KARACHI, Nov 20: It was truly a day of children who mesmerised the audience at the Arts Council auditorium, which was packed to its capacity, through their performance in a multimedia theatre show orgainsed on Tuesday to mark the Universal Children Day.

Short plays, prose reading, musical and other performances staged by the children from 13 different schools of the city received huge round of applause from the audience.

Dua was the most impressive part of it when all the young artistes, dressed in colourful costumes, came on the stage with candles in their hands and performed on a poem of Faiz Ahmed Faiz in Nayyara Noor’s voice played in the background.

A group of special children of ABSA School for the Deaf depicted the story of a Japanese girl through their dance. The story revolves around the girl, Sadako, who became a victim of the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima in 1945 and whose paper-made cranes became a symbol of peace across the globe.

A classical dance to the Odyssey and a stunning performance to Brian Keenan’s poem about the destructive and constructive capacities of human hands were presented by the students of Sadia Khan.

Students of Bayview High School, Clifton, read the excerpts from Chief Seattle’s powerful environmental reply to the ‘white man’ in Washington in 1834.

Students of British Overseas School read excerpts from Arundhati Roy’s article “end of imagination about the horrors of nuclear weapon.

Children from the AMI School impressed the audience through their tableau based on Sahir Ludhyanvi’s poem against war, violence and injustice.

Students of Arts and Science Academy, Shireen Jinnah Colony, staged a play on jungle. The story revolved around animal characters, each struggling to get his favourite tree saved from being chopped down.

PECHS Girls’ School children performed on a song based on a famous poem Banjaranama, by Nazir Akbarabadi.

A short play, themed on an olden phrase ‘as you sow so shall you reap’, was staged by the students of Foundation Public School, DHA campus. Students from Rakhshinda Public School, Orangi Town, staged a play, based on a satirical lesson on social evils and mathematics from the Ibne Insha’s book, Urdu ki aakhri kitab.

A comedy play about positive social change in a cockroach-infested settlement was staged by children of Falconhouse Grammer School, Nazimabad.

Four students of Nasra School, Korangi, and a student of The Citizen’s Foundation School presented dramatised presentations of two poems by Zeeshan Sahil.

A musical piece about our collective responsibility of looking after the environment was presented by children of the Happy Home School, Society campus. The athletes of Special Olympics were paid a special tribute towards the end of the programme.

The event was organised by the Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights as part of its campaign on the theme “We have the power”.