A History of the Jana Natya Manch: Plays for the People

A History of The Jana Natya Manch chronicles the birth and growth of the Jana Natya Manch (Janam), a Delhi-based radical theater group which has been active since 1973. Beginning in the early 1970s, when a group of young students in Delhi sought to continue the legacy of the Indian People’s Theatre Association, the book takes a close but critical look at the various phases in the four decades of the theater collective’s existence. The author captures the functioning of Janam as an organization, its methods of attracting and training fresh talent, the process of scripting, interactions with mass organizations, the experience of performing skin-to-skin with its spectators in the grime of Indian streets, and much more. This book is not only a narration of Janam’s history, development and functioning, it is also an attempt to throw fresh light on the practice of theater.