By Nishna Mehta
We all know the Next Generation participants from the year we attended the residency in, but do we know who else has attended the programme from our country? Especially with participants from India across the years in different cities.
Nishna Mehta was curious to know about their experiences and the work they do. With the desire to connect with other people from the Next Generation network within the country, Aditee Biswas and Nishna Mehta contacted the Next Generation alumni from India and the enthusiastic group of young theatre makers agreed to get together and find possibilities of knowing each other and sharing and creating work.
The Next Generation alumnus is spread across 6 cities in India – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Imphal and Bangalore.
The first meeting was held in Mumbai on 25th September, 2017 with three out of the sixteen members of the network from three different cities. The attendees, Ishu Kmar (New Delhi), Priyanka Chatterjee (Kolkata) and Nishna Mehta (Mumbai), discussed possibilities of what the network can give to TYA in India after receiving from the residencies and their work experiences.
Starting with contributing to the Tifli International TYA Festival in New Delhi in December 2017 with talks, discussions, workshops, papers and work in progress shows to what can be done in the future, like exchange programmes and placements, nation-wide collaborations and touring.
With the help and hope of Imran Khan, President, ASSITEJ India and NG Network Member, the network is sure to achieve what they plan, in turn hoping to encourage other regional NG networks in other countries. (pictured Left:Ishu Kumar. Right:Nishna Mehta.)
