Envisioned and produced by playwrights Sarbpreet Singh and J. Mehr Kaur, the play is being staged in Boston on 28 September 2014.

“Kultar’s Mime is a scream of pain. A cry of rage at the unending pattern of injustice and targets the weak and the poor. A never ending pattern that transcends geography, culture and time,” said Sarbpreet Singh who wrote the original poem that the play is based on.

According to J Mehr Kaur, who adapted the poem for the stage and directed the premier of Kultar’s Mime,“In creating the world of this play, I wanted to explore the ways in which a story of oppression can become even more urgent and meaningful when a group of 'outsiders' chooses to bring it to life. The young artists and activists in the play discover, through their own experience of this history, that the events of 1984 in Delhi were not only an inexcusable breach of the rights of Sikhs, but a violation of the rights of humanity. The production is an immersive work of theatre that allows the audience to experience the space as an art gallery, through which they are led by the characters in the play, learning about the haunted neighborhood of Tilakvihar, and its forgotten children.”

Synopsis: On April 6, 1903, the city of Kishinev, the capital of the Russian province of Bessarabia erupted in violence. A horrific pogrom that targeted the Jews of Kishinev left hundreds dead and homeless. The young Hebrew poet, Haim Nahman Bialik wrote one of his most famous poems; ‘In the City of Slaughter’ in response to the Kishinev pogrom just as Kultar’s Mime was written in response to the 1984 Delhi Pogrom.

A collective of young Jewish artists, influenced by Bialik’s poem decide to commemorate the Kishinev Pogrom by organizing an art and reading excerpts from the poem. It occurs to them that it would be very powerful to honor the suffering of the innocent victims of Kishinev by shining the spotlight on other similar instances of organized violence that the world has largely forgotten. They decide to honor the victims of Kishinev by highlighting the pain of the Sikh children of Delhi, who suffered similar horrors.

The play is also scheduled to be performed in New York City, New Jersey, Toronto and Ottawa in October 2014.

An ensemble cast of professional Boston area actors has been assembled for the play.

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Media Contact: Sarbpreet Singh | KM1984@SikhRI.org | 1-508-410-8326