Gender Shadow: An Invitation to Interrupt Injustice

In the street and in our minds, the shadows of gender oppression dance against the fabric of society. Gender Shadow, an interactive theatre piece invites audience members to enroll in a collective journey to dismantle the assumptions and beliefs that enable a climate of limited gender expression, objectification and violence. This performance speaks to young people in the voices of Youth from across India.Students from Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology under the direction of Arzu Mistry and Evan Hastings will facilitate this dynamic interactive theatre experience. Evan Hastings is a participatory theatre artist and drama therapist, who directs and produces original performance pieces that grapple with pressing issues while innovative aesthetics demand audience engagement.

Shadow Puppets for Social Justice

Gender Shadow is exploring the theme though shadow puppets, movement, improv theatre, masks, and writing in search of powerful expressions that can be a catalyst for change. Evan says, “Gender oppression cuts through all other forms of domination and exploitation in human societies. In particular, it extends beyond class conflicts, but it also cuts through all collective social realities. Through this collective interactive performance we plan to open the forum for a larger mass to communicate their own instincts and challenge these conflicts in society,”



He further adds, “Using our bodies specifically, we are trying to understand and build anti-models which are an integral part of forum theatre aimed at inviting powerful and spontaneous interventions from a perceptive audience. These are our first steps towards learning how to channelize our explorations and create entry points for people to challenge the stereotypes of society portrayed in the act,”

Through the ancient art of shadow puppetry they plan to send out a social message. All the props have been done by the students of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology The team will be doing two shows in Bangalore and three shows in Calcutta. “There's so much one can do using shadow as the medium, we've done shadow dancing before and this is the first time we will be using puppetry to depict social issues. We've been working on this project for about six weeks now,” explains Evan.

What: Shadow Shadow: An Invitation to Interrupt Injustice
This event is free and open to the public
When & Where:
Saturday 27th of November 2010 @ 3:30pm
Centre For Film & Drama
#36, 9th main , B.V.Karanth Road,
BSK II Stage

Tuesday 7th of December 2010 @ 9pm
OPUS
# 4, 1st Main, Off Palace Cross Road,
Chakravathy Layout, Vasanth Nagar.
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To know more log on to http://evanhastings.blogspot.com/