Colorful world for Children
Prachyanat interacts with children to raise awareness of social concerns and to introduce educational goals for children of the target age group. Prachyanat organized a series of workshops in which students, instructors, educators, and parents took part.
Original story: Rabindranath Tagore
Dramatization: Animesh Aich
Directed by: Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon
Premiere Show: 10 October 2002, Thursday at Oxford Kindergarten School, Badda, Dhaka
Once there was a carefree bird. It would sing songs, it would fly, it would jump. The King of the country was very disappointed as neither could it read the scriptures nor it had the faintest sense of etiquette. The King called the ministers and commanded, “Educate it!” The scholars immediately had a long discussion and concluded that the bird’s nest would be too small to store all the learnings. They said it was necessary to build a good cage for it. The goldsmith then made such an exquisite cage that everyone rushed to see it. The scribes copied from hundreds of books and made an enormous mound of scriptures for the scholars to teach the bird. Many people were employed to guard, repair, wash, clean, and polish the cage regularly. To supervise them, many more people were employed. Each of the people working for the education of the bird was heavily rewarded and began to live in luxury.
One day the King came to the education center with his entire entourage of friends, companions, and courtiers to see for himself the lightening speed at which education was said to be proceeding. The Musicians, the scholars, the repairmen, the laborers, the goldsmith, the scribes, the supervisors everyone greeted the King with a huge uproar. Pleased with the greetings, the king forgot why he came there and was about to return. A fault-finder then reminded the King of his initial intention. So the King wished to see the method of educating the bird. The bird was covered with an overwhelming amount of scriptures and was hard to notice. There was no corn in the cage, and no water either. Only heaps of pages had been torn out of heaps of books and with the tip of a pen, those pages were being stuffed into the bird’s mouth. There was no room in the mouth for the bird to squeeze out a cry let alone a tune.
The bird would flap its wings to fly away and one day it even tried to break the rods of the cage with its beak. Immediately the blacksmith came. An iron chain was manufactured and the wings of the bird were cut off. The King was very disappointed and saw this act of the bird as a gesture of ungratefulness. The bird eventually died. The ministers then declared that ‘the bird’s education is now complete’ as it does not jump, fly or sing anymore.
Written by: Shukumar Roy
Direction by: Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon
Premiere Show: 10 October 2002, Thursday at Oxford Kindergarten School, Badda, Dhaka
Once upon a time, there lived a king. All day long, the king would do nothing but sleep and make others laugh with his funny remarks. One fine day, the king fell asleep in his court. At this golden opportunity, the ministers and courtiers breathed a sigh of relief and began to play around. At that very moment, a raven came into the courtyard and began to call out loudly in its coarse, heavy voice. The cry must have been very loud indeed because it woke up the king.
The king, freshly awake from his deep sleep, called for the culprit’s head to be served – “Off with his head!” he shouted. But whose head? And why? The King demanded that there must be a reason why a raven would fly in the middle of his courtroom and start shouting. The ministers, the advisors, the executioner – all gathered in the courtroom pondering about the mystery of the raven. Everyone was feeling for his own neck when a man sped in like a comet and said, “I know why the raven cried out in your court!”
The man informed the king that the raven was actually a ‘Drighangchu’; it flew into the courtroom, tilted its head forward, and cried “Kaw”. Tradition holds that one should utter a spell at that time and wait to see what happens. The king demanded to know the spell. At first, the man refused but when the angry king threatened to cut off his head, the man gave in and wrote the spell down for the king. Everybody was relieved. Ever since that day every time the king spots a raven in the palace, he runs to it uttering the spell, eagerly hoping to witness something extraordinary. Little does the king know that the man had made a fool of him and ran off. There is no real spell; nothing will ever happen if you utter the spell to a raven.
Plan and Directed by: Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon
Premiere Show: 25 February 2004, Wednesday at Four Seasons International School, Satarkul Road, Dhaka
Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there lived a notorious tiger whose troublesome antics kept all the animals of the jungle in constant panic. In fear, the animals began to abandon the jungle, leaving the tiger in desperate need of food.
Just at this lean time news came that the King’s daughter would be getting married soon. Anticipating a huge wedding feast, people started pouring into the land. Cooks and chefs began to prepare a most sumptuous feast. The starving tiger too headed for the banquet. When the tiger arrived, there was widespread panic among the guests. The terrified guests fled the place leaving all the splendid food at the mercy of the big cat. It was when the tiger was helping himself with all the food that a bone refused to come out. Neither did anyone come to his rescue, afraid that the mighty cat might eat him as well.
The agonized tiger ran in every direction for help until he came to a swamp. On the swamp stood a stork and an idea sprang into his head – why not talk the stork into helping him to get rid of the bone? And so he did. The tiger convinced the stork and soon the bone was out of his throat. But as soon as the bone was out the tiger revealed his true colors – he wanted to eat the stork. Luckily, the stork managed to get away, but the tiger was once again wandering hungrily.
Suddenly, a chubby man walked into the tiger’s path. Seeing such a healthy prey, the tiger’s mouth started to water again and he started chasing the man. The chase led the tier straight into a hole from which it could not escape. No animal from the jungle came to rescue the trapped animal. But then the tiger was able to convince a woodcutter, who had come to the jungle to get wood, to help him out of the hole. But just as you would expect, as soon as the tiger got out he wanted to eat the innocent woodcutter.
The worried woodcutter ran in all directions for help until he came to a fox. The men explained the situation to the fox and asked the fox to judge whether it would be fair for the tiger to eat him. After much thought, the fox agreed to solve the problem if the tiger and the woodcutter would show him the hole. Seeing the hole, the fox told the tiger, “So, the woodcutter was in the hole, and you were walking by?” The tiger replied, “No!” The fox made several deliberate mistakes. By now the tiger got really angry, “You silly fox! I was in the hole! Here, let me show you!” Saying this, the tiger slipped into the hole again, realizing only too late that the fox had played a clever trick on him. No matter how hard he tried, the tiger could not get himself out of the hole and remain trapped.
Written by: Munir Chowdhury
Direction by: Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon
Premiere Show: 25 February 2004, Wednesday at Four Seasons International School, Satarkul Road, Dhaka
In a far-off forest, the animals lived happily; they had fun and played all day long. However, the happy fun days came to an end when the roaring of a tiger took away the animals’ night’s sleep. A bullock and a fox went to discuss the matter with the tiger and to keep him peaceful and content. The king of the jungle told them that he would not attack any animal of the jungle if he was daily provided with his meal.
The animals of the jungle were now in a great fix. No one wanted to lose his life voluntarily by going to the tiger’s den. But in the end, they were able to force the little hare to go. Though small in size, the hare was in fact very intelligent because he ate a lot of green vegetables and carrots. The hare had a plan. After some careful thinking, the hare went to the tiger. It took some time for the hare to reach the tiger and by that time the tiger became quite starved and angry. Angrily, the tiger demanded, “Why are you so late?”
This was exactly the question the hare wanted the tiger to ask. Still shaking from fear, the hare replied that she was not supposed to come. She came in place of her healthier sister who was attacked and eaten by another tiger. The angry and agitated tiger demanded the hare to take him to the other tiger that had eaten up his meal.
The hare led the tiger through the dense jungle and crossed the mountain till they reached a well full of water. The hare pointed at the well and told the tiger that there lay his enemy. The tiger only saw his own reflection but he mistook it for the other tiger. He roared and the reflection roared in return. The foolish tiger jumped into the water and drowned. The hare and all the other animals were finally relieved to see the tiger’s end and merrily they sang –
Original story: The Grimm Brothers
Dramatization: Prajna Tasnuva Rubaiyat
Directed by: Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon
Premiere Show: 8 June 2011, Wednesday at Scholastica Junior Section, Gulshan 1, Dhaka
Once upon a time, a nobleman married a woman with two daughters after his first wife died. The nobleman had a daughter from the first marriage, Cinderella, who was as good and beautiful as her mother was. Unfortunately, Cinderella’s new mother and the two stepsisters didn’t have a lot of good virtues. Right after the marriage, the stepmother made her stepdaughter, Cinderella, do all of the housework. She looked after her daughters and dressed them nicely. The girl, despite her misery, got on fine with everything but she couldn’t say anything to her father who was also afraid of the stepmother.
One day the king organized a ball for his son and invited all of the nobility. The two stepsisters were looking forward to the dance, made their hair, and prepared their dresses. Cinderella selflessly helped them to dress and made their hair. She also wanted to go to the dance as every other girl but she couldn’t go anywhere as she was dressed badly and filthy from the dust and ashes of her doing chores.
When the big day finally arrived her stepsisters went to the ball. Cinderella said goodbye to them in tears. A good fairy godmother saw her and she felt pity for the poor Cinderella. the godmother decided to help her. With her magic, she made a beautiful carriage out of a pumpkin and turned mice and lizards into horses and servants. She transformed Cinderella’s filthy dress into a beautiful one too, with the touch of her wand! Before beginning for the Prince’s castle, the fairy godmother reminded Cinderella that she could not stay there after midnight because then everything would go back to normal.
When Cinderella arrived the Prince spotted her immediately and was impressed with her beauty. Cinderella danced with the prince and everyone was admiring her beauty but the stepsisters did not recognize her. A moment before midnight Cinderella said goodbye to everyone and disappeared. When the stepsisters returned home they kept talking about a beautiful girl they saw at the ball not realizing that it was none other than their stepsister.
The next day Cinderella went to the castle again and she was having such a wonderful time at the ball that she had forgotten about the time. The tick of the midnight clock reminded her that it was too late. She ran to escape but her shoe fell off on the way and the prince found it. A search started but nobody knew where the beautiful girl went. The prince announced that he would marry only the owner of the shoe.
The servants carried the shoes all around the kingdom and eventually got to the house where Cinderella lived. Her stepsisters hurried to try on the shoe but it didn’t fit. Then Cinderella asked if she could try it, which made the stepsisters laugh. The nobleman in charge of the shoe said that it was ordered by the prince that every girl needs to try on the shoe. It happened to be the perfect fit for Cinderella.
The stepsisters were even more shocked when Cinderella pulled the other shoe out of her pocket. After that, the godmother arrived and dressed Cinderella even more beautifully than at the ball. The stepsisters now recognized her being at the ball and realized how mean they were with her all along. Cinderella forgave her stepmother and stepsisters and when she married the prince she settled her stepsisters in the castle and helped them get married to the gentlemen that lived there.
Play and Directed by: Monirul Islam Rubel
Premiere Show: 14 April 2012, Saturday, Selim Al Din Amphitheatre, Jahangirnagar University, Savar
The whole country appears to be a dustbin of the corps. Crossfire by RAB; Concealed kidnapping and killing; Assassination of the University students; Death by road, launch accident; Killing in a public mob; Political assassination; Killing of journalists; Fundamentalist assassination; Killing in the border … Murder after rape … Suicide …
Death news covers a large part of the daily newspapers every day… they depict corpses of various kinds … as if we are living in a dustbin … What is this time we are passing? … Where resides our consciousness … our humanity? … It seems, we are already exhausted … our voice to protest has been muted … our feelings have gone numb … As if, we all are nothing but living corpses …
These are all we want to depict in our play ‘Lasher Desh’.
Story: Hans Christian Andersen
Dramatization: Roland Schimmelpfennig
Translation: Romit Roy
Directed by: Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon
Premiere Show: 12 June, 2022, Sunday atDr. Neelima Ibrahim Auditorium, Bangladesh Mohila Samity, Natok Soroni (New Baily Road), Dhaka
A little boy receives a set of 25 Toy Soldiers made out of Tin on his birthday. There was one soldier in the set which had only one leg. The boy took that one-legged soldier aside from the rest. In that boy’s room, amongst many other toys, is a paper ballerina dancing in front of a paper castle. The tin soldier and the paper ballerina seem to like each other. One day, both of them fall out of the window by a whirl of wind and separate. Before they meet again by chance, they experience quite a thrilling chain of events one by one
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