A Theatrical Journey to Morang: A Westerner’s Experience

Editor’s Note- Chandra Prasad Pandey

What follows is an excerpt from a group email sent by Bruce Pardoll, an American friend of Shilpee, to thirty of his friends in the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Pardoll is a long term visitor from the San Francisco Bay Area in California. He befriended the members of the Shilpee Art Collective in November of 2013 when he personally delivered an acting workshop DVD from Chris Brandt, an actor and member of the Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble in New York. In turn, Shilpee gave Mr.Pardoll DVD Copies of ”Journey Into Theatre”, featuring forum theatre scenes from their 2012 country wide tour.Upon his return to the United States, Mr. Pardoll showed ”Journey Into Theatre” to friends and became a fundraiser for Shilpee. The money he raised contributed significantly to building Shilpee’s indoor venue, the Gothale Theatre. He retuned to Nepal ten months later and he will be with us until at least the end of May. In the time he has been in Kathmandu, he has promoted ”people’s theatre”in Nepal. Currently, he is chief fundraiser for the building of an indoor village theatre for the Jhorahat Theatre Group in Morang.His future plans include additional contributions to Shilpee News.

In late October he was the guest of Ghimire Yubaraj, Artistic Director of the Shilpee Theatre Art Group as Yubaraj went to the far southeastern district of Morang to celebrate the Tihar Holiday with family and friends and to co-direct a forum theatre play that he was the principal author of. The play was to be performed by the Jhorahat Theatre Group, which has been in existence since 2008. Its founder, Bharat Guragain was Ghimire’s theatre arts teacher during his adolescent years and they did much work together as Yubaraj matured into his twenties.

As regular readers of this blog may Know, Shilpee is dedicated to the creation of theatre groups throughout rural Nepal at the village level. Jhorahat is one such village and its theatre group has hitherto provided mostly outdoor performances not only for Jhorahat’s residents, but also for other nearby villages, and even residents of Biratnager, Nepal’s second largest city . Although the Theatre company in Jhorahat is independent, it has been nurtured and received additional training and direction from Ghimire Yubaraj and other Shilpee associates. The play script brought by Yubaraj to the actors workshop at the R.R.N. Retreat Center was entitled ”The Seat Is Empty”, about the lack of local elections for village, town and city council persons throughout Nepal. Presently, local political representatives and officials attain office through appointment. Thus, a nation of 30 million has only 601 elected legislators who are elected to represent all the people at all levels.That’s roughly one elected official for every 50,000 people—hardly a model for a genuine democracy representing people at the local, district, provincial and national levels.

I ‘ll not go into the situations presented in the play (there’s not really a plot, but this is true of many political plays; rather what is presented are a series of situational scenes).I will instead concentrate on my experiences and observations concerning the lives and talent of the Jhorahat Theatre Group.

The ”Seat is Empty” is a ” forum theatre play, I. e, a play that invites audience participation whenever a play is ”stuck” in a thorny political or otherwise oppressive situation that demands an answer to the dilemna being posed. Situations among ordinary people are shown – situations not having recourse to receive representation that only elected local officials beholden to the constituents can provide. For example, in one situation portrayed in the play, two of the actors nearly come to blows as one insists that a national constitution must first be approved before local elections can be held. The other says that the ”constitutional process ” has been going on for 5 Years without an end in sight. The people need local elections now if they are to be empowered! The ”Joker”, or sometime narrator for the play, then informs the audience, ”The play is stuck now. What should be done or said ? How can we resolve this !” The resulting feedback from the audience can provide clarity about the issue .For example, an informed audience member may point out that the 1990 constitution provided for local elections and defined local office powers. These powers could definitely be used to serve the people. Since one of the purposes of a new constitution is to provide even more liberal powers to the people there is no reason to not have local elections now within the guidelines of the 1990 Constitution because even that framework would be of benefit to local constituencies. With a new constitution local powers could then be liberalized further.

Impressions and Observations of the Actors

What struck me from the outset was the lack of conventional, western-style ambition on the part of the Jhorahat group. This is not to say that they had no ambitions in an artistic sense. All of these actors showed considerable talent not only in acting, but in singing and dancing as well. All were clearly ”ambitious” to improve and perfect their theatrical skills. All were very eager to learn, be directed by top-notch theatrical directors, and to learn improvisational skills. Yet none seemed to have dreams of eventually becoming famous, wealthy, film stars.(There are no highly paid theatrical stars in Nepal, although there are celebrity theatre people here; but theatre is the main avenue to film work.) This is indeed very unlike the ambitious dreams of so many of the American, European and Indian actors I’ve been acquainted with . Most want to make a steady , well-paid living from acting – and break into cinema or television at some point. But that is much less possible in Nepal. For most, acting is at best a part-time living supplementing other work that must be done to live in minimal comfort. Some, such as the actors in the Shilpee Art Group, are full-time, six day- a-week employees who earn very low wages by Western standards –wages that limit their ability to eat out, and go to various drinking establishments or entertainment venues . So most acting in Nepal- in urban as well as rural settings- is a labor of love; it is quintessentially for the love of art.

With regard to the Jhorahat actors in ”The Seat Is Empty ”, the cast consisted of two middle aged actors, one twenty-eight year old, and five actors twenty- two years of age and under. Astonishingly ( to this writer, anyway ),they were ready to perform only seven days after they were first given the script. They had improvised considerably to make the play as suitable as possible to their locality; they had mastered their lines and dances within these few short days. At the conclusion of the seventh day, the actors burst through the front gate of the R.R.N. rehearsal site and gave a spontaneous full performance to the villagers just outside. The looks on the villagers’ countenances were a display of complete delight with frequent laughing, brilliant smiles and enthusiastic applause. On the ninth and tenth days of the trip the troupe performed two more times –in nearby Jhorahat and the town of Biratchock (and several times more after Yubaraj and I left.)

It is clear that the Nepalese village is as fertile ground for theatre growth as urban areas. And we should hope so, given that more than three quarters of the population lives in rural areas. This is why Shilpee and other Kathmandu-based theatre groups have had very notable success in helping establish theatre in villages throughout the country. Among other things, Nepal is also a nation of poets and singers . I can’t tell you how many times Nepalese people I’ve become friends with have asked me to sing a song or recite a poem. One of the poorest nations on Earth is apparently also one of the most culture-loving (contrary to the usual discourse that says cultural development is dependent on economic development).Westernes may have much to learn from this culture that (again, in the experience of the writer) is in love with prose literature, poetry, skilled spiritual practice, philosophy and theatre –without regard for the kind of remuneration given to intellectual and artistic ”stars” of the ”First World”.

In closing, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the nine Jhorahat Theatre Group members who put on ”The Seat Is Empty. In Morang District, Artistic Director Bharat Guragain and actors. Chudamani Bastola, Chhatra Bahadur Kafle , Sagar Rishedev, Sanjay Muiyari, Sanju Parajuli , Dammar Mudiyari, and Sabittri Murmy. Nearly all of these very talented, intelligent people invited me into their humble homes for delicious home cooked dinners with their families . Others extended frequent warm affections and inquiries concerning my thoughts, general welfare, and comfort . All who interacted with me as if I was a family member. I do not have words to describe the depth of affection I have come to feel towards them.