Paint the stage green: How the locals of Mumbai's Aarey Forest came together to celebrate the art of theatre

Any visit to Aarey Forest comes with an old initiation ritual for this writer Fresh mud silently creeps up onto the hem of our trousers almost as if it knows we arenrsquot looking The stain is a sign that we are far enough from the city to breathe easy For actor Parna Pethe who performed at the recently concluded Tarpa Theatre Festival the signs were more colourful She remembers butterflies and birds that seemed to gatecrash her performance of Tottochan staged under a tree She didnrsquot mind of courseAn Earth building workshopStanding under that same tree in Vanicha Pada actordirector Harshad Tambe is all smiles as he reminisces about the festival The 37yearold Folk Theatre graduate from Mumbai University and SaveAarey activist didnrsquot have elaborate infrastructure to work with ldquoWe had the people of Aarey and the gifts of the forest That was more than enoughrdquo he recallsExcerpts from the interviewWhat sowed the seeds of a theatre festival in an unlikely space like AareyFirstly having been a part of theatre circles I noticed a lack of concern for the environment in my own contemporaries I wanted to invite them to Mumbairsquos own urban forest to remind them of naturersquos beautyHarshad Tambe PICSATEJ SHINDESecondly theatre has for long been considered a pursuit for the privileged the comfortable When I took 20 Adivasi children to Prithvi Theatre in 2023 they admitted that they felt out of place among serious theatre enthusiasts If we were to bridge these gaps it had to be done while standing shoulder to shoulder with the adivasis rather than standing on their shoulders for personal gainsHow did these ideas play out in practicality on groundNearly 15 young local residents mdash some of them worked as delivery riders others were factory workers mdash joined the production team and called the shots right from which plays would be staged to how the event would be promoted on social media My team simply lent a helping handHarshad Tambe with Padma Shriawardee tarpa player Bhiklya Dhinda at the festival right Parna Pethe performs as Tottochan on the open stage PICS COURTESYARTISTS FOR AAREYOne of the plays that they really wanted to see was Geetanjali Kulkarnirsquos Jikni which translates to lsquoRiddlersquo in the Katkari tribal language The play they said reflected their rich culture and lifestyle instead of the atrocities they faceThe centrepiece of the festival was the sustainable stage Tell us more about itI had the most fun setting up that stage We used bamboo grass and mud to put together a fully biodegradable stage The localsrsquo natural knowledge and enthusiasm came as a big helpOf course there was a long list of challenges mdash major permissions had to be sought from the Forest Department Aarey Dairy MCGM Mumbai Police and the head of the pada But it was all worth it when we had visitors like Jumping Spiders Spotted Deer and Grey Langur I call them the front row VIPsBut is such a sustainable model feasible outside the forest in urban neighbourhoodsNot at the same scale but surely in some shape or form Earth building using mud to build structures as opposed to concrete and steel is not rocket science neither is the use of bamboo and grass We have already started conducting workshops on Earth Building at the Aarey Vasundhara Nursery nearby Other sustainable practice sessions will followPeople are free to implement these skills in their own ways I have chosen to create no IP around the festival you are free to implement these ideas anywhere in the worldWhere does the festival go from here is there a longterm planFor me the focus is now on keeping the promise I made to myself about upskilling the youth beyond the threeday festival We are working with educators and sorting permissions at the moment We should be able to get the ball rolling before the second edition of the festival next year Log on to tarpatheatrefestival