HYDERABAD: “All theatre artistes have a shared dream. We all want to see a thriving theatre culture — people standing in line to buy tickets, sold out shows and a world where actors do not have to have a day job,” began Sushma Seth, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a drama major back in the seventies. “I want Delhi to be like New York City — there should be shows that are booked for years and a theatre at every corner,” said the actress who started her on-stage career in Delhi. Founding member of theatre group Yatrik, she went on to star in some of Hindi cinema’s biggest hits like Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gum and Kal Ho Na Ho. “We used to put up a play every week — so while we were rehearsing one script, we would be memorising another and reading yet another for the coming weeks. Humour was the biggest crowd puller, as was adventure and drama, so we mostly stuck with some combination of those genres. We would sneak in one of two experimental plays here and there,” she reminisced, joking, “The only difference between a commercial play and an experimental one in that you get money when you do a commercial play while you loose money on an experimental one. Either way, we never had a housefull audience,” said Sushma ruefully. “The problem was not in the plays we were putting up, the problem was with Delhi’s lack of theatre culture. Bachpan se kisi ko theatre jaane ki aadat nahi thi! (The habit of going to the theatre had not been formed since childhood),” she said, continuing, “Which got me thinking — we need to start teaching our children a little bit of theatre culture.”And what better way to start than with her own children, who were at the time ages six, seven and eight. “I couldn’t teach them math or science — I was no good at those. So I taught my children what I know best — theatrecraft,” said Sushma with a smile. And that was the beginning of Children’s Creative Theare. “Eventually I was teaching all the kids in our neighbourhood, so I thought, why not make it formal and call it a summer workshop? That first summer, the kids had so much fun and the parents were so happy, they requested that I conduct workshops each vacation,” said Sushma.That was just the beginning of Sushma’s experience of working with young theatre artistes. Around a decade ago, Sushma began to work with an NGO. “Some 50,000 slum dwellers had been relocated and were struggling to survive. The NGO I am associated with has taken responsibility for them. Among those 50,000 were some 2000 children, aged between 5 and 18. I have spent most of the past ten years cultivating their creativity through theatre. It is just amazing how these children have blossomed through theatre. They are more confident, they have more self worth, and they are generally happier,” shared the actress.“I have had so much experience working with children’s theatre, I thought that it was important that I share my experiences with others who want to tread the same path,” said Sushma, referring to her recently launched book Stage Play — an autobiography-cum-guide for those who want to incorporate a little theatre into children’s lives.
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