3-Day Theatre Event In Koraput From Tomorrow

Koraput: Koraput-based theatre group Nandanik would organise a three-day theater event here from Wednesday on its fourth foundation day.

Foundation Day Lecture will be introduced from this year. The lecture, titled ‘The relevance of non proscenium theatre in the present scenario’ will be delivered by noted theatre director Subodh Patnaik.

The Nandanik will also give Asim Basu Memorial Award on the same day to a young theatre artist as a mark of encouragement. The award is named after Asim Basu, the late thespian of Odisha Theatre. Saumendra Kumar Swain from Koraput will receive this award.

Creative director of Nandanik, Sourav Gupta said, “We at Nandanik believe that theatre is an academic process which demands intellectual discourse which is provided by lectures. The foundation day lecture is an opportunity to enhance our knowledge on theatre which will be beneficial to form new ideas and better performances.”

Nandanik is going to organise the 3rd edition of the Deomali Jatiya Natya Mahotsava 2018 on second and third days of the event. The festival will feature plays by teams from Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Kolkata and Koraput.

Arjun Samataray from Bhubaneswar will perform his solo ‘Ichcha’. Rajesh Panda with his batch mates of Drama Department of Sambalpur University will perform ‘Station’ under the banner of Natyashala.

 Nandanik will premiere its new play ‘Takshaka’ by Manoj Mitra under the direction of Sourav Gupta.

The main attraction of this festival is the staging of Kushilab, a Bangla play by the 52 year old Theatre Workshop from Kolkata.

The play is a solo performance by Ashok Mukhopadhyay, a veteran of Bangla theatre stage who has worked with greats like Sambhu Mitra, Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay and Satyajit Ray to name a few.

The Deomali Jatiya Natya Mahotsava is a multi state multi-language theatre festival started in 2016 by Nandanik with an aim to facilitate cultural exchange between theatre of Odisha and other states.

In last two years plays have been staged in Odia, Bangla, Marathi, Hindi and Urdu language.

“We have invited young theatre directors to showcase their work and also a veteran like Ashok Mukhopadhyay so that we may learn from him. The festival will provide a platform of cultural exchange between the theatre artists of different areas,” said Nandanik secretary Monideepa Gupta.

The theatre group Nandanik was formed in 2016. It has collaborated with national government organisations like Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata and Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi.