The Aagaaz Theatre Trust are a truly unique bunch of theatre practitioners who have redefined community engagement in recent years. This month, we interviewed the women at Aagaaz – co-founder Sanyukta, actor/core team member Nagina and facilitator/core team member Subhadra about the various programs they run with members of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti (in New Delhi), specifically, along with other theatre activities they host on a weekly basis.
They elaborate on how they engage with children and young adults across social and geographical boundaries through drama-based processes, their theatre repertory and how it creates and performs plays for cross-demographic audiences to initiate dialogue. They speak briefly about their fellowship programs where they train young educators of the community to empower individuals and collectives to weave a more equitable social fabric.
Aagaaz comprises young individuals that the theatre company started working with as early as when they were students in primary school. Students, such as Nagina, have stayed on to form the repertory and increase the spectrum of engagement with their various programs like Ajab Gajab, Sunday Jam Sessions, Tana Bana and Thematic workshops to name a few. A particularly engaging read about their work can be found on their blog that provides a first person narrative of the various forms of engagement along with insight into the processes. The members of Aagaaz share that they have found ways to engage with their audience online in the course of the past few years which has benefitted them tremendously.
More on Aagaaz Theatre Trust on their website!
