOWERMENT OF THE EPOPLE: The Experience of the Bangladesh Institute of Theatre Arts (BITA)

Bangladesh Institute of Theatre Arts (BITA) is a non-government organization composed of cultural activities, development workers, theatre activists, singers, teachers, writers, journalists, painters businessmen and physicians who are committed to participate in national development through upgrading the cultural level mainly of the undeveloped and underdeveloped communities of society. It addresses a whole range of concerns like women’s and children’s issues, environmental problems, children’s rights, gender discrimination, poverty alleviation, and other issues which are highlighted through various cultural activities.

Since it started in 1993-94, BITA has been effectively using the media of theatre arts in implementing the above program. It has applied this new and alternative approach of development work through theatrical performances mainly in the Chittagong area and with the following as target sectors: women and children of the grassroots level, minority communities, fisher folk communities, taxi drivers, slum dwellers and landless peasants; in short, the people of the lowest income group in society. It has facilitated the production of plays performed by the grassroots people on various life-related issues such as dowry, marriage registration, early marriage, health consciousness, environment, moral ethics, ideal lessons in life, etc. BITA now claims to have developed a massive awareness program among its target people after working for the past years through different cultural activities. In the near future it aims to build an institute with permanent facilities that will be rendering continuous support and training in the field of alternative development. BITA hopes to develop a group of committed cultural activists among the grassroots people who would apply their learning to their community.

In all of its program, projects and activities, BITA is guided by the following vision: the preservation of national culture and heritage; and the improvement of the quality of women, children and men. Its mission is to create consciousness among children, women and men on cultural heritage and to highlight important issues through cultural activities. It also seeks to improve the level of professionalism of performers in both urban and rural areas. Likewise, BITA sees cultural program, like all other development programs, as a very useful and powerful tool to develop the human being in multi-dimensional ways. Moreover, it has hypothesized that the overall efforts of national development are not liable to bear fruit as expected unless the programs for cultural development are incorporated in them or separately but simultaneously undertaken. Thus, BITA was established to launch cultural development programs that aim for a comprehensive national development of the country.

BITA’S THEATRE SECTION

BITA’s Theatre Section is incorporated in the following programs: Student Program (formerly Children’s Program) under which are Theatre for Education and underprivileged Children’s Theatre: Women’s Program (formerly Women’s Development Program) under which is the Women’s Theatre; Grassroots Theatre Program (formerly Theatre Training) under which are Theatre for Development and Theatre for Community; and Proscenium Theatre ( a new program).

Student Program: Theatre For Education

In 1995, BITA conducted a survey in the urban areas of Chittagong on cultural activities done in the different schools. BITA discovered that there was a very little cultural practice in the schools. And there was no concept and practice of education through recreation; the dropout rate of students in these schools was increasing. From these findings, BITA realized that it was very important to start a method of education through entertainment. From this concept evolved BITA’s Theatre for Education Program.

The aim of the program is to make the method of presentation of the text in children’s educational curriculum interesting. Its objectives are the following to build communication between children and the text; to make rational concept for creating imagination; to allow children’s participation in the text presentation; and to give concepts on indigenous culture and history through visual presentation in children’s education. The target participants of the program are children with ages 8-12 who are studying in Class III, IV and V. Facilitations is done by BITA workers whose method or approach is through visual presentation like drawing, rhymes, dances, music, recitation and role play, among others.

The program has evolved a process involving the following steps: analysis of textbook; selection of subject matter; writing of script based on the subject matter; discussion with the children about the script and getting their ideas and opinions, revision and expansion of the script; selection of materials and use of these materials; selection of performers; rehearsals; pretest; planning of presentation dissemination; clarifying responsibilities of performers during the presentation; and follow-up. Target conditions are also set, like the following: the school selected is a non-government organization (NGO) and a less-privileged school; the school contact is identified; a time frame or schedule is fixed; the age group of the children is determined; participation of 50 students is ensured; there is gender balance; presence of teacher observes is required; there is teacher motivation; and a follow-up session with the children is held.

An example of Theatre for Education was seen by this writer in a school in Jhautala run by a non-government organization (NGO) called concern. The subject matter chosen for the presentation was about the six seasons in Bangladesh. In a multi-seasonal country like Bangladesh, people are closely dependent on nature and are accustomed to this seasonal verity from their childhood. And if children can be made aware of these seasonal impacts on their lives, then a positive attitude on the environment and ecology could possibly be generated. In the theatrical presentation, the relationship between the season and human life was highlighted.

Two BITA workers dressed in the colors black, red, green and white performed before an audience of 42 children in Class IV together with two teacher observes inside the classroom of this NGO school. The spectators were all seated on the floor while they watched the whole show unfold. Through games, songs, dance movement, role playing improvisation and audience participation, the two performers presented the six seasons of Bangladesh, namely summer, rainy season, autumn, fall, winter and spring. There was a scene of a fair in summer and a song and dance on the fruits of summer. Hand puppets of frogs were used during the part on the rainy season. Games that children play during autumn were done with audience participation. A scene in winter showed a man sleeping and feeling cold. Trees’ disease appeared in spring. At the end, there was along sequence on the lesson of ecological balance and the interdependence of everything in the environment.

After the presentation, the two teacher observes went in front of the class and asked the children questions to test their comprehension of the lesson. Many children raised their hands and most of them gave correct answers. Candies were given to those who answered correctly. After the question-and-answer session, all the children stood up to sing a song on the six seasons. They were afterwards asked what topic or subject matter they wanted to see in the next presentation. Some answered something about the environment, others about the war of liberation. At the end BITA postcards were distributed to the children.

After the session in the classroom, the two BITA workers met with the two teacher observes at the headmaster’s office. They were made to fill up an evaluation form and were asked by the BITA workers if they were interested in learning the method of presentation. The two teachers were very much interested. The headmaster who was present expressed his all-out support for BITA’s Theatre for Education Program.

Another example of Theatre for Education was seen by the writer at the Lalinga Cultural Centre in Rangunia. The topic was topic was still about the different seasons but this time children were performing energetically and enthusiastically for other children. Only two seasons were depicted but the show had all the concreteness of life’s details that revealed the local culture of the people. The children used a lot of improvisation, songs and movement to depict the different activities in each season.

BITA has chosen Rangunia as one of its priority areas for two reasons; the place is politically unstable and there is a combination of different community peoples living there. Lalinga, situated at the East Nischintapur village of Rajanagar Union, is a small village in this area where most of the people are landless. The land area is 52 acres but only 20 acres of small hills are inhabited by 130 families. Fifty percent of the male population of this hilly countryside are van drivers. Others are rickshaw pullers, trolley pullers, farmers and day laborers. Some of the female population makes baskets to sell and some work in the farms. The people have no desire in life except to survive. The parents are not aware of the need for children’s education and they think of their children merely as helpers in the field. And there is no school to educate the children. As a result most of them have been deprived of the light of education. It is in this context that BITA’s Theatre for Education Program in Lalinga should be seen.

The Lalinga Cultural Centre in Rangunia was established with the help of BITA in response to a request of the inhabitants of Lalinga. BITA planned a pilot education program with a new alternative concept for rural children. Cultural means will be used in the government’s primary education curriculum to make the children interesting in going to school. Sona Milan, a local van driver, donated a part of his land to BITA for the construction of the Centre. When the Lalinga Cultural Centre was formally inaugurated on the 20th of February 1997 by Mr. Nurul Alam, Thana Nirbahi Officer of Rangunia station, it had for its education program 42 local children. Through this initiative, BITA makes the parents understand the importance of education and discourages them about child labor. In the Centre, the children are getting education through cultural activities. Educational activities for the elderly, especially for women, are held there too in the evening.

The age group of the children in the Centre is from 8 to 12 years. Fifty-five children are currently participating in the education program six days a week. The children can perform any of their text through cultural activities. By this process, they can learn their lesson more easily and generate enthusiasm in other children to know their academic lesson in an interesting way. The children are under the supervision two full-time teachers who are assisted by field workers of Rangunia. For the special presentation on the seasons, the children who performed were directed with the help of the BITA workers.

Thus, BITA’s Theatre for Education Program aims to present the system of education to the children in a more interesting way by incorporating in the curriculum cultural activities where the children themselves can participate. As mentioned earlier, the program goes through a process involving the following steps: the study of the government curriculum; the preparation of a cultural lesson plan; implementation; follow-up and monitoring.

As a result of the program, students easily get admitted to the government primary school. There is a decrease in dropout of students in school. Through the learning process in the Centre, it is possible to discourage child labor in the community. The parents also have the opportunity to gain knowledge and become aware of the importance of education. And most important of all, they willingly sent their children to the Centre.

Student Program: Underprivileged Children’s Theatre

Under this program, the writer was able to see two children’s theatre performances, namely “Sharno Bize” in Pora Colony and “Dak Deya Jai” in Patiya.

Pora Colony is a slum area situated in Lalkhan bazaar. For the past five years, BITA has been working in this slum area to help develop the mental faculties of the children. Within this period of time, BITA has involved 70 children in various children’s theatre activities. Most of the children come from low-income families but are involved in some education institute, whether NGO initiative or a government primary school. The ratio of dropout in the children is high. However, the children who are involved in the activities of BITA go to school regularly.

BITA’s underprivileged Children’s Theatre has produced and staged quite a lot of plays suitable for children with themes on the environment or on traditional folklore based on ideal lessons in life. It conducts theatre activities with the grassroots children associated with the different non-government organizations. Already Children’s Theatre Squads have been formed with these organizations such as YMCA- BITA Children’s Theatre Squad, Concern-BITA Children’s Theatre Squad and Probortok- BITA Children’s Theatre Squad.

The play “Sharno Bize” was staged under a tent in a big open space in the slum area of Pora Colony. It was done in the afternoon and needed to lights. It had microphones though. The show utilized a lot of improvisation, song, dance, movement very colorful traditional costumes and had very good acting especially by the lead child actor. The audience was composed of children who milled around the tent stage area, and women and men of the slum community who were scattered all over the big open space. The audience, which included the proud parents of the children who performed, thoroughly enjoyed the whole show. The performing children conducted a dialogue and feedback session with the audience after the presentation.

The storyline of “Sharno Bize” is as follows:

Once there was a king Members of his assembly ruled the kingdom in their own way and did not obey him. Suddenly, the rate of the stealing increased. The king announced a law to control it. A thief was caught and was sentenced to die by hanging. When asked about his last wish, he said he wanted to meet with the king before he died. His wish having been granted, the thief informed the kind that he could produce gold seeds. The king then ordered him to produce the gold seeds. Having produced the gold seeds, the thief made the announcement that if anyone ever stole in his lifetime even just once, he would die by excessive bleeding through his throat while planting the seeds. Hearing of this, no one came to plant the seeds, including the king, the ministers and the general of the kingdom. By this time, the gold seeds have flown. The thief then said that no one could declare a law on honesty if he could not maintain it himself and that if anyone could lead his life morally he could let it shine like gold.

With the performance of “Sharno Bize”, it is hoped that children can make themselves good examples for other children to imitate and follow. Children also learn that to make other children aware of moral values one has to start with oneself first. The theatre presentation can guide the children in their daily life in a moral way. Thus, to sum up the learning in the play: the children get to know about the moral qualities of life and they start to practice the qualities within themselves first before they try to inform others of these qualities.

“Sharno Bize”, like all other BITA-produced plays, underwent a whole process involving the following steps: survey; needs assessment; local power structure meeting; local organization meeting; gathering of children; selection of children who will perform; group building and motivation; theatrical initiatives; follow-up and monitoring. The performance venue may be in schools or in the different communities as in the slum area of Pora Colony.

“Dak Deya Jai”, another example of a play in the Underprivileged Children’s Theatre Program which the writer saw in Patiya, was produced by BITA in cooperation with Love the Children Foundation (LCF).

BITA and LCF have been working jointly since 1999. LCF is a non-government organization working for economic development for women and sanitation program in Patiya since 1988. Now it feels that to strengthen its ongoing program it needs to address the awareness issues the way BITA does it. Thus, BITA and LCF agreed to work jointly and launched a children’s theatre program with a performance of “Dak Deya Jai”. It is disseminated in the different communities and also in schools to create awareness among the children and the community people about the different issues in society.

Participants of this theatre program are children coming from the different communities. The goal is to disseminate moral education for children through theatre. The following are the objectives of the program: to promote interest among the children about education through recreation; to make children aware about environmental consciousness and hygienic environment; and to make children aware about morality.

“Dak Deya Jai” was performed noontime in an open space with children, women and men of the community as audience. It has microphones for sound amplification and utilized the same dynamic improvisatory techniques found in other BITA plays. The children who performed all wore the same basic costume all throughout the play.

“Dak Deya Jai” is the story of a group of children who go to school together. One day a classmate of theirs was absent and when they visited him at home they discovered that he was sick because he took some unhygienic food that was being sold in the open place. They understood that these foods are harmful and unhygienic. Another time and one of them was not coming to school for a long time. When they visited him they found out that his father could not afford to pay his school for a long time. When they visited him they found out that his father could not afford to pay his school fees because of their poor economic situation and that he had to help his father cut trees. The children approached the headmaster of the school and requested him to allow the student to go back to school. Other issues were presented, like the following: it is harmful for the environment when one leaves stools in the open place; it is important that every child should go to school; students should not engage in household joins during school time; etc.

“Dak Deya Jai” went through a process involving the following steps: meeting with LCF members; meeting with the parents; organizing the children; selection of children who will perform; motivation and making the children free; information collection; story making, scene and sequence building; rehearsals; pretest; submission of report; performance and dissemination; interaction with the audience; monitoring and follow-up.

As a result, children’s self-esteem is built up and they can interact within their group members about the issues. They now contribute their knowledge to other children in society. Through theatre, the underprivileged children get the change to showcase their talents and abilities.

Women’s Program: Women’s Theatre

The writer was able to see three theatre presentation under this program namely “Amra Jegechi”, Amader Shopno”, and “Shohagi”.

The female portion of the population of Bangladesh is being deprived of enjoying their rights. One of the main causes of this situation is the lack of women’s education. Keeping this point in mind, the BITA Women’s Program has been forming women’s theatre groups in order to encourage the female population of the underdeveloped communities to be educated and to make them aware of their life-related issues through theatrical performances.

BITA has developed a women’s theatre group called “Amra Jegechi” within the working area of Love the Children Foundation (LCF), a non-government organization. Participants are school-going adolescent girls coming from the low-income group of the village of Dhalgat in Patiya. They perform the production in their own village as well as in the nearby villages. Generally, the presentation is held in the daytime.

The goal of the performance is to create awareness among the target group of people in the working area about issues such as dowry, women’s education, women’s oppression, self-sufficiently and empowerment. The objectives are the following: to enable the participants to identify their own problems; to create awareness by increasing the participation of women in cultural activities; to increase mobility among the targeted community, and to make them realize their role in the family, in society and in the country.

The performance of “Amra Jegechi” was done in an open space in the community with an audience composed of children, women and men. One middle-aged man was washing clothes while watching the show. Other women stayed at the doors or windows of their houses from where they could still see the performances. Microphones were used. The girls who performed all wore the same basic costume and made use of improvisation is song, dance, movement and dialogue. They acted out roles of both women and men and even mimed doors that open and close at the beginning or ending of a scene.

The story takes place in the e village in Patiya called Dhalgat where different community people live. The situation of the women in this village is very vulnerable. They are oppressed by the men because of dowry, poverty, low income and other issues. Some adolescent girls go to school with this condition. Kumu is one of these girls. She has just left primary section and is now admitted to high school. But since her father cannot continue to support her schooling a marriage proposal is arranged for her. The father doesn’t want to know anything about the bridegroom and just lets a negotiator arrange the marriage. A dowry of ten thousand taka is agreed upon. The father immediately gives the bridegroom five thousand taka and promises to give the rest of the amount afterwards.
Now, Kumu hopes to pass the SSC exam so she can help her father but she cannot do it. In her in-laws’ house she is hounded and tortured by the family members for the rest of the amount of the dowry. Kumu’s father hears that Kumu’s husband has no moral qualities and that he tortures Kumu physically. At this time one of Kumu’s friends visits her and informs her about the importance of education. One day, when she cannot tolerate anymore the tortures she is undergoing in her in-laws’ house, Kumu runs away and tries to be self-sufficient.

“Amra Jegechi” underwent the usual BITA process involving the following steps: background; motivation; selection; subject selection; story building; scene, sequence and dialogue making, rehearsals; pretest show; dissemination; monitoring; follow-up; special activities; groups savings; and future plan.

As a result of their participation in the theatre activities, the girls become aware of social injustice and the need for women’s education. Other adolescent girls who have seen the show are encouraged as well to join theatre activities. The girls also come out of their conservativeness.

“Amader Shopno”, another women’s theatre piece, was performed in an open space in Dhamairhat, Rangunia by rural fisher folk women. The issues being addressed in the play are the following: women’s rights, gender consciousness, women’s oppression and family relationships. The women disseminate the messages in their own community and in other communities in the rural areas.

BITA has been organizing the women’s theatre program with the participation of the grassroots women. Through the program, the grassroots women speak about their problems and their oppression. The program was formulated to create awareness among the people about legal affairs related to marriage, divorce, dowry, women’s oppression, women’s education, etc. Besides creating awareness the program includes the women in cultural activities to ensure their participation in socio-economic development.

“Amader Shopno” starts with a song and dance showing the daily life of fisher folk women and their family. Two families are presented: one leads a happy life while the other is full of unrest, quarrel, anxiety and oppression. The husband in the second family does not work regularly and is addicted to gambling. The children do not go to school and have no desire for education. They get addicted to vices. The family with a happy life and better economic condition gradually develops economically, mentally and socially. The couples are happier in life and they honor and respect each other. The husband does not set aside but considers the wife’s opinions. They get a loan from their group and start some income generating activities. They gradually change their life and upgrade themselves. The wife of the poor family is impressed by her neighbor’s activities and one day she goes to visit her neighbor’s wife to seek some good advice.

The process of “Amader Shopno” follows the same steps that are done in other community theatre. The production is made through improvisation followed by community theatre manual. Through the performance, the grassroots women create awareness among women about their rights. They create consciousness about gender equity. Other community women also become interested about these awareness activities.

“Shohagi”, the third women’s theatre piece is one of the finest plays of BITA and was produced in cooperation with the Concerned Women for Family Planning (CWFP).

CWFP is a non-government organization run by women. It was established in 1976. It is working to make the adolescent self-sufficient through skills training and credit program. But at the adolescent age they face different problems and do not get support form family and society. Sometimes they commit suicide. CWFP is interested in a program that will create awareness among the adolescents so that they can speak about their problems and find ways and means to overcome these problems. BITA is interested in building a network with this kind of organization because BITA gives importance to creating awareness and developing the mind by presenting the life-related problems of adolescents through theatre.

The performance of “Shohagi” was done with the following goal in mind: to develop the thinking level of the women; to make them aware of themselves and gain confidence; and to organize them. It has the following objectives: to identify family and social crises as well as women’s rights through a theatre presentation; to create awareness so that the women can get involved in productive activities; to develop a negative attitude towards early marriage, women’s oppression and dowry; and to inspire them for women’s education.

Participants in the theatre presentation of “Shohagi” are school-going adolescent girls coming from the different slum areas. In the play, they act both the roles of women and men. The performance addresses the following issues: early marriage, dowry, women’s education, divorce, women’s oppression, and trafficking of women.

The play opens with a collective rhythmic sound of pain, echoing perhaps a women’s cry or sigh. This is the story of Shohagi.

Shohagi is born of a very poor family. She grows up working for her mother and taking responsibilities in household chores. She is extremely interested in reading and writing and wants to go to school but her mother and brother do not understand. They reason out to her that girl don’t need to study because eventfully they go to someone else’s house and before that time comes they should just learn how to take care of their family.

Shohagi now is in adolescent and she is employed in a garment factory to help her family. She feels sad when she sees her brother go out to play and return from school with books. Late in the night Shohagi reads the Bangla alphabet secretly until dawn. Again, the day starts with her work in the house.

One day a neighbor visits her mother and makes her concerned that she is keeping a grown-up girl in the house and is not worrying about her marriage. When Shohagi comes home, her mother scolds her. The visit of the middleman who comments on Shohagi’s marriage to a taxi driver with a dowry of 10,000 taka, radio, watch and cloths for the ceremony, makes Shohagi more vulnerable to poverty and illiteracy.

Shohagi gets married with a promise to bring the dowry at some future time when it is needed. Her life does not change though and she continues to work day and night as her own mother is now replaced by her mother-in-law and a sister-in-law. These people do not see anything positive in Shohagi.
One day, the husband loses the taxi because of an accident and asks Shohagi to bring the 10,000 taka from her mother. Shohagi tries to make him understand that her family cannot pay the sum. The husband continues to threaten Shohagi about the money. If she cannot produce the money, he would leave her and marry again. Shohagi goes to her mother but return empty-handed. The brother of her husband finds her crying in the room and shouts at her so that everyone can hear that she has returned without the money.

The husband and the others arrive at the scene and scold her, abuse her and beat her. Shohagi hears again that her husband would remarry. She raises her voice to say that there is a law in the country that would decide what he should do. This comment makes the husband angrier. He tells his family to beat her up and banish her. Shohagi’s tears do not compel them to stop beating her. Finally, her husband orders her to go and bring the dowry again. Knowing that it would be impossible to do it, Shohagi earnestly requests him to forgive her. The husband and his family lit the match and burn Shohagi with kerosene oil.

The frightful cry of Shohagi to save herself and the unborn child she is carrying can be heard a few seconds before she drops dead and her body turns to ashes. No justice is ever done for this inhuman conduct and one can imagine the husband of Shohagi getting married to another girl with a huge dowry.

“Shohagi” went through the usual BITA process involving the following steps: management meeting; survey; survey findings, analysis and joint meeting; group formation; motivation; theatre initiatives; performance; joint meeting; impact analysis documentation; follow-up; and monitoring. The production was done through improvisation followed by women’s theatre manual.

Grassroots Theatre Program: Theatre for Development

Low-income professionals, cultivators, schoolteachers, rural theatre and cultural activists are participants of this program. The script is prepared on the basis of their local socio-economic problems.

BITA has been arranging plays under the Theatre for Development Program for creating awareness among the rural theatre and cultural activists and the low-income professionals. The aim of the program is to help the participants and the audience to identify their own life-related and social problems. It helps the villagers to know more about their own reality, indigenous traditional culture and historical events. It enables them to know their basic rights and inspires them to realize these by taking up systematic development projects through participatory planning.

Various agricultural issues are highlighted in this program for creating awareness among the farmers. Also, education, health and environmental issues are given coverage of the plays under this program.
The writer was able to see three plays. “Ashroy”, “Thilana” and “Bioscope” as showcases of Theatre for Development Program.

“Ashroy” was shown to the writer as part of presentation on the process of making grassroots theatre in Rangunia. The performing group is composed of different community people life fishermen, farmers, van drivers, daily laborers, and others who are all active members of their own community theatre groups. They all came together as one group to perform the play.

The performance of “Ashroy” had the following objectives: to give the people a concept about the relationship between woman and tree; create love and sympathy towards tree and woman and stop oppression against them; to identify the major issues in the locality and combine them to produce theatre.

The opening scene of “Ashroy” shows a women planning to commit suicide by hanging herself on a tree. This theatre presentation highlights issues on women oppression and tree cutting in a very poetic and dramatic way. Women grows with great negligence, the sample happens with the tree. Tree and women are tortured in many ways. Both are trafficked. Woman and tree cannot protest against their oppression. Women gives shelter to family members in the same way that tree gives shelter to people. For this the theatre presentation has been named “Ashroy”.

Though still in its rehearsal phase, “Ashroy” could rank as one of the best plays of BITA (together with “Shohagi” in its treatment of the theme of women and environment. The style of presentation utilized a lot of physical movement, dance, music and songs and made imaginative and creative use of long bamboo poles to create different spaces, lines, rhythm and dynamic movement all throughout the play.

The production has been made through improvisation with the participants under the guidance and direction of BITA workers followed by community theatre manual. It went through the usual BITA process involving the following steps: selection from different groups; getting to know one another and building relationships; giving concept about family and society; subject, story, sense and sequence building; materials and making of songs; rehearsals; and performance.

The learning process in this theatre presentation could be summed up in the following statements: The people of different professions can present the awareness raising issues through physical theatre. Through this theatre people can learn about the positive relationship between nature and the human being.

As in “Ashroy” the performers for “Thikana” have been selected from different groups of BITA in the Rangunia area. Those who are more vocal, more interested and more devoted towards the theatre activities are the participants of this group. They are van pullers, daily laborers, farmers, peddlers, fishermen, small shopkeepers, and others. They are the inhavitants of the nearby villages and most of them are landless. The area is mostly hills and plan land.

“Thikana” was produced with the following twin objectives: through these theatre activities the people of the working areas can identify their own problems; and the participants learn the process of making issue-based theatre productions which they can apply in the future. As a style of presentation the play used the traditional form of paintings on canvas accompanied by song-narration to tell a story.

The story based on river erosion, loss of shelter, scarcity of fish, water pollution, women’s oppression, environmental consciousness and violation of laws. Everyday many families are losing their shelter due to river erosion. Dowry and other abominable practices are also highlighted in this presentation. In the past Chittagong was renowed for its natural beauty with green leaves, grass, mountains and river; now a group of people are destroying the hills and the environment. At the end, the people are advised to case their vote in favor of a good man who stands for social justice. Later on the vote will achieve real justice of the law.

“Thikana” was performed outdoors at night with lights and microphones. After the show the performers had a dialogue and feedback session with the audience. The production has been made through the usual BITA process involving the following steps: team building, team spirit and relation building among the participants; sharing of personal feelings; relationship building with these feelings; ascertaining impact of these feelings and whether these create social crisis; story building; developing song based on the story; sequencing; scene making based on lyrics; rehearsals; and performance.

The performance established acceptance of the participants in the different communities because they speak about the alarming issues. And the whole process promotes trust, individual strength and respect for each other’s differences as basis for collective work.

A village girl likes a boatman who goes to the city everyday with passengers in his boat. One day he brings the girl to see the city. There she observes that city life is being disturbed by a lot of crisis. People are not aware of health issues. There are environmental problems, trafficking and social instability. Birth registration, women’s education and other issues are also highlighted in the production. The girl discovers that village life is more peaceful than city life. And she wants to return to her village.

The play was performed very well by a cast 12 actors (3 female and 9 male) who come from low-income group like slum dwellers, harizan, fishermen and others. They have been selected from the different community groups of BITA through the following criteria: they are sincere and good performers; they can play musical instruments; and they are devoted to the group.

The production has been made through improvisation in a residential workshop for 5 days. Four issues were identified namely environmental concerns, birth registration, women’s education and social instability. The participants selected the four episodes that they would perform. They also made the songs of this production by themselves. The performance has been staged in different communities like the fisher folk community, the harizan community and the slum area of the city. This particular presentation was done outdoors at night with lights and microphones. The performers conducted a dialogue and feedback session with the audience after the show, as is usually done in any public performance of a BITA play.

Through the production of “Bioscope”, the slum people became aware of environmental issues. They became conscious of birth registration. And they became aware of the need for women’s education.

Grassroots Theatre: Theatre for Community

Through this program, the neglected and oppressed people of society speak about their problems in theatrical performances. Fishermen, sweepers, day laborers, slum dwellers and baby taxi drivers are the performers here.

“Sundar Prohori” was performed by BITA’s grassroots community group of fisher folk from Patenga. This was produced with the assistance of CHOL theatre from London, a group of professional artists of varying ages, cultures and religious background that make theatre and sculpture. It utilized visually engaging masks and puppets with some actors on stilts. It was performed in four areas at the Halishar Fisher folk village with a traveling band providing the music as the performance moved from one area to the next. Men, adolescents and children from one community participated in this performance.

Sundar Prohori represents a village and its people. By this time, an unwanted multi-national company called “Web Dott Company” enters the village. Sundar Prohori reflects three dimensions of nature: Village, Sea and Fire. Sundar Prohori is the witness to the happiness, sorrow, rejoicing, festival, workshop, birth and death of a community. Web Dott Company represents and advertises its goods like drinks, soap, vehicles and cigarettes and wants to attract people to them. Sundar Prohori advises the people to control themselves and not to use expensive products. As a result, the villagers encircle the Web Dott Company with a net and the company is forced to leave the place. After that, the villagers celebrate the occasion.

The issues being addressed in the play take the following form of questions: What are the major threats of Patenga and its people now? What will be the major threats to Patenga in the future? What do people in Patenga most value in their lives now? What achievable things would make life in Patenga better?

“Sundar Prohori” underwent a process of community-based workshop through improvisation jointly done with BITA and CHOL workers. It involved the following steps: discussion and getting opinion of community leaders about the performance project; introduction of CHOL group to the community; relation building through games and music; information collection through participatory process; making of story structure; sound effects, physical movement, scene and action making of story structure; making choreography with music; mask and props making for visual image; rehearsals (1st stage); rehearsals with props, music and songs (2nd stage); performance; evaluation with performers; feedback from community; evaluation with facilitators’ and follow-up.

As a result of the theatre presentation, there was community involvement and participation. Awareness building in other communities happening. “Culture can play an important role in empowering the community.”

“Sundar Prohari”, together with “Bioscope”, “Ashroy”, and “Shohagi”, the writer considers as some of the best plays ever produced by BITA.

Proscenium Theatre: Basic Course on Acting

BITA has initiated an academic course on acting to develop the skills of the performers who are involved with mainstream theatre (Group Theatre).

There are many young theatre activities who do not do well in their performance because of their lack of adequate knowledge in acting as well as training in the concerned field. Keeping this problem in mind, the ‘Theatre training wing of BITA’ has introduced a basic course for the interested learners of Chittagong City. New theatre activists who never had any training in acting are participating in these basic courses. Already some twenty-five young trainees have participated in the first Basic Course.

The course has the following aims: to upgrade the theatre practice in Chittagong through analyzing the over-all situation; to give training to the new theatre activists; and to create awareness on social and political issues.

Its objectives are: to give primary (basic) knowledge on acting to the new theatre activists; to improve practical skills for acting; and to increase responsibility as a theatre activist.

The course has 3 phases with 3 months for the first phase, 6 months for the second phase and 9 moths for the third phase. Sessions are held 2 days a week with 3 yours per session.

The syllabus used contains the following topics: concept of training; theatre game concept; importance of group leader; origin of theatre; what is threat why theatre, concentration; observation; imitation; emotion and reaction; truth and belief; memory; imagination; [physical language; rhythm and body; story making; sequence building; character analysis; and the responsibility of the theatre activist.

The process is participatory and used theatre games and lectures. BITA workers and other theatre personalities are the trainers of course.