SJCC’s Hashmi Theatre Forum bats for educational theatre in colleges
The Hindu
Some of the high points of Hashmi’s Theatre Forum include performing at Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Tumkur and doing street theatre during the COVID-19 pandemic in around 100 low-income settlement areas
At Bengaluru’s St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (SJCC), a group of students are busy rehearsing a mime that portrays the story of Ashoka, the Emperor. After a power-packed rendition filled with swift agile movements and intense emotions, they take a break. These students form the core of Hashmi Theatre, SJCC’s students theatre forum.
“The methods we follow here really get you out of your shell and help you be more expressive,” says Angel, a final year student who has been part of Hashmi Theatre Forum from her first year.
Vidya, another student artist, notes that while she has always been into theatre, Hashmi Theatre becomes different due to its focus on societal issues.
T.H. Lavakumar, a theatre artist himself and a Kannada faculty at the college, is the soul of the group. According to him, Hashmi Theatre Forum is probably one of the few college theatre groups in Bengaluru dedicated to educational theatre.
It was in 2005 that Lavakumar came to SJCC to conduct a play titled Uriya Uyyale. A retelling of Droupadi’s story, the play was performed by Devdasis.
Following this he was invited to train the students at SJCC. In 2006 he started Hashmi Theatre Forum at the college which initially performed in Kannada, and in the following years in English and Hindi.
The group has so far produced 13 plays in Kannada, 17 in English and 47 street plays. “The number of shows would have crossed 1,000,” Lavakumar estimates.