Profile at Glance

Theater age is an Indian, Secular, Non Profit, and Non- Governmental

Voluntary Social Development Organization working for all-round

development of slum children without regards for race, caste, creed, sex,

community and religion. The basic and main thrust of the organization is to

serve the under privileged, illiterate and people living below the poverty line in

Chandigarh, Punjab & Haryana through organizing them in various self help

groups.

In the last 18 years Theatre age has crossed several milestones. Its children have

excelled in staging street plays. With over 1500 performances to their credit,

Theatre Age has become a synonym of street plays and Zulfiqar Khan is the

uncrowned king of street plays. Almost all of the plays have been written,

directed and produced solely by him. Besides providing entertainment, every

play is aimed at creating awareness about burning social issues such as drug de-

addiction, prevention of AIDS, female feticide, and environmental preservation

etc. etc.

On the education front too, slow and steady progress was being made. Every

year some 4-5 new children from Theatre Age were being admitted to Govt.

Schools. They had the privilege of being taught by Sh. Prem Singh, Principal,

Govt. Arts College, Chandigarh; Sh. S.P. Singh, MD of CITCO also helped by

deputing his cooks for teaching cooking to children. A group of well wishers

donated a three-wheeler auto for collecting newspapers; State Bank of India

donated 10 bicycles to facilitate movement of students. Apparently, the river of

Theatre Age was flowing calmly, but underneath, there was deep turbulence.

Even after completing a decade of its existence, it had no place to call its own.

All these years, Theatre Age was still surviving like a vagabond, operating from

under the shade of many trees or in vacant verandahs of several buildings of city

beautiful. The turning point came in – 2001, when the Chandigarh

Administration, recognizing the organization’s undying spirits, allowed it the

use of a portion of vacant grounds of Govt. High School, Sector 24,

Chandigarh. Impressed by the dedication and outstanding activities that Thetare

Age displayed, the organization was granted use of an abandoned store house.

Theatre Age has now two classrooms, with a kitchen and toilet attaché. For

children coming from dilapidated shanties, the present premises is no less then

heaven. Needless to say, now the students can pursue their studies and hobbies

in a comfortable and encouraging manner. They also partake of a freshly

cooked meal everyday. Entire work of running the organization, starting from

its upkeep, to maintenance to running of kitchen etc. is done solely by the

children themselves.

Raising funds for running of this organization was never easy. Initially, Khan

supported it from his own meager resources. Later, some friends and well

wishers too joined the cause. But the collection was not enough for meeting the

ever- increasing expenses of children’s education. The break-through came in

2003 when few of its members, who were erstwhile rag pickers, suggested

collection of old news papers from public and selling the same for raising funds.

The idea clicked and today Theatre Age has over 500 members in and around

Chandigarh donating their old newspapers to the organization. Help, though in

any other form is also equally welcome and thus many a kind hearted souls keep

on donating books, clothes, food grains, grocery etc. etc. Besides, a large

number of volunteers assist in day-to-day running and administration of the

school.

At present, Theatre Age is supporting 55 children & is helping them to pursue

their formal education through regular classes in Govt. Schools, and an informal

school in the evenings.

Raman, the eldest of our pack, is doing Bachelors in fine Arts from Govt

College of Arts. Atul is pursuing a medical lab attendant course from Khalsa

college sector 46, Chd.

15 students are in class 10, 4 students are in 9 th standard, 4 are in 8th class, 10

students are in 7th class. The remaining 20 are in junior classes in Govt High

school, sector 24-A, Chd.

Over past 15 years a large number of slum children have successfully been

instated in mainstream society in a variety of ways. Veerpal (Veeru), an

erstwhile shoeshine boy, is today a proud make-up man with a TV channel.

Vicky Raja, who used to be a vagabond is serving in BSF, Ajay Rana, an

erstwhile wayward boy is running a theatre school with Airtel. Vijay Machal, a

prior slum boy is conducting theatre workshops for children in different states.

The list goes on and will go on. A lot has been done and a lot more needs to be

done. But two lone hands of Mr. Khan may not be sufficient to sustain the

growth of mission. You too can lend your helping hand to brighten the destiny

of scores of children living in darkness of illiteracy and abject poverty. We

welcome contributions that would strengthen our pursuit of serving the slum

areas.

Theatre Age is actively involved in following activities:

Improvement of the quality of life in slum areas

Campaigning in villages and giving them information about Right of

Information Act & Right of Education Act.

Counseling services

Skill development through vocational training

Awareness / empowerment camps on various issues for women and

adolescent girls and boys

Health services

Legal aid services

Educational courses for drop-out boys & girls.

Cleanliness drives in villages

THEATRE AGE represents a conglomeration of like minded individuals from

different walks of life dedicated to the selfless service of the Chandigarh,

Punjab & Haryana rural areas, SLUM, B.PL, OBC, SC/ST people for improving

their quality of life. We are grateful to our 800 members from Chandigarh,

Mohali & Panchkula, who are denoting raddi and other use full items for our

organization & for the students’ welfare.

The Mission

To provide a platform to underprivileged and exploited slum children for

channelizing their youthful energy into constructive avenues, aimed at

transforming them into enlightened and economically independent citizens.

The Approach

Theatre age utilizes the charm of various performing arts like Drama, Dance,

and Music to attract slum children into its fold. Regular free classes are

conducted by voluntary professionals to train children in these arts. At least one

healthy meal is served daily to retain their interest.

They are provided with suitable clothes, shoes, books etc. Once a child gets

stabilized, he is introduced to formal education and the promising ones are

admitted to government schools at the organization’s expense. After investing

years of efforts in grooming a child, at an appropriate stage, he is helped to find

a suitable vocation – thus culminating his journey from a street urchin to a

responsible, respectable and economically independent citizen.

The Method

Theatre Age is a self sustaining NGO. Its members collect old newspapers and

other sundry discarded items from its well wishers. These are then sold off to

raise funds. Besides, its members make and sell paper envelopes, wax candles,

greeting cards etc. Some income is generated by performing Theatre and

Musical shows by children. The organization gets frequent donations from

spirited citizens and institutions impressed by its work.

THEATRE AGE is doing selfless service for the cause since 1992 and has tried

whatever best it could with limited resources.