Converse is an annual critical thinking performance project which covers a range of landmarks of world history. It is not a typical play that looks at the end as means but an exploration of co-creating a performance piece with students that looks at the intersections between theatre and art installation.
A tour of four states and 26 performances later, we are an unique active knowledge platform that taps the inherent thinker in the child. Some of the productions include The Idea of Being Free: dedicated to the 125th birth commemoration of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru; Buddha in a Half Moon Camp: Dedicated to the solemn spirit of the centenary of World War I and Dr 125th birth commemoration of Dr B.R. Ambedkar; Macbeth(s): an extended performance essay dedicated to the 400th birth anniversary of William Shakespeare, Chicago-Mumbai-Somewhere: A performance tribute on Swami Vivekananda's Chicago Speeches and Parable of the Lost Post Office which was dedicated to the 150th birth commemoration of Rabindranath Tagore.
These theatre performances have also been performed at St Joseph's College (North Point) Darjeeling, Loreto Convent-Darjeeling, Taktse International School-Gangtok, Daly College-Indore, Emerald Heights International School-Indore, Choithram International School-Indore, The Scindia School-Gwalior, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya-Gwalior, K.R. Cama Oriental Institute-Mumbai, Red Cross Mumbai, Sitara Studio-Mumbai and ISDL Parsons-Mumbai.
The idea is to encourage students to form an informed worldview, In the words of Rumi:
You think because you understand 'one'
You must also understand 'two'
Because one and one make two...
But you must also understand...'and'
CONVERSE is designed to explore the "and." The conjunction and dis-junction of the lived realities and the reality of the syllabic.
