LAHORE: Ajoka Institute’s Art of Writing students presented dramatic readings at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) on Saturday evening.

Five writings including drama scripts, screenplays and short stories were developed during a three-month course mentored by playwright Shahid Nadeem. They were “Split” by Fatima Umar, a stage play which revolves around a character with split personality disorder, causing confusion and chaos.

It was followed by Noor Malik’s “Babaji ki Wapsi”, a story of fake spiritual healing as narrated by a dim-witted boy-servant. Next was a screenplay by Saliha Maryam about the life of stuntman who turned out to be a real-life hero.

In “Writer’s Revenge”, Moeez Rehman developed a script about the unexpected revenge of a new writer who is humiliated by nasty critics at a literary meeting. The session ended with script for stage by Hassan Zaidi titled “Rozina ka Khawb”, the story of a little known singer whose dream of royal performance comes true in bizarre circumstances.

All scripts were original and the event was coordinated by Qurratul Ain Taj and Ajoka’s acting/writing students who joined the readings were Sabahat Moazzam, Fahad Amir, Fizza Tirmizi, Mian Meesam, M. Ahsan and Sannia Tiwana.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2022