Ready for some drama?

Lee Thompson will teach participants how to create puppetry videos

While schools continue online classes, platforms continue to offer engagement and infotainment for young minds. Returning in its fourth edition, the Dramebaazi-International Arts Festival for the Young brings together a packed itinerary of activities. Curated by Ramanjit Kaur, founder-director, The Creative Arts Academy (TCAA), and Shaili Sathyu, founder-director, Gillo Repertory Theatre, the festival will have 28-plus events, including workshops, performances, screenings, webinars and discussion forums. Each hour-long session will cover subjects including theatre, dance, music, baking, storytelling and puppetry. The festival will feature artistes and presenters from India, UK, USA, Nigeria, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Academy Award-winning film, Inocente, will be screened

Dramebaazi 2021 will cater to a varied audience from five to 30 years. "We have had a lot of help from young volunteers from TCAA's YouthConnect programme. Most of them have worked with us for over a year, and this festival is like a celebratory culmination of their work. This year's theme of ACE - ‘Accept. Change. Express' - has also been conceived by the youth of TCAA," shares Kaur.

Shaili Sathyu who had conducted webinars as part of Dramebaazi's earlier editions as well as for TCAA, is happy to be co-curating this edition. "I've known Ramanjit for a while now, and we have tried to collaborate earlier but it hadn't worked out, with her being in Kolkata and me being in Mumbai. This time when Ramanjit asked me to come on board as a co-creator I thought it was a great idea. Everyone is working remotely and that has had its benefits too. In offline events, it would have been a logistical hazard and also very expensive to include global artistes. Our interesting line-up includes individual artistes and drama departments of various colleges and universities," says Sathyu.

Ramanjit Kaur and Shaili Sathyu

Some of the highlights of this festival include a session by award-winning British puppeteer Lee Thompson who will teach how to create your own puppetry videos and to express yourself through this creative medium. There's also Tiny Universe, a theatre production co-directed by an award-winning team of Australia's Shopfront and Milk Crate Theatre who will share stories of young people with lived experiences of homelessness, mental health issues and disability. Don't miss The Girl In The Pink Frock, a puppetry performance by Anurupa Roy, founder of The Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust, who tells the story of a little girl who puts on her favourite pink frock for a journey of a thousand miles and a million steps, to save the world. Parents and children can spend some quality time together attending Anuja Ghosalkar's Notes From The Future Past, a documentary theatre workshop. You can also catch a screening of the Academy Award-winning film, Inocente, an inspiring coming-of-age story of a 15-year old girl in California.

On: July 23, 5 pm to 9 pm, July 24, 11 am to 8.30 pm, July 25, 11 am to 9.30 pm
Log on to: in.bookmyshow.com
Cost: Rs 199 onwards