Curtain Call: Reflections on Our June 2026 Children’s Theatre Showcase

On Sunday, 21 June 2026, the stage at Nehru World School, Ghaziabad came alive three times in a single evening. Three casts. Three full-length plays. Two languages. And a hall filled with families who came expecting a children’s show — and left having watched real theatre. Now that the curtain has come down and the costumes are packed away, here is a look back at what our young actors achieved, and what it meant.

Three Plays, One Evening

The evening opened at 4:00 pm with The Story Teller’s Gift, our original English production performed by children aged 6 to 8. Our youngest actors carried an entire play — a wandering storyteller, a golden-touched king, a band of animal musicians — with a charm and confidence that set the tone for the whole evening.

At 5:30 pm, children aged 9 to 10 took the audience down the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion — each brought to life by a young performer who had never done anything like this before the workshop began. The ensemble filled the stage with colour, and the audience responded to every moment.

The evening closed at 7:00 pm with Ujbak Raja, our Hindi comedy performed by the senior batch, aged 11 to 15. The sharp comic timing, the wordplay, and the sheer confidence of the older children delivering satire in front of a full house was, for many in the audience, the highlight of the night. Laughter rolled through the hall from the first scene to the final bow.

What the Audience Saw — and What We Saw

The audience saw polished productions: costumes, lights, characters, and stories told from beginning to end. What we saw, standing in the wings, was something more. We saw the child who could barely speak above a whisper in April delivering dialogue to a packed hall in June. We saw children managing their own entrances, helping each other with props, and holding their nerve when the lights came up. We saw thirty sessions of games, voice work, improvisation, and rehearsal compressed into one evening of visible transformation.

The response from parents and the audience since the show has been overwhelming — warm messages, kind words, and above all, the same observation again and again: we did not know our child could do that. That sentence is the reason this work exists.

Every Child on That Stage Mattered

As always at Pratham Path Theatre, every single child in every batch performed with meaningful dialogue and genuine stage time. No child stood silently in the background. No child was a filler. The plays were written and adapted for the exact children in each batch — and on 21 June, every one of them had their moment in the light, in front of their families. That is our promise, and this showcase kept it.

Thank You

To the parents who trusted us with their children for three months, who managed weekend schedules, costumes, and line rehearsals at home — thank you. To the audience who filled the hall and gave our young actors the gift of genuine applause — thank you. And to the children: you did the hardest thing a performer can do. You stepped into the light and told a story. We are enormously proud of every one of you.

The Next Stage Is Already Being Set

Our next children’s theatre workshop begins on 26 September 2026 and runs through to a grand stage performance on 20 December 2026 — thirty sessions, at Nehru World School, Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad, with a Junior Batch (Grades 3+) and a Senior Batch (Grades 7+). If watching this showcase — or reading about it — made you wonder what your own child might discover on a stage, this is the moment to find out. Seats are limited, and batches close once full.

Register for the September–December 2026 workshop: https://forms.gle/vricht7BuEfLt4u68 | WhatsApp 9910166111 | www.prathampath.com/ctw

— Sudhir Rana, Founder & Theatre Director, Pratham Path Theatre | Ghaziabad