In the wake of a tragic past month, Karachi got a jolt of positive energy, the kind that comes when young people inspire hope with their vitality and resilience. On Wednesday evening, a troupe of sixty young performers from Lyari put up a one-day show at the NAPA auditorium, where they performed an Urdu adaptation of American playwright Sandra Asher’s A Bunch of Clowns.

They sang, they danced, strummed their guitars, thumped on their hand drums, and hummed their harmonies to perfection, stealing the hearts of all in attendance and earning a well-deserved standing ovation - a big achievement because they only began their performance arts training in April last year.

Freshly graduated from the first phase of Nida Butt and Hamza Jafri’s Lyari Stars programme, this lively bunch wowed the crowd with their talent after just six months of training at the free after school multi-disciplinary arts education programme taking place at the MAD School.

The play was performed for a more intimate gathering of the kids’ parents and siblings at the MAD School in November this year, as a primer for this big performance. Wednesday night marked the culmination of Phase I of the kids’ training, as they took home the lifelong gift of a creative outlet and memories of roaring applause.

But the kids have a long way to go, and Phase 2 is set to commence in March 2015, for which Nida’s Music Art Dance School Society is seeking sponsors from the local community.