By TwoCircles.net News Desk,
New Delhi: The Dr. K.R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit & Minorities Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia is going to organize a youth workshop on “Dalit – Muslim Dialogue” based on a drama performance by Lokesh Jain, National School of Drama New Delhi. Jain’s play “AKKARMASHI” is based on sharakumar Limbale’s Novel. The workshop is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 22 October 2009 at 3.00 pm in the FTK CIT Auditorium, JMI.
The play AKKARMASHI (THE OUTCASTE) is based on the autobiography of Shri Sharankumar Limbale, renowned Dalit writer from Mahahrashtra. It is a first-person account of the struggle against poverty, deprivation, discrimination and violence. It captures the dehumanizing impact of caste oppression in Hindu society
The solo performance is a story telling wherein the actor as Sharan Kumar Limbale recounts his past experiences as a Dalit.
Akarmashi is a touching representation of an illegitimate child born out of an exploitative and manipulative relationship between an upper caste man and a Dalit woman. In the story the writer tries to establish his identity by not just clinging on to his mother for support but also questioning the entire social system which perpetuates oppression and discrimination. The author has passionately woven the words to bring out the suppressed anger, inferiority complex and anguish of the illegitimate child in the context of present social set up and caste system.
The performance is about 50-minute long.
Lokesh Jain has been involved in theatre for the last 24 years exploring its diverse forms as a solo performer ,theatre of the oppressed, street theatre, proscenium theatre, non verbal theatre & children’s theatre. He has undergone the intensive training under shri Ebrahim Alkazi, & worked on script writing, designing and directing several plays such as “kichdi kitsch” ,” humey naaz hai” & many others He is a visiting faculty at Mata Sundari college, University of Delhi, and teaches a paper “theatre in education”.