Asmita Summer Theatre Festival
10th june to 25 th june 2006

Mote Ram ka Satyagrah
Adaptation by By Habib Tanveer and Safdar Hashmi.
Music by Sangeeta Gaur
On 10th nd 11th June,2006 ,7.30pm
India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Neil Simons’s
Log-Baag
16th June at PSK , Laxmi Nagar,7pm
17th nd 18th June at India Habitat Centre, 7.30pm ,Lodhi Road

Warren Hastings Ka Saand
Based on Uday Prakash’s story
23rd at PSK , Laxmi nagar,7pm
24th at India Habitat Centre,7.30pm, Lodhi Road

Dario Fo’s
Operation Three Star
(Accidental Death of an anarchist)
Adaptation in Hindi by Amitabh Srivastava
Lyrics-Piyush Mishra
25th June at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road

All Plays directed by Arvind Gaur

Tickets Rs. 50 /
For details contact - 9899650509

Mote Ram ka Satyagrah
The play is a comic-satire with all the elements of a musical. on the surface, the play appears to be a simple story about a brahmin from banaras. The town of banaras adorns itself to recieve a Vice Roy, as per the directions given by the Magistrate- Sir William Parkinson. Pandit Moteram Shastri, the protagonist seems to have bitten more than he can chew, and agrees to go on a hunger strike to stop the people of the town from declaring a "Hartal".
Whether or not the pundit succeeds in controling his hunger brings the play to its comical climax. There is more to this play then meets the eye. It deals with larger issues of the relationship between Religion & Politics. The play wright, intriciately weave the threats of this rather sensitive subject into a cohesive and entertaining play. The issues raised are as relevent and contemprary now, as they were under the colomset's rule.

Neil Simons’s
LOG-BAAG
Depicting lives of everyday mortals "LOG-BAAG" reveals myriad of moods, class distinctions and various shades of mind and attitude. A play with eight short stories of chekhov woven together, each individualy depicting a slice of life. Yet, the common thread that binds them together is the essential conflict between "What should be" and "What is" and also the typical Chekhovian end that undercuts each story as a very first last moment.
The stories can be seen as seemingly transaprently simple yet with great subtlety Chekhov undercuts mammoth institutions like, Bureaucracy , parenting , marriage , medicine ..... yet at the same time chekhov goes behind social institutions and with great sensitivity revelas glimpsis of human emotions of insecurity, namelessness, confusion , pain .......
The playwright Neil Simen has brilliantly selected the short stories such that each one dipicts the complex facets of the writer in the play. The writer's conflict at penning down his experiences as stories, itself is an organic story in the play.

Critics say
Real life stories ... Effective Satire and Comic
Rashtriya Sahara
Interesting and Encapsulating..... Effective
Jan Satta
Competently witty direction..... Pleasant and entertaining evening
Pioneer
Amusing play.... Built in fun.... Outstanding theatre
The Hindu
"LOG-BAAG" one of Gaur's best play ... Best play of the year award...
classy play of high standards.
The Hindu

UdayPrakash’s
Warren Hastings Ka Saand

"Warren Hastings ka saand" is a docudrama based on Uday Prakash's story by the same name. Warren Hasting's and his bull are used as mataphorical representations in his fantasy created by the author and recreated on stage by the director-"Arvind Gaur"..Warren Hasting ka saand is a socio-economic political satire. The play an out and out a farce and is in no sense a historical document.
Uday Praksh has created a fantasy. It is a cruelly humorous statement on governo general Warren Hastings' adventures in the wonderland that is India. Warren Hasting is funny and burlesque in his engagement with a enigma of India. Warren Hasting interaction with everything around him is insensitive, without a deeper understanding or a sense of belongingness and thus without strength. The play is an representation of modren Warren Hasting's interaction with traditional india.
Warren Hastings' Ka Saand, somewhere carries a very eerie and uncanny semblance to what is happening around us today. Today sensuality and eroticsm have been taken over perversion. Sprituality has benn replaced by fanaticism and fundamentalism. Trade, artisans crafts people have been wiped out by sheer consumerism. Nature is no longer a way from life, it needs protection through slogans of the green movement. Politics today, spells filth and corruption only. Extraction seems to be the order of the day.But, despite the apathy and insensitivity around, there are some creatures and some movements which do dare to take the bull by its horns and the world by its beard. The play in its content is a tribute to this species which is on the verge of extinction.
In more than one way, Warren Hastings' Ka Saand is a caricature or a humerous literary potrait of in contemporary times.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Uday Prakash, is an outstanding contemporary hindi writer. Uday Prakash is a versatile and creative person. Uday Prakash hails from shahdole Dist. in Madhya Pradesh. He has a long experience in teaching, journalism, administrative service and audio-visual medium.
He has worked in Purvagraha, Dinmaan and Sunday Mail. He has taught Social Journalism at Times Research Foudation also done Academic and Research work at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Worked for Independent Television. He has also worked as scriptwriter for the T.V. cultural magazine "Taana-Baana".
Some of his writings are Suno Kariger, Darayayee Ghoda; Abutar - Kaboutar, Tirich, Palgomra ka scootar. Some of Uday Prakash's major translation works are Romyo Rola Ki Diary, Lal Ghaas Par Neele Ghode.
He has been awarded the Bharat Bhushan agrawal award for poetry. Omprakash Sahitya Sammaan 1982, Shri Kant Verma Smriti Sammaan 1990.

CRITICS SAY

No historical document but a delightful farce... It is totally different from Gaur's earlier work. And in years to come when someone writes a thesis on Gaur's work ."Warren Hastings ka
Saand" will figure as one of the milestones in Arvind's development as a director ..... certainly worth a visit.
-Romesh Chandra (Hindu)




DARIO Fo's
Operation Three Star
(Accidental Death of an anarchist)

Grounded in a very specific, disturbing politicl reality the Operation Three Star offers a scathing comment the real events which are criminal and obscene in their brutality:Crimes of the state.With his seemingly insane logic the maniac is instumental in unmasking the criminal folly of the law enforcing agency in its attempts to cover up heinous action.
He persistently ridicules the policie's shaky case and forces them to re-enact the situation in that led to the 'suicide' of a 'terrorist' under their custody. Subsequently, they contradict themselves to dismentle the whole issue of half-truths and non-sequiturs. An escalating series of impersonations and misunderstandings extend a particular viewpoint. The jerk from comic gags to a fuller awareness of serious issue becomes a potent device as the crude voilence of the power-that-be is recognised.

About The Director

Arvind Gaur who heads the Delhi, based Theatre group ASMITA is committed to innovative and socially relevant theatre. Starting off as a journalist and working for sometime for the electronic media, he set up ASMITA and earned a reputation in theatre circle in India and abroad.
Arvind Gaur has conducted many theatre workshops and performed in various Colleges, Institutions, Universities and Schools in India and abroad such as Stanford, Harvard University, Stony Brook Univ, Smithsonian (Washington DC),Nehru Centre( London), Jawahar Lal Nehru University, IILM , I.I.T.(Delhi), British Council(Delhi) , Mothers International School , Sahyadri school (KFI,India), AIIMS , School of Planning and Architecture, Gargi, Hindu, LSR and IP colleges. He was also the guest faculty of DU for Theatre in education program for three years.
One of the Solos directed by Arvind gaur - Bhishma Sahni's MADHAVI , received special award for experimentation with tradition at International Solo Theatre Festival Armenia and “Colour of Nation” award at the International Theatre festival in NIZHNEVARTOVSK THEATRE FESTIVAL,Russia. Recently Madhavi was performed in Vangneray,Lyon International Theatre Festival March 2006, France.
Director Arvind Gaur has also collaborated with various Theatre artists and Groups specially in exploring a new language for Solo performances which includes Dario fo's 'Story of the Tiger', solo by Jaimini Kumar Srivastava, 'Women in Black' by Bubbles Sabharwal and "Untitled Solo" by Lushin Dubey in collaboration with Theatre World. Not only have these plays received great audience response from important metropolis of India, "Women in black" was invited to perform in Dubai and "Untitled Solo" was performed in Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Boston, Rochester, San francisco, Ohio in USA and at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival last year.
Pinki Virani’s "Bitter Chocolate " a new solo by Lushin Dubey directed by Arvind gaur was also performed at Harvard (USA) & at Nehru Centre, London. ‘Gandhari’ solo performance by Aishveryaa Nidhi was directed & performed at NIDA theatre , Sydney. Recently with British actress Ruth Sheard, he has directed two solo plays- Sarah Kane’s “4.84 Psychosis” and Dario Fo- Franca Rama’s “A woman alone”.
With Rashi Bunny , young actress trained in Theatre design at University of Alabama at Birmingham and Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA Arvind Gaur has directed three solo plays. Bhishma sahani's "Madhavi ", Manjula Padmanabhan's 'Hidden Fires' and 'Walking through the Rainbow'. Madhavi & Hidden fires has received rave reviews all over and have been invited to perform for Mahindra's Old World Theatre Festival, Vivachana National Theatre Festival Jabalpur, Muktibodh Natyaotsav raipur, 5th National Theatre Festival Balaghat, World Social forum Mumbai and National School Of Drama (N.S.D.), Satta Festival Jaipur, Theatre Club J.N.U., PCVC, and Queen's Award Project (UK) for Communal Harmony.
After his fellowship research from HRD, he started his Delhi based Theatre group ASMITA. Arvind Gaur has directed more than 50 plays which include Girish Karnad's Tuglaq and Rakt Kalyan, Dharamveer Bharti's Andha Yug, Swadesh deepak's Court Martial, G P Deshpande's Antim Divas, Albert Camus' Caligula, Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions and Tara, Eugene O'neill 's Desire Under the Elms, Dario Fo's An Accidental death of an Anarchist, Dr.Narenda Mohan's Kalandar, Bertolt Brecht's Good Woman of Setzuan and Caucasian chalk circle, Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot, John Octanasek's Romeo Juliet and the darkness, Neil Simon's The Good Doctor, Vijay tendulakr's Ghairam Kotwal, Munshi Premchand's Moteram ka Satyagrah, Ashok Lal's Ek Mamooli aadmi, Rajesh Kumar's Me Gandhi Bolto ,Vijay Mishra 's Tatt Niranjana, Doodnath Singh's Yama Gatha.
Arvind Gaur has conducted many theatre workshops for children in schools and slums as well as Street Theatre performances on different socio-political issues. He has also conducted theatre workshops for Actors and Directors at Houston, USA and India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
He also performed various plays in collaboration with organizations like Theatre World, British Council (Chennai), NSD, SKP and Sangeet Natak Akademi, IHC, Association of British scholars(Delhi), Paridhi, Bahroop, Banjara Theatre group (IIT, Khargpur),IIC, Nehru Centre (mumbai), Rainbow Cavaliers, M.Dot Band (Jaipur),Vivchana (Jabalpur), Prithvi Theatre Festival (platform theatre IHC, 2004), Ladies Club( IIT Bombay) and NGOs like Mobile Creches, Action-Aid, Haq, PCVC, Times Foundation, Deepalaya , Miralaya, Heinrich Boll Foundation, Asian Social Forum, Youthreach, World Social Forum and Aalo- a ray of hope etc.
He also designs lights for NAYA Theatre under the Direction of Shri Habib Tanvir.

arvindgaur@hotmail.com,
arvindasmita@yahoo.com
09899650509