Theatre therapy catches on in City of Joy

Virgin Merry, a play adapted from Spanish playwright Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba is not an ordinary play when it is used as theatre therapy by 14 women who are members of Millennium Mams – women with money but little purpose in life.

The actor who directed them for Lorca's play is none other than Chaiti Ghosal who recently earned laurels for her role as Nandini in Gautam Halder's stage production, Raktakarabi. "Acting in the play is the final part of my theatre therapy. First, the women are encouraged to talk about themselves. Then they are asked to hide some aspects of their lives while talking about themselves. Then they learn how to act and in the process often become aware facets of their own lives which they are themselves unaware of," Ghosal told Millennium Post. Rachna Prasad, vice president, Millennium Mams said, "European countries do theatre therapy quite regularly. Just as we meditate to get free of tension, acting on stage relieves our women members of the frustration of daily lives and they end up becoming more confident. They have to overcome stage fright. Most of them are confined to their homes and daily chores, so the idea is to make them financially independent and give them a better life in the end." The script of the play has been written by Samrat and music has been composed by the Amartya.

Though the non-profit organization is based in Kolkata, they conduct workshops for women across India. There are about 600 members in Kolkata and free classes are given to them every week so that they become financially independent and learn to manage money. The theatre wing has been named 'Wajood' and the play will be screened on July 6 again in Kolkata. More workshops will be conducted in other cities of India.

The organisation completes 25 years in the service of women's empowerment through financial literacy.