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Introduction:
Vancouver Sath was started as an informal discussion forum by a group of
politically conscious Punjabi writers and community activists. Prior to
Sath there was the Punjabi Literary Association in Vancouver, which
provided the opportunity for concerned writers and intellectuals to
discuss and explore not only literary and cultural matters but many social
and political issues as well. However, during 1981-1982 period the
atmosphere in that organization deteriorated to a point where no genuine
discussion was possible. Also some of us had been struggling to keep Watno
Dur, a monthly Punjabi literary and cultural magazine alive for the last
few years. We wanted something else, something different, to happen in the
literary and cultural circles. Moreover, we felt that numerous issues that
demanded serious attention were arising as a result of the demographic
growth of the community during that period. Those of us who eventually
came together to form Sath were already actively involved in ongoing
struggles such fighting against racism, and fighting for farm workers'
rights. We shared a common ideology and were socially very close to each
other.
Towards the end of 1982, we started informal but regular weekly meetings
to discuss social, political and literary issues. The main focus of our
community at the time was Punjab because the situation there was beginning
to slip towards the present day problem. It was only natural that Punjabis
living here would feel concern about the situation back home. However, the
degree of this concern was, and still is, such that people didn't pay the
much-needed attention to the problems facing us as an immigrant community
in a different geographical, economical and social environment. There was
an urgent need to understand issues like the problems faced by the younger
generation growing up here; effects of racism on the individual and the
community; the economic exploitation of new immigrants; abuse of women and
children in our families and so on. We felt that if we didn't pay
sufficient attention to these issues, we would eventually and in actuality
become the very low ebb of this society, which was perhaps the hidden
desire of the ruling class here. Thus, we wanted to direct people's
attention to these issues at hand.
In order to work towards this goal, we decided to give a formal structure
to our informal gatherings. We wanted to avoid all the structural problems
that organizations usually encounter. We decided against having a
conventional structure of presidents, secretaries and other hierarchical
positions. We also decided against any formal membership for this
organization. The idea was that whoever agrees with the goals and is
willing to work towards them could join. Every member was entitled to
equal credit for the work done. Our idea was that instead of working for
the organization or some individuals we will work for our shared goals. As
long as we shared a common goal we would work together. The only reason to
come and work in this group would be that one wanted to do that work
without expecting anything in return. There were no strings attached.
Whenever somebody, for whatever reason, wanted to stop working he or she
could simply get up and go. With these kinds of ideas in our minds we
quite naturally thought about the Saths in Punjabi villages. They have no
formal structure and everybody is free to say one's peace and is free to
come and go as one pleases. We decided to call our organization Sath and
for our local identification we added Vancouver in front of it. Thus, with
Vancouver Sath we felt connected to our past and yet part of the
contemporary place and time.
After formalizing in the beginning of 1983, the first task we collectively
undertook was to produce a number of articles on the following issues:
Punjabi immigrants and the type of employment they get, the B.C.'s
Solidarity Movement against the anti-labor legislation of the Socred
government, the growing dangers of the Punjab situation and its effects on
the community here, video and entertainment in the Punjabi community.
These articles were locally published in Watno-Dur, Canada Darpan and some
were also reproduced in magazines and newspapers in Punjab as well. We, as
a collective, also wrote reports and published interviews on the
community's struggle against exploitation and racism. While we worked on
these articles and tried to get a clear grasp of the issues faced by the
Indo-Canadian Community, we were always debating the usefulness of the
printed medium for communication. We realized that most of the Punjabis
were not in the habit of reading serious articles in the best of times let
alone at a time when they were simply too involved in their daily
struggles to establish themselves in a new land. This realization led us
to experiment with theater.
Towards a Clear Direction for Theater
The theatrical activities in the Indo-Canadian Community began in 1972
with a short one-act play produced by the Punjabi Cultural Association of
Vancouver. Theater was kept alive by various organizations in the face of
numerous difficulties. The pace, however, was very slow. The plays were
produced periodically. People would gather strength to do theater but
often exhausted themselves with one or two productions. Often, mainly due
to the lack of resources and direction, there were rifts in the
organizations and it took a long time to reorganize. Some of us involved
in Vancouver Sath were directly or indirectly part of these efforts over
the years and were aware of the difficulties involved. While working on
Watno Dur for the last few years we debated about these difficulties.
Numerous questions arose from these discussions. It was felt that serious
attention had to be paid to a number of issues in order to do Punjabi
theater in Canada on a continual basis. To build a solid base for theater
in Canada it was necessary for an organization to have defined and
declared goals and a very clear idea of its own strengths and weaknesses.
Since we were aware of a host of past historical, economic and social
obstacles, we concluded that there were very limited possibilities of
building Punjabi theater based on the simple desire to entertain people.
We had repeatedly witnessed efforts of many talented and genuine people in
the community end in frustration. Some of the question debated were: why
do theater; who is the audience; what were the limitations of available
resources and which traditions should be followed.
The process of finding answers to these questions led Vancouver Sath
people towards a relatively clear direction of Punjabi theater in Canada.
It was obvious that there was no Canadian Punjabi theatrical tradition
that we could follow. It also became obvious that we could not build
theater solely based on either Punjabi and/or Indian tradition or the
tradition of English theater in Canada. We needed to get direction, help
and inspiration from both traditions in order to create distinct Punjabi
theater in Canada.
The very first question that we faced was why go through so much pain to
do theater? Why not simply wait for the time when the flow of economic
fluency would make it possible for the professional companies to exist. It
was not at all difficult for us to decide this matter. We could easily
imagine the type of theater the professional companies, based wholly on
the principal of profit, would do. We are part of a literary tradition,
which believes that literature and art are, or should be, created for the
betterment of humanity. As a group of conscious people, we felt that as
our other activities were directed towards creating a better balanced,
just society, theatrical and cultural activities should do the same.
We were aware of the criticism that we degrade art and literature when we
say that art should be in the service of life. But, we were never fully
convinced by this criticism. In our view, art and literature are
subordinate to life. Life does not exist so that artists can create their
art; rather art exists because of life. Art and literature depict beauty
and coarseness of life in a way that it affects humans to become fond of
beauty and ardent opponents of ugliness in life.
Whenever art and literature are discussed in this manner, the critics
claim that it is an effort to lessen the importance of aesthetics in art
and literature. How artistic a piece of literature or art is and how it
affects its audience depends on many different things, such as the state
of art in a given society in which the piece has been created, the
artist's ability and knowledge, available resources for the creation and
presentation of that piece and so on. Modern Punjabi theater was not
possible three hundred years ago regardless of the fact that there may
have been thousands of people who had genuine commitment to theater. In
our view, instead of decreasing the significance of art and literature
when seen in connection to life, it increases its importance. By declaring
this, we as artists do not separate ourselves from life around us but
become one with life. We can look at hundreds of thousands of examples of
art and literature in the West which are alienated from life and are
created by people who are themselves alienated from life. If we, as
Punjabi artists, were not an intimate part of the life around us or if we
were to become alienated while living here, then our views of art and
literature would automatically change. But, until that unfortunate moment
happens why should we, for the sake of fashion, create art that is
alienated from our society. We understood that art and literature should
be developed within the social context and the highly acclaimed art and
literature of the world is a proof of this view. To our good fortune we
found many people not only from the Indo-Canadian community, but also from
the larger Canadian community who agreed with our view and who provided us
with much needed moral support.
It was also clear to us that the absence of Punjabi theater in Canada also
meant the absence of a Punjabi theater audience. One must remember that
the majority of the immigrants in our community have come from Punjabi
villages and until the mid - seventies there were not many opportunities
in the villages where one was exposed to modern theater. With this in
mind, the first thing that needed to be identified for building Punjabi
theater in Canada was, the audience for whom theater was to be developed.
It was not difficult to see that for the Punjabis the most important thing
was the content and especially the language of a film or play. They did
not pay much attention to modern techniques used in developing the film or
play. The most entertaining piece for them is the one that they can
directly or indirectly relate to. The more closely related the subject,
the more they would enjoy the piece. This is why one can easily understand
why a Punjabi audience is as much, if not more, delighted with technically
primitive Punjabi films, as they are with technically superior Hindi or
English films. The time has not yet arrived (perhaps still not arrived)
when a Punjabi audience would accept or reject a Punjabi film or play
based solely on its technical presentation. To say this is not to insult
the tastes of a Punjabi audience, but to present a stage in its
development. We need to develop our theater on sound foundations and we
need to create a serious audience for that theater as well. The only way
to achieve this was to begin at the very first stage.
We arrived at the conclusion that it is not necessary to go beyond one's
means to use all the available theatrical techniques to produce Punjabi
plays. If the resources allowed the use of certain techniques, then use
them by all means. The experience of many small theater groups in and
around Vancouver's larger community helped us to reach this conclusion.
Like other large centers in Canada and America, Vancouver is full of
theatrical activities of all types, sizes and shapes. One can go to a
production that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or one can also
visit numerous places where the production cost may not be more than a few
hundred dollars. The question for us was not whether to use all the
available techniques, rather it was a question of being able to afford it.
From other people's experience, we concluded that to become naked by
stretching one's feet farther than the sheet of cloth allotted was not a
very wise thing to do. We also felt that theatrical activities should not
be delayed until we were in a position to use available techniques and
more suitable venues. The whole point was not to fit the Punjabi theater
according to the available techniques rather fit the techniques to the
needs of Punjabi theater. Consequently, we decided that the development of
theater should be undertaken based on our own strength.
As mentioned earlier, the structure and dynamics of the group were also
discussed thoroughly. By keeping in mind the structural problems faced by
other organizations, we came to the conclusion that all members should be
at one level. There should be no 'star' or 'director' or any other kind of
hierarchy. Each active member will share in the decision-making. As far as
it was practically possible, each activity would be handled collectively.
It would not be a conventional structure where some people carry chairs
and others sit on them. The person sitting on the chair would also carry
it. No participant should ever feel that he or she is working for someone
else rather the feeling should always be that she is working for the
common goal of the organization and to achieve her personal artistic goal.
Whenever a member feels otherwise, he or she should raise this question in
the organization. Each member was to be fully responsible for the well
being of the organization in all its aspects.
While we were still at the stage of debating these issues we had an
opportunity to meet the soul of Punjabi theater, Mr. Gursharan Singh. He
was invited by IPANA to visit Canada with his theater group, Amritsar
Natak Kala Kendar (Drama Art Center). We had a chance to see some of his
plays and to discuss with him the various aspects of starting a community
based theater group. We learned from him in detail how he had established
his theater first in Amritsar and then took it to remote villages all over
Punjab. We were extremely happy and surprised to learn that our concept of
Community Theater was quite similar to what he had already done. He had
also developed a theater that could be easily performed with the least
number of props, since none were readily available in Punjab's villages.
Obviously, this chance to meet with him gave us enormous confidence in our
conception of how to develop theater in the Punjabi community here. We
were lucky to have some members of the Punjab Cultural Association join
us. These people were involved in cultural activities, especially folk
dance Bhangra, since 1971-72. And these were the people who had started
the tradition of Punjabi theater in Canada back in 1972. With this
addition, Vancouver Sath was ready to take on the responsibility of
developing Punjabi theater. In the beginning of 1984 Sath decided to
produce its first plays.
The Beginning and the Development of Sath Theater:
The difficulty we encountered was to decide which script to choose.
Clearly our first priority was to do a play that dealt with the life here,
but we had no appropriate script available to us. On the other hand, the
Punjab situation by this time had taken a more serious turn and it was
simply not possible to think about any other issue.
Finally, we decided on two plays. One written by a Sath member Makhan Tut,
Punjab Di Awaz (The Voice of Punjab) and the second written by Gursharan
Singh, Kursi Morcha te Hava Vich Latkde Lok (Chair, Battlefront and People
Dangling in the Air). Both were presented at an elementary school
auditorium in Vancouver in March 1984. The players who took part in both
of these plays were: Makhan Tut, Sukhwant Hundal, Balwinder Rode,
Gurcharan Tallewalia, Inderjit Rode, Paul Binning, Bhavkhandan and Sadhu
Binning. The response from the community was very encouraging. Later Sath
staged both of these plays in Williams Lake and Quesnel.
The Play 'Picket Line'
Sath members, as mentioned before, were also actively involved in the
struggle of B.C.'s farm workers. In the summer of 1984, there was a strike
by the farm workers in a lower mainland mushroom farm in Langley. Workers
on strike were mainly Punjabi women who showed remarkable determination to
win their rights from the employer. Along with many other progressive
people from the community, we also joined these workers on the picket line
on a regular basis. We had a first hand chance to learn about their
problems. Those women were going through tremendous personal revolutions
at the time. Coming from a feudal background it was a giant step for them
to stand on a picket line with placards around their necks. It was a big
change which meant throwing away values established centuries ago and to
take on a new set of values of the industrial society. They were faced by
many doubts and fears. The employers, who were also Punjabis, still wanted
to deal with them as they dealt with women in the feudal society. In order
to intimidate these workers, the employers were using all the old
practices and means of force such as using relationships, regional
loyalties, religious affiliations and so on. But, those women stood their
ground by helping and encouraging each other on every occasion.
By observing them on the picket line and being part of their struggle, we
(Sadhu Binning and Sukhwant Hundal) wrote our first play, Picket-Line.
This play was staged in November of the same year. Also staged at that
time was Gursharan Singh's play Havai Gole (Air-Balls).
Picket-Line provided us with the opportunity to test our theoretical views
on a practical level. It was written and developed collectively. All
decisions were made collectively. The people playing the eleven characters
in this play helped each other in developing the characters and deciding
on costumes and other matters. Each artist first worked on understanding
his or her own character in relation to the other characters. Each person
tried to develop the character on his/her own and the others pointed out
any weaknesses and gave suggestions that would improve the character. In
this production, there were five women, three of whom had never been on
the stage before, one was a Canadian born and had difficulty with the
Punjabi language. In total twelve people - Makhan Tut, Jagdish Binning,
Rachpal, Anju Hundal, Jas Binning, Inderjit Rode, Gurcharan Tallewalia,
Sukhwant Hundal, Amanpal Sara, Harjinder Sangra, Paul Binning and Sadhu
Binning - were involved in the production of this play - eleven performers
and one co-ordination. In the process of creating equality among
participants, Sath experimented (it was definitely a new thing for us)
with the direction of play. In the place of one director, a successful
play was produced with a collective effort. Some contemporaries described
it, contrary to our view, as a directionless play.
Picket-Line was a collective effort from the writing stage to its
presentation. The understanding among participants and their genuine
commitment to their work made an extremely difficult task relatively easy.
Picket-Line was later staged in English at the 1986 Vancouver Folk Music
Festival. The English production opened up many new doors for Vancouver
Sath. The most important achievement was that we were able to involve a
number of second generation people - Pindy Gill, Nick Sihota, Sital
Dhillon and Bhavna Bhangu - in our activities. We also received one
thousand dollars for doing this play, which was a totally new experience
for us - getting paid for what we wanted to do anyway. Similarly, because
it was in English, the media also paid some attention to our activities.
On the national scene, a long interview with Sath members was published in
the magazine Fuse. Locally, CBC and CJOR radio programs interviewed the
writers of the play. Dave Barret, the ex premier of B.C., and the host of
CJOR at the time made an emotional statement that Sath has made a
qualitative addition to the Canadian culture.
Other Plays
In 1985 Gursharan Singh of Amritsar Natak Kala Kendar was once again
invited to come to Canada. Vancouver Sath members had a chance to share
with him the experience of past two years. Sath produced Tootan Wala Khoo
(A Well With Mulberry Trees) under Gursharan Singh's direction at this
time. This play was Gursahran Singh's adaptation of a novel of the same
name by Sohan Singh Sital. Tootan Wala Khoo told a tragic tale of the
partition of Punjab in 1947 based on religious politics. The play had
direct message for the Punjabi people who were once again in the similar
situation where they were being forced to divide the community again based
on religion. The production of this play enraged the local proponents of
Khalistan and its presentation on the local multicultural television
channel was blocked for six months.
While the ongoing grave political situation of Punjab was a major concern
to all of us and Tootan Wala Khoo was another effort to address that
situation, our main focus was the problems of life in Canada. One of the
most serious issues faced by the community was and is, the manifold
exploitation of women, which often takes on a violent shape in many
situations. In the fall of 1985 Sath produced a play called Lattan De
Bhoot (Ghost that can only be handled with force) - written by Sadhu
Binning and Sukhwant Hundal. The play was based on a very tragic but true
story of a woman who was forced to sponsor relatives for immigration
purposes against her will. She was made to work like a slave in the house
and in a restaurant without getting anything in return. She was physically
beaten on a regular basis. A coworker in the restaurant eventually learned
of her plight and helped her escape from the clutches of her relatives.
The play helped to intensify the on going discussion on this issue in the
community.
Next two areas that Sath decided to explore were the problems faced by the
elderly in their new surroundings in Canada and the ever-present matter of
arranged marriages. To make people aware of the day to day difficulties
faced by the Punjabi elderly, especially outside the home environment, a
play called Havelian Te Parkan (Mansions and Parks by Sadhu Binning and
Sukhwant Hundal) was written and produced in early 1987. At the same time
a second play called Kihda Viah? (Whose Marriage? by Sadhu Binning and
Sukhwant Hundal) was produced. The play questioned parents' attitudes
concerning marriage. The views of the young people, whose marriage was
being planned, were totally ignored. We intentionally poked fun at parents
and took the side of the young. The stage production of the play was
recorded on a video and aired on the local multicultural channel. As
expected, it started a lively discussion in the community.
In the fall of 1987 the women members of the Vancouver Sath were invited
to do a play in a conference on women's issues. Anju Hundal, Jagdish
Binning, Harjinder Sangra and Pindy Gill collectively wrote and produced a
play called Different Age Same Cage. They also played the male characters.
It showed three different stages in the life of woman. While young, she is
treated as a lower class of human being in comparison to her brother; in a
marriage situation she is slave to her husband; in her old age she has to
looks after her grandchildren and when not needed, pushed out of the house
due to economic pressures on a immigrant family. The play was a hit with
the audience and has been presented more than two dozen times at various
locations since then. Originally written in English later it was
translated into Punjabi and was done as a street play in the Punjabi
market on Main Street in Vancouver in the summer of 1989.
In early 1988 Sath produced another play about the situation of Punjabi
farm workers. The focus this time was the use of pesticides in the
agricultural industry. Most of the immigrant farm workers had not dealt
with these kinds of dangerous chemicals in their prior life experience,
though most had come from an agricultural background. Numerous cases of
pesticide poisoning and deaths were recorded in the Lower Fraser Valley
including a much discussed case in the media was of Jarnail Singh Deol, a
young man who had died as a direct result of pesticides. One major problem
faced in educating workers about the dangers of pesticides, was the old
values and loyalties held by them. The workers tended to downplay the
dangers and put tremendous amount of trust in contractors and farmers who
were mainly from the same background. The play entitled A Crop of Poison
questioned these old feudal values and loyalties and encouraged farm
workers to deal with these matters in a more rational manner. Both plays A
Crop of Poison and Picket Line were performed in Mission, Abbottsford,
Langley, Surrey and Vancouver as part of a tour organized by Deol
Agricultural Education and Research Society and Canadian Farmworkers
Union. At the end of the tour A Crop of Poison was also performed in
English at the Vancouver East Cultural Center as part of the Mayworks
Festival.
In the following year A Lesson of a Different Kind by Sadhu Binning was
produced highlighting the exploitative situation of the immigrant
janitorial workers. This production has been repeated a number of times
since.
A second play dealing with the issue of violence against women Not A Small
Matter was written by Anju Hundal, Jagdish Binning, Harjinder Sangra,
Sukhwant Hundal and Sadhu Binning. This play has been staged both in
Punjabi and English at a number of locations and also produced as a video
play sponsored by People's Law School of Vancouver.
Epilogue
In 1988 Sath members translated Maluka, a novel based on the early
experience of Indians living and working in B.C. The author Sadhu Singh
Dhami, who lives in Switzerland, was invited to launch the book. A play
based on this novel Maluke Da Paihla Vishav Vidialia (First University of
Maluka by Sadhu Binning and Sukhwant Hundal) was produced and staged in
Vancouver.
In 1989 The Indo-Canadian community commemorated the seventy fifth
anniversary of Komagata Maru. Vancouver Sath prepared a photo exhibition.
An entire issue of Punjabi magazine Watan was devoted to the event. A play
Samundary Sher Nal Larrai (A Battle with the Sea Lion - Sadhu Binning and
Sukhwant Hundal) was also written for this event.
Since 1984, Sath has produced more than a dozen original plays, which deal
with the Indo-Canadian experience. Along with theater, Sath has
continuously carried out other activities such as workshops, seminars,
book launches, translation work and publications. All this has been
achieved without any kind of funding from any government or private agency
(except a grant to start the magazine Ankur) without having a permanent
place to meet or rehearse and by people who have been holding full time
jobs or are full time students.
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