Adversity often brings out the best in people. And when it's a close-knit family like Mumbai's theatre community, it's inspiring but not surprising to see the way many have stepped up to help each other during this pandemic. Theatre Dost -a group of young theatre practitioners brought together by theatre director Sunil Shanbag and writer-director Sapan Saran - is not only raising funds but also coordinating a volunteer force to help theatrefolk whose income has been decimated by the deadly virus and the ensuing lockdowns in a variety of ways.  By Priya Pathiyan In less than two weeks, they have managed to pool resources and put together various teams to form a dedicated resource centre for the community. For example, doctors who will offer their services, the supply of prescription medicines, meals and rations to those who need them, besides a lot of timely COVID-related information. Theatre Dost emphasises a one-to-one approach. "We felt it wasn't enough to just provide numbers, even though verified. We actually help make the connections and get the required results," explains Saran, who has been working on this tirelessly. She describes the way the seeds of the idea for Theatre Dost were first sown."We were feeling extremely emotional and feeling so helpless about everything. The anxiety after watching the news, hearing about friends and relativesdying ... we were all collectively going through such a crisis. That's when a few of us thought that we should try and help in whatever little way we can." Theatre Dost has been making concerted efforts to spread the word about their existence as a support group for those belonging to the world of theatre in more than eight different languages, getting translators, designers, sound technicians etc to collaborate and create messaging that can be understood by the maximum number of people. They are aware of the need to build an outreach programme that connects with people from different language theatres, who have been languishing without a regular income for the last several months. She says, "Not everyone can access social media or has the language skills or technology to ask for help when they need it. We contacted several associations, as well as reached out via other theatre colleagues, who had the numbers of backstage technicians, etc to check how they were faring and whether they needed help." Several theatre people have given generously and Theatre Dost has associated with the Santokba Premkorba Charitable Trust (run by a fellow theatre person's family), to accept donations and accelerate their outreach activities, which will benefit people from all parts of the Mumbai theatre universe. For example, immediate relief has been forthcoming in the form of rations for about 200 members of the Rangmanch Kamgar Sangh. Some of them have really been in distress, without any earnings for almost two years and Theatre Dost's support has been welcome.Saran shares the moving example of an elderly theatre clerk, who was forgoing his own medication so that his family could buy the basic necessities. For him and others from the fraternity, Theatre Dost is certainly the friend in need they so sorely need. *Priya Pathiyan is an independent lifestyle journalist read / post your comments More Interviews Ram Ganesh Kamatham Tannaz Irani Lillete Dubey Sharodiya Chowdhury and Sarthak Sharma Interview With Vishaal Asrani and Jiji Subhi BAKUL THAKKAR AND SURYA GOVLE Devendra Rao Interview Sharvari Lohokare Interview Vijay Kenkre Interview Trupti Thakkar and Ankit Gor Interview Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor Umesh Shukla Interview Interview With Juhi Babbar Soni Mallika Shah Interview J BRANDON HILL INTERVIEW Anahita Uberoi Interview Interview with Jeff Goldberg Dr. Shweta Pendse Interview Interview with jamini Pathak Ashok Pandey Gagan Dev Riar Interview Taranjit Kaur Pankaj Pathakji Interview Vipul Vithlani Interview Saurabh Nayyar Interview Mukta Barve Interview Vihaan Samat Interview Vijay Kumar Interview Umesh Kamat Interview Jatin Sarna Interview Debanshu Shekhar Interview Vandana Bhushan Interview Vikas Bahari Interview Trinetra Tiwari Interview Anand Ingale Interview Deshik Vansadia Interview Kapil Dev Interview Arvind Gaur Interview Niketan Sharma Interview Ipshita Chakraborty Singh Interview Ramesh Talwar Interview Nivedita Bhattacharya Interview Jeff Goldberg Interview Ajeet Singh Palawat Interview Amitosh Nagpal Interview Ajitesh Gupta Anshulika Dubey and Aakash Prabhakar Ulka Mayur Shiv Tandan Interview Hemant Jha Interview Sangita Joshi Interview Akarsh khurana Interview with Parul Rana Satchit Puranik Interview Raell Padamsee Interview Simar Singh Interview Siddharth Randeria Interview Chandrakant Kulkarni Interview Trishla Patel Interview Danish Husain Interview Anju Makhija Interview Swati Das Interview Paromita Chatterjee Interview Akriti Singh Interview Vivek Raj Tandon Interview Avneesh Mishra Interview Imran Rasheed Interview Choiti Ghosh Interview Ila Arun & KK Raina Juuhi Babbar Sonii Interview Jay Upadhyay Interview Bhakti Rathod Interview Chandrashekhar Gokhale Interview Preeta Mathur Interview Denzil Smith Interview Rajendra Butala Interview Amitesh Grover Interview Vighnesh Joshi Interview Rajesh Deshpande Interview Mohammad Ali Baig Interview Dolly Thakore Interview M. Sayeed Alam Interview Gaurav Singh and Akshay Raheja Interview Ramanjit Kaur Interview Vinay Varma Interview Daisy Irani Subaiah Interview Bhamini Oza Gandhi Interview Sapan Saran Interview Rasika Agashe Interview Shreyas Talpade Interview With Parul Rana Puneet Issar Interview Dipti Bramhandkar Interview Atul Kumar Interview With Parul Rana Ravi Mishra Interview Alpana Buch Interview Lalit Parimoo Interview Nimesh Interview Sejal Shah - Interview Mehul Buch Interview Sanat Vyas Interview with Jahnavi Pal Dayashankar Pandey Interview Deepak Gheewala Interview Darshan Jariwala Interview Feroz Bhagat Interview Roopa Divatia Interview Apara Mehta Interview with Jahnavi Pal Rajul Diwan Interview with Jahnavi Pal Sachin Khedekar Interview with Jahnavi Pal Sanjay Goradia Interview with Jahnavi Pal Utkarsh Mazumdar Interview With Jahnavi Pal Vandana Gupte Interview Bharati Achrekar Interview Manasi Prabhakar Joshi Interview Rohini Hattangadi Interview Meenal Patel Interview Pravin Solanki Avantika Shankar Interview with Deepa Punjani Rakesh Bedi Interview with Deepa Punjani Dhwani Vij Interview with Deepa Punjani Joy Fernandes Interview with Deepa Punjani Vikram Phukan Interview with Deepa Punjani Deepika Arwind Interview with Ayushi Shah Rohit Das Interview with Omkar Bhatkar Sukant Goel Interview with Omkar Bhatkar Sneh Sapru Interview with Ayushi Shah Puja Sarup Interview By Ayushi Shah Gurleen Judge interview by Ayushi Shah Faezeh Jalali Interview with Ayushi Shah Sophia Stepf Interview With Deepa Punjani Geetanjali Kulkarni Interview with Manvi Ranghar Gabriel Emanuel Ramu Ramanathan Interview With Deepa Punjani Manjari Fadnis Chandrakant Kulkarni Sunil Barve Interview Ira Dubey Interview with Manvi Ranghar Arundhati Nag Interview Malavika Rajkotia Purva Naresh Interview Shaili Sathyu Interview Bharat Dabholkar Rajat Kapoor Interview Yuki Ellias Sébastien Heins Akarsh Khurana Interview Juhi Babbar Soni Harish Patel Mirjam van Djik Asad Lalljee Sheeba Chadha Ila Arun - Interview Mallika Taneja Anurupa Roy Vipul Vilas Mahagaonkar Sneha Desai Suruchi Aulakh Geetanjali Kulkarni Sushama Deshpande Interview Choiti Ghosh Naveen Kaushik Nadir Khan Roberto Frabetti Anuja Ghosalkar Saurabh Shukla Interview Sunil Shanbag Interview Jean-Michel Adam Sachin Jadhav Rajat Kapoor THE META 2016 Festival Interview with the Directors of the Plays Pritesh Sodha Nimmy Raphel Shena Gamat Aniruddha Khutwad Gagan Dev Riar Paromita Chatterjee David Goodale Happy Ranajit Simon Reade Daniele Bartolini Glenn Hayden Ramu Ramanathan Interview Vikram Phukan Kalki Koechlin Interview Uttam Gada Adhir Bhat Vikranth Pawar Sudipto Chatterjee Ellen Rees Chris Edmund Iqbal Niyazi Sanjay Goradia Vinay Sharma Shafaat Khan Sanjukta Wagh Interview Sanjoy Roy Interview Tushar Pandey Anupama Chandrashekar Interview Deepa Gahlot Interviews Tony Adigun Ila Arun Interview Kare Conradi KK Raina Manoj Shah Interview Luckyjee Gupta Ajit Kelkar Syv Bruzeau Rupesh Tillu Vikash Khurana Jim Sarbh Mahesh Dattani Interview for SDDS Education Krutika Desai Dalip Sondhi Daniel Goldman and Benjamin Samuels Vir Das Interview Asghar Wajahat Deshik Vansadia Sushama Deshpande Rajiv Krishnan Interview Neeraj Kabi Tom Alter Ashvin Gidwani Interview Pip Utton Achyut Vaze Interview Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy Satish Alekar Interview Jaimini Pathak Interview Neel Chaudhuri Meherzad Patel Mahesh Dattani interview for THE BIG FAT CITY Nandini Trivedi Akash Mohimen Deepika Arwind Manjima Chatterjee Kath Mainland Anupam Kher Bijon Mondal Manoj Mitra Georges Banu Sudhanva Deshpande Interview Eric Vigner Deepa Gahlot1 Premanand Gajvi Rahul Varma Om Puri Nissar Allana Om Katare Interview Rajiv Krishnan Rashi Bunny Nandita Das Farooq Chaudhry D'Lo Shankar Tucker Ranvir Shah Ira Dubey Interview Ashok Patole Mathivanan Rajendran Saurabh Shukla Ashok Hande Nandu Madhav Sujata Goel Ratha Pathak Shah Shaili Sathyu(1) Shubhrajyoti Barat Preethi Athreya Corinne Jaber Rajesh Kumar and Rana Pratap Senger Arjun Sajnani Arundhati Ghosh Sudhanva Deshpande Raamu Ramanathan Sayeed Alam Zane Dalal Jumana Kapadia Shernaz Patel Satyadev Dubey1 Makarand Sathe1 Sankar Venkateswaran Sabera Shaik Achyut Vaze Hassan Abdulrazzak Amrita Lahiri Avaan Patel Neeta Reshamiya Ira Dubey Ila Arun Meenal Kapoor Shubha Mudgal & Aneesh Pradhan Kedar Shinde Khalid Mohamed Deepa Gahlot Sameer Vidwans Low Kee Hong Waman Kendre Andrea Gronemeyer Pradeep Vaiddya Padmini Chettur Kumud Mishra(1) Faruk Kabir Nandesh Umap Zuleikha Chaudhari Nausheen Ali Sardar Naseeruddin Shah Ahlam Khan Sunil Barve Saif Hyder Hasan Shweta Tiwari Neena Kulkarni Judy Hegarty Lovett Sunil Vishnu K Chetan Bhagat Ketki Dave Atul Parchure Vikram Gokhale Azaad Bharti Dr. Mohan Agashe Mahesh Manjrekar Chandradasan Lillette Dubey-I Kuljeet Singh Juhi Babbar Rajesh Khattar Gaurav Chopra Payal Rohatgi Feroz Abbas Khan Swanand Kirkire Vandana Sajnani-II Kevin Tayebaly Vahan Badalyan Chetanya Adib Payal Kapoor Rakesh Bedi Sameer Iqbal Patel Om Katare-II Shifalli Shah Simon McBurney Mujeeb Khan-II Akarsh Khurana Preeta Mathur Thakur Makrand Deshpande Manoj Shah (II) Manoj Shah Saumya Joshi Quasar Thakore Padamsee Mohit Takalkar Hari Mina Bala Jehan Manekshaw - Interview 2 Timira Gupta Jyoti Dogra Lillette Dubey Mahesh Dattani Chandan Roy Sanyal Sunil Shanbag (ii) Jairaj Patil Jehan Manekshaw K Raja Ravi Verma Sankar Venkateswaran Heisnam Tomba Hariharan Jamini Pathak Hilda David Satish Alekar Vir Das Ranjit Hoskote Om Katare Nipun Dharmadhikari Satyadev Dubey Dipan Ray Stefan Kaegi Zafar Karachiwala Dakxin Bajrange Makarand Sathe Ramu Ramanathann Cyrus Dastur Shekhar Sen Benjamin Juhel Chaitanya Tamhane And Sudeep Modak Sujata Mehta Asif Basra Barry John Nagesh Bhosale Astad Deboo Manhar Gadhia Sandesh Bhandare Usha Ganguli Sushama Deshpande & Suhas Joshi Jyoti Vyas Arundhati Nag Habib Tanvir Ramu Ramanathan Pushan Kripalani Harold Pinter Rajeev Ravindranathan Rajendra Gupta Viji Iyengar Sunil Shanbag Darshan Jariwalla Smriti Irani Atul Kumar1 Ashwin Gidwani Toral Shah Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal1 Shaili Sathyu Sanjay Narvekar Rohini Hattangady Dr. Ashok Ranade Vandana Sajnani Mahesh Elkunchwar Madhu Rye Mahesh Thakur Srimathi Madiman Kinnari Vohra Joy Fernandes C.K. Thakkar Jameel Khan Anupama Jayaram Lilelette Dubey Avatar Gill Dharmendra Gohil Rajesh Puri Kumud Mishra Kumar Shahu Meenal Patel Mujeeb Khan Anant Mudra Utkarsh Mazumdar Shekhar Sen1 Manav Kaul Rati Agnihotri Smita Jaykar Uday Chandra Rahul Da Cunha Atul Kumar Manoj Joshi Jaimini Pathak Boman Irani Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal Naseerudin Shah Joy Fernandez Kamlesh Mota Dinesh Thakur    Discussion Board

Schedule Theatre Workshops Register a workshop | View all workshops

List Your Play

Get theatre updates in your inbox
subscribe to Mumbai Theatre Guide weekly updates