Mumbai: Play at Juhu to address puberty and safety

Growing Up will highlight the difference between a good and a bad touch

Most women will know the outcome of walking into a pharmacy, that one day in a month, and asking for a pack of sanitary napkins. There's a square pack neatly wrapped in paper that is tossed towards you, like a weapon handed over before you head into battle. The stigma attached to puberty is so large that we end up internalising this behaviour of trying to hide "it", when the alternative is just to come to terms with a biological phenomenon.

And it all starts with sex education, something educator and writer Anju Kishinchandani has been working hard towards with her company UnTaboo, which organises workshops and plays related to the subject. Today, the company will stage Growing Up, a production conceptualised by Kishinchandani, and directed by theatre artiste Trishla Patel that deals with puberty and safety, at Juhu's Prithvi Theatre. The 75-minute play is a musical featuring five tracks composed by the team. "We have young adults acting and singing. There's one song that is entirely about periods. And we'll also shed light on the difference between a good and a bad touch, and how one can avoid tricky situations," Kishinchandani says.

Anju Kishinchandani

The point of the play, she emphasises, is for the audience to start a conversation at home. "We began this in 2015 in Mumbai so that we could find a common platform for parents and children. Since then, the format has been the same - we've wanted to convey our message in an informational and entertaining manner so that it becomes palatable," Kishinchandani tells us, and proceeds to talk about the overwhelming response she has received through the years. "Parents often come back and tell us of how the talk on the subject of puberty has become so much more open at home. And that has been our main goal for everyone who walks out of the theatre. We want to tell people that these changes are absolutely normal, and that children can continue being who they are."

At Prithvi Theatre, Juhu.
On Today, 11 am to 12.15 pm; 3 pm to 4.15 pm
Log on to in.bookmyshow.com
Cost Rs 350

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