Bangalore, Oct 22 (IANS) For these artists, the world is their stage. And a media house here is attempting to bring out the artists into open spaces and help them reach out to a wide range of audience in a 13-day event.
Christened “Theatre Jam”, conceptualised by Maraa, a Bangalore-based media house, has almost transformed Bangalore’s public spaces, right from roads to parks into platforms for artists to perform and express themselves.

“We are trying to make public spaces accessible to artist community and thereby help them to reach out to a wider audience. We want to develop an interaction between the audience and the performers,” Ekta Mittal, one of the founding members of Maraa, which means ‘tree’ in Kannada language, told IANS.

“By using public places we are also trying to raise awareness on social issues, and thereby help bring some amount of social justice to the common man,” Ekta added.

From theatre, music and dance to poetry nights and film screenings, ‘Theatre Jam’ is full of activities till October-end.

Monday saw a poetry night at Ants Cafe, at upscale Indiranagar here. The event was hosted by poet and activist Ram, where aspiring poets recited their latest writings.

“Audience was not only mere spectator at the event. During few poetry recitals, audiences were even forced to jig,” said Ekta.

Tuesday saw the screening of documentary film Superman of Malegon at Jagaa, a creative community space at Richmond Town.

“Wednesday saw lot of fun and people thoroughly enjoyed the event titled City Specks: Mapping Memories, a narration by Ramchandran, an antique dealer’s stories, at Curiocity, Behind Russel Market,” said Nagaraj G., another member of Maraa.

“It was the story of the antique dealer and the city over the years,” added Nagaraj.

Thursday afternoon saw ‘Just Stories’, a talk delivered by lawyer and activist Lawrence Liang on Infantry Road.

Till now, Maraa has got huge response from the audience. During all these days, a large number of Bangaloreans attended all the events.

“It’s quite entertaining to see artists coming and performing in public spaces like roads and giving insight on various aspects of life. It was an eye-opening event for me,” said Ruhi Khan, one in the audience at Infantry Road on Thursday.

Some of the forthcoming events include a theatre workshop to be conducted by director Pritham Chakravarthy at Cubbon Park, the city’s green lung Oct 24; screening of the film “Gandhi Class” at Jaaga Oct 27; “Bagair Ijazat”, a reading of Sadat Hassan Manto’s stories at Jaaga Oct 29; and “Pocket Full of Stories”, a workshop to be held by Geeta Ramanujam at Cubbon Park Oct 30.

Last day of the event on Oct 31 will see unveiling of horror stories titled “Ghost Story Night” on stairs opposite Premier Book Store on Museum Road.

No fee is charged from the audience at all the events hosted by Maraa.