Playwright: Bratya Basu
Director: Sujan Mukhopadhyay
Group: Chetana, Kolkata
Language: Bengali
Duration: 2 hrs 10 mins

The Play
The childless couple of ancient Athens, Greece, King Xuthus and his gorgeous wife Queen Creusa, seeks the blessing of God Boreas and then visits God Apollo’s temple in Delphi. Priestess Daphnis informs Creusa, daughter of King Erectheus, about the oracle of God Apollo that the royal couple will soon bear a male child, Doris. But till the prophecy comes true, they will have to adopt the attractive and handsome young man, Ion, who has grown up in the temple and crown him the prince of Athens. While King Xuthus happily agrees to obey the divine command, the Queen does not. As the King goes ahead with the plan of the adoption ceremony Creusa loses her cool and conspires with her servant Danius to kill Ion by poisoning his drink. Danius fails to carry out her order and gets caught red handed. Aghast, Ion returns to the temple of Delphi. Creusa admits her role in this conspiracy publicly. King Xuthus has no option but to initiate the trial for justice in a democracy. The arguments and counter arguments in the trial come to an abrupt end after the sudden appearance of Delphi’s chambermaid, Pythia. The truth about Ion’s birth leaves the royal couple stunned and overwhelmed…

Director’s Note
There lies an innate resemblance in almost all the stories of tragedy of human conflicts and political conspiracies; and of the great wars waged by men. The most significant resemblance lies in their staying relevant throughout the years. Therefore, to rediscover the age-old mythical tale of ‘Ion and Creusa’, Bratya Basu penned Queen Creusa, a tragic-satire. In the play, where the people demand retribution for a sacrilegious crime committed by the Queen herself, the hypocrisies of the elite are elucidated and illuminated as the fallacies hidden in the constitutional structure.

The Director
Sujan Mukhopadhyay has acted in about 30 plays and written several scripts for theatre, television and cinema. He was awarded the Stagecraft Award for Ghasiram Kotwal and Popular Viewer’s Choice Award for Don..Take Bhalo Lage. He has performed in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Chennai and all the major cities of India, as well as USA. He has also directed a Bengali feature film Chocolate (available on Netflix).

The Playwright
Bratya Basu is an accomplished theatre artist, a playwright and director who started his career as a sound operator. He is a theatre thinker and activist, and has served Bengali theatre for nearly 20 years. His plays have been staged by eminent directors and a compilation of his plays has been published in three volumes.

The Group
Chetana was founded in 1972. It has produced 33 full-length Plays and 13 short Plays in its journey of 46 years. Chetana received numerous awards and citation from various cultural institutions. It has organised a number of Theatre Festivals, Seminars and Workshops etc., and performed in all the districts of West Bengal and in almost all the major cities of India. Chetana has staged different plays in the Theatre Festivals organised by the National School of Drama and Sangeet Natak Akademi. It has toured USA and Canada with its productions in 1980 and 1990. Chetana performed Mareech Sangbad in Bourdeaux (France) in 1999. Sponsored by the ICCR it took part in the Ibsen International Theatre Festival held in Oslo (Norway) in 2004 and performed in London (UK) the same year.

Cast & Credits
Rani Creusa                         Nivedita Mukhopadhyay
Glaucas                                Supriya Dutta
Raja Xuthus                         Shaheb Chattopadhyay
Ion                                       Subhra Sourav Das
Eziptus                                Tarun Bhattacharyya
Senior Priest                        Amitabha Ghosh
Danaus                                Sushovan Guha
Orion                                    Rahul Sen Roy
Petroclus                              Rajat Narayan Bhattacharya
Clotho                                  Somrashmi Ghosh
Lachesis                               Monalisa Das
Atropos                                Ashmita Ghosh
Pythia                                  Ruma Bakhuli
Daphnis                               Santwana Banerjee
Singer                                  Daayaad Mukherjee
Chorus                                Parikshit Ghosh, Debashis Naskar, Biswajit Nayak,  Prateek Banerjee, Parag Roy, Sayan Maji

Music                                    Prabuddha Banerjee
Light                                     Soumen Chakraborty
Sound                                  Anindyo Nandy
Costume                             Prabal Mondal
Make-up                              Ayon Ghosh
Set                                       Partha Majumdar
Vocalists                              Dipanwita Chowdhury, Dibyendu Mukherjee, Sujan Mukhopadhyay, Shaheb Chattopadhyay, Prabuddha Banerjee, Bodhisattwa Banerjee
Assistant Director                Snehansu Biswas

Playwright                              Bratya Basu
Director                                  Sujan Mukhopadhyay

Contacts
Chetana
131, N.S.C. Bose Road, Govt. Housing Est.
Block-7, Flat 2 Kolkata – 700040, West Bengal
M: +91 9433075751, 9830253530
E: chetanakolkata.1972@gmail.com
sujanmukhopadhyay@gmail.com

Watch Prof. Khushalani’s review of the play and interview with the director –

https://youtu.be/9x4IIdxNTPU?t=3724

Playwright: Girish Karnad
Translator: Sukesh Panda
Director: Nalini Nihar Nayak
Group: New Quest Repertory, Rourkela
Language: Odia
Duration: 2 hrs 15 mins

The Play
Almost all creation, be it animals, birds, trees or men, has two elemental components – male and female. Each wishes to keep the other under subjugation. Girish Karnad, in his play Nagamandal conveys that the companions should remain complementary to each other. Rani weds Apanna, who has the typical ‘I am the master’ role and expects his wife to submit unquestioningly to his shenanigans. Suppression of womanhood in this male-dominated society is a common phenomenon. The writer advocates gender-justice and freedom through Rani. By integrating folk tales into the play he has been able to create a drama of varied hues.

Director’s Note
Trouble in the universal yet intricately delicate relationship between a man and a woman creates an imbalance, a disturbing ripple. Incorporating this social message, the play Nagamandal by Girish Karnad really fascinated me. I am able to relate to folktales and legends of such essence, since they are prevalent in my culture, land, and people. Hence I was allured to recreate this folktale. And in doing so I used many indigenous and dying art-forms of Odisha like Mayurbhanj Chhau dance, Odissi dance and song, Sambalpuri dance and songs, etc. The music is played using classical instruments, for classical dance forms beginning with Ranapa to Odissi and Bharatnatyam. I have tried to make it a musical and choreographically expressive play, hoping it will be well received by the audience.

The Director
Nalini Nihar Nayak is a well-known theatre director, actor, designer, and music composer of Odisha. He is a trained Chhau dancer in the Mayurbhanj style and has won many awards like the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2012 in the field of theatre direction awarded by Sangeet Natak Akademi, Rajiv Gandhi Professional Award, National Youth Award, Baisakhi National Excellency Award, National Natya Vibhushan, and more than 200 Government & non-Government Awards. He has acted in 85 plays, directed 41 plays throughout India and abroad. He has participated in SNA Festival New Delhi; EZCC Festival; National Youth Festival; Inter-University theatre festival; Bharat rang Mahotsav and many more.

The Playwright
Girish Raghunath Karnad was an Indian actor, film director and Kannada writer. He is the recipient of Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India. For four decades Karnad composed plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He was also active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, and earning numerous awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

The Group
New Quest Repertory was established in 2003, under leadership of Nalini Nihar Nayak, with an objective to train young artists in theatre and to use their learning in professionally; to resurrect the dying art form of Odisha. It has participated in festivals organized by Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, Yuva Pratibha Mahostav, and SNA New Delhi; and experimental theatre festivals hosted by EZCC, Kolkata; National Youth Festival by Ministry of Youth Affairs, Govt. of India; 18th Bharat Rang Mahotsav, NSD; National Theatre Festival by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; Konark Festival and many more across the country besides theatre festivals by Govt. and non-Govt. organizations.

Cast & Credits
On Stage                                                  Niranjan Acharya, Lalatendu Panigrahy, Pragyan Ranjan                                                                           Panda, Dwiti Krushna Panda, Swarup Ranjan Das, Chinmaya                                                                     Kumar Panda, Nabakishore Ghosh, Soumyaranjan Mohanty,                                                                     Pankaj Nath, Dinesh Mohanty, Surajsatapathy, Barsharani                                                                         Barik, Rashmita Das, Pinkiraninayak, Afreen Begum,                                                                                   Shubhasmita Singh, Manasi Das, Tanushree Parida

Sound                                                       Jasobanta Narayan Ray
Light                                                          Sagar Swaroop Swain
Set                                                            Chintamani Biswal
Make-up                                                    Ramesh Chandra Sahoo
Music                                                         Kailash Chandra Senapati
Props                                                         Amit Kumar Meher
Camera                                                     Dipankar Janah

Odia Translation                                       Sukesh Panda
Playwright                                                 Girish Karnad
Choreography, Light,
Design & Direction                                   Nalini Nihar Nayak

Contacts
Director, New Quest Repertory
TF-7, NIT, Rourkela 769008
Distt. Sundragarh, Odisha
M: +91 9937556626, 7978071741
E: nalinidrama@gmail.com

Watch Professor Khushlani’s review of the play and interview with directors –

https://youtu.be/9x4IIdxNTPU?t=124

Playwright & Director: Abhishek Garg
Group: Switch on Scurry Art Organization, Bhopal
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 hr 10 mins

The Play
The central character of this story is Madhav, the best student in the ashram. Guruji is very happy with the helpful nature of Madhav and gives him a magic shankh which can fulfill all his wishes and desires. But Guruji puts a condition with this magical shankh that although whatever Madhav asks for himself will be duly fulfilled, but along with that his neighbour will get the double of the same.
So Madhav, out of jealousy, does not ask anything from the shankh, so that his neighbor shouldn’t benefit from it. In the end he realize his mistake. This play compels the audience to see where we are headed in the present society and its degenerating values.

Director’s Note
With the meaning of humanity gradually dying and man being totally self-driven, no one comes forward to help others and those who do make an effort, find themselves trapped. Thus I found this interesting folk tale apt in the context of present times. This play is a comic satire and the most important part is the style of the script and performance which has been woven around songs and poetic dialogues. This performance compels the audience to think and change its attitude and behaviour towards the world around it.

The Director & Playwright
The journey of playwright & director Abhishek Garg started in 2001 with Jabalpur’s Vivechana Rangmandal, in which he acted in various plays including street plays. He joined Bharatendu Natya Akademi, Lucknow in 2007 and after completing PG diploma in 2009, was selected by Theatre-in-Education (Sanskar Rang Toli) as actor-teacher (Acting). He completed his tenure there in 2016 and since then he is carrying forward his theatre activities with his own group Switch On Scurry Art Organisation.

The Group
Switch on Scurry Art Organization, Bhopal has been producing and performing plays since 2015. It started with a solo drama Nachani written by Bhanu Bharati. Since then the group has been staging plays every year viz. Kaggrajraj, specially designed for children, parents and teachers; two nukkad dramas, Bhagmabh and Cham Chama Chaat; and Jas Sangat Tas Rangat, performed in Yashodhara theatre festival organized by Tribal Boli and Vikas Academy of Bhopal, and selected for the 4th Minerva Theatre Festival (2019) organized by the Ministry of Culture of West Bengal. The group has also performed shows of its plays with the help of Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi and in different cities of Madhya Pradesh. This year it has produced a new play Jadu Mantar, based on a Bundeli folk tale, which will soon be staged at different theatres.

Cast & Credits
Guruji, Dhol (Padosi Bachcha1) Wasim Khan
Buddhia Ramesh Ahire
Hariya Rahul Jadhav
Maakhan Ashwini Mishra (Prabhu)
Rukmini (Rakku, Makhan’s Wife) Priyanka Garg
Gachar (Bachcha 1) Vivek Tripathi
Pachar (Bachcha 2) Tilak Sharma
Seth, Dhamaka (Padosi Baccha2) Priyesh Pal
Birju (Maakhan ka Padosi) Amitesh Pratap Singh
Lila (Birju’s Wife) Sangatna Bankar
Chorus All Artists

Stage Management Priyesh Pal
Stage Design Assistance Ashwini Mishra
Light Design & Operation Dhannulal Sinha
Music Shruti-Dharmesh
Rhythm T.S. Dharmesh, Prashant Shrivastav, Shrutdharmeet
Harmonium T.S. Dharmesh
Singers T.S. Dharmesh, Shruti Rawat, Shailender Soni,
Nikhil Bakare, Bhavna Navale, Swati Saraf, Priyanka Garg
Percussion Shruti Rawat & Priyanka Garg
Speed Control Wasim Khan
Costumes Design Priyanka Garg
Costume Making Rakesh Bhaiyya
Gond Painting Rashmi Acharya
assisted by Priyanka, Gunjan, Sangartana, Nupur, Priyesh, Amitesh, Priti, Tilak
Head-Gears Mukesh Prajapati
Stage Property Devendra Sharma (Joshi Ji)
Make-Up Sonam Sahni
Assistant Director Wasim Khan

Playwright & Director Abhishek Garg

Contacts
Director,
Switch on Scurry Art Organization
E-8, 290 Trilanga, Bhopal, M.P
M: +91 9717156005
E: abhishek81garg@gmail.com

Poet: Farid-ud-Din Attar
Director: Wendy Jehlen
Group: Anikaya, USA
Language: English (???)
Duration: 1 hr 20 mins

The Play
Conference of the Birds is an evening-length movement theatre work, conceived and directed by Wendy Jehlen and inspired by the epic poem of Farid ud Din Attar. It is a tale of a group of birds that set off in search of the mythical bird, the Simurgh.  Many of the birds abandon the quest. When the remaining birds arrive in the land of the Simurgh, they find themselves reflected… they are the Simurgh. We use Attar’s text as a frame for narratives gathered from refugees and other migratory people, symbolizing the journey that we, the diversity that is humanity, take together. It is a story of found community, of the necessity of difference. Conference of the Birds has been supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, The Boston Foundation, Jacob’s Pillow, Arts Emerson, Theatre Communications Group, New Music/USA and National Endowment for the Arts.

Director’s Note
Conference of the Birds poses the question: How can we be different together? The performance proposes an answer. Anikaya explores this question by translating contemporary migrant stories into dance. In the creation of the work, the company directly engaged with refugee and other migrant communities throughout the creative process. Through a community-based, artist-led process, we have created a framework within which a dynamic evolving presentation can happen – relevant to the moment. Conference of the Birds addresses many narratives at once. It addresses issues pertinent to religious and cultural minorities, gender and sexuality, refugees, and works to counteract xenophobia in its many manifestations – both in content and in the composition of the company. Re-contextualising this classical Sufi text illuminates current moment in history, bringing to full circle the idea that human history is a history of movement, mingling and entanglements.

The Director
Wendy Jehlen’s career has been marked by international explorations, study and creative collaboration. Wendy engages in collaborations across languages, culture, media and genres. Her work questions the boundaries that we imagine between ourselves, and seeks to break down these imagined walls through an embodied practice of radical empathy. Her unique approach to choreography incorporates elements of Bharat Natyam, Odissi, Capoeira, Kalaripayattu, West African dance, Butoh, and a wide-range of contemporary movement forms. Her emotionally powerful choreography has been created and performed in the US, Canada, Italy, India, Japan, Brazil, Benin, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Mali and Turkey. Her works include Delicateness in Times of Brutality (2017), a duet with Deaf Butoh artist Dakei; Entangling (2015), a duet inspired by Quantum Entanglement; The Deep (2015), a work for 25 dancers created in Brazil; Lilith (2013), a solo on the first woman; The Knocking Within (2012), an evening-length duet on a disintegrating relationship; Forest (2010), a journey through the archetypal forest; and He Who Burns (2006).

The Poet
Abū Ḥamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm, better known by his pen-name Farīd ud-Dīn Aṭṭār, was a Persian poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry and Sufism. Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr (The Conference of the Birds) and Ilāhī-Nāma (The Book of Divine) are among his most famous works.

The Group
Anikaya’s mission is to break down the perceived boundaries between people, cultures and art forms. Our work has so far extended to the US, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mali and Turkey. Anikaya weaves together music, dance and storytelling to create works that pull from the full range of the body’s communicative capabilities. We incorporate traditional forms, internalizing them and then allowing them to reemerge as part of a new contemporary movement vocabulary. The result is work that is resonant of deep-rooted traditions, without being bound to any particular genre, place or practice. The ensemble includes performers from Benin, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, India/South Africa, Japan, Turkey and the US.

Cast & Credits
Dancers                                   Ibrahim Abdo (Egypt), Yasin Anar (Turkey), Sarveshan Gangen (South                                                      Africa/India), Kae Ishimoto (Japan), Danang Pamungkas (Indonesia),                                                        Luciane Ramos da Silva (Brazil)

Music created by                     Fraction (Eric Raynaud) (France), Shaw Pong Liu (USA), Shaho Andalibi                                                  (Iran/Canada), Deraldo Ferreira (Brazil/USA)
Light Design                            Stephen Petrilli (USA)
Light execution                       Gregory Casparian (USA)
Projection Design                  David Bengali (USA)
Calligraphy artist
& content consultant              Pouya Jahanshahi (Iran/USA)

Director/Choreographer        Wendy Jehlen (USA)

Contacts
Director, Anikaya
67 Dane St., Somerville, Massachusetts,
USA- 002143
M: +1 6178617930
E: wendyjehlen@gmail.com

Playwright: Dharmavir Bharati
Translation: Sukesh Panda
Director: Chavan Pramod R.
Group: Department of Dramatics, M.S. University, Vadodara
Language: Gujarati
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
Prologue: The prevailing fight between power and survival in the world, the wrath of the blind age.
Act 1: Dhrutarashtra and Gandhari crying for their dying sons and eagerly waiting for Sanjay. The Vrudhha Yachak enters with his predictions.
Act 2: Ashwatthama transforms himself into a destructive being and tries to kill Sanjay and Vrudhha Yachak, Krutvarma and Krupacharya question Ashwatthama’s intentions.
Act 3: Yuyutsu enters Hastinapur after winning battle with Pandvas, and Gandhari dishonours him. Ashwatthama justifies his intentions, and Krutvarma and Krupacharya join his struggle.
Interlude: The Vruddha Yachak explains Andha Yug and the characters give a description of their world.
Act 4: Vidur and Sanjay narrate the details of Ashwatthama’s cruelty to Gandhari. Ashwatthama releases Brahmastra. Sanjay leads Gandhari to the corpse of Duryodhan. Gandhari blames Krishna and curses him.
Epilogue: Question – “How to save humanity?”

Director’s Note
This piece of work focuses solely on the thematic content of the play, rather than abiding by the conventional structure. It attempts to look beyond the barriers of time and space and emerges subtly and symbolically. The questions raised are regarding human tolerance and the atrocities of war, where women, children and youth are the major victims. “When will the world be peaceful?” is the quintessential quest. I have attempted to depict my perceptions about how various systems drive a region and its inhabitants into insoluble problems of restless society and political turmoil, where the sole sufferers are the common people.

The Director
A recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Ustad Bismillah Khan National Award for Theatre Direction, Dr. Chavan Pramod R. is a disciple of Guru Kavalam N. Panikkar, under whose guidance he pursued training of Natyashastra and Sanskrit Theatre. He also underwent the basic training of Kutiyattam at Kalamandalam and worked in-depth on different forms of Kerala. Dr. Chavan Pramod has done Ph.D., Masters and Bachelors in Theatre with 4 gold medals from the Dramatics Department, M. S. University of Baroda. Some of the plays designed and directed by him are Andhayug, Uttararmcharitam, Venisamhara, Ashadh Ka Ek Din, Waiting for Godot, Vikramorvashiyam’s fourth Act, Dak Ghar, Juloos, Hayavadan etc. His book Rang Saptak – An Anthology of Panikkar’s Plays Translated in Hindi has been published by Rajkamal Prakashan.

The Playwright
Dharmavir Bharati was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular magazine Dharmayug. Bharati was awarded the Padmashri for literature in 1972 and Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in playwriting in 1988. Prominent works by him include Gunahon ka Devta, Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda, Andha Yug etc.

The Group
Department of Dramatics, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda has nurtured a number of aspiring artists wanting to pursue theatre as profession. Along with the academic experience it also creates a platform for art events, festivals, workshops, seminars and research. It has started “Satur Theatre” to inculcate performance skills in the students and orient audiences for the Theatre Movement. It has been conducting the Manch Parva – National Theatre Festival since 2011.

Cast & Credits
Gandhari 1                                     Mallika Lokhande
Gandhari 2                                     Riya Doshi
Gandhari 3                                     Vaidesha Lobiyal
Dhrutarashtra                                 Shashank Jha
Ashwathama                                  Bhavesh Thakarel
Yuyutsu                                          Priyank Gangwani
Sanjay                                           Saket Chouhan
VruddhaYachak/
Western Dance                             Prashanjit Dey
Vidura                                           Mohammad Nawaz Khan
Krutvarma /Western Dance          Akhil Nair
Krupacharya                                 Hardik Soni
Prahari 1                                       Nirav Popat
Prahari 2 /Fashion Show              Himadri Vyas
Vyasa/Fashion Show                   Ivan MD Khan
Chorus 1/Western Dance/
Fashion Show                              Parth Nair
Chorus 2                                      Sanket Chouhan
Garba Dance                               Nupur Thaker, Shweta Jain

Music Composer
& Vocal                                        Vipul Barot
Music Composer
& Instrument                               Manish Barot
Music Arranger                           Birju Kanthariya
Music Operator                           Sanket Chouhan / Riken Chokshi
Light Design                               Rishikesh Karanjgaokar
Make-up                                     Gaurav Chaturvedi

Playwright                                  Dharmvir Bharati
Director                                      Chavan Pramod R.

Contacts
Dr. Chavan Pramod R.
Director, Department of Dramatics
Faculty of Performing Arts
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Opp. Sursagar, Nyay-Mandir, Gujarat
Vadodara- 390001
M: +91 9898822624
E: chavan_pramoduma@yahoo.co.in
chavan.pramod-dramatics@msubaroda.ac.in

GREASE YAKA RETURNS

Playwrights & Directors: Nishantha de Silva & Rajitha Hettiarachchi
Group: Ananda Drama, Sri Lanka
Language: English
Duration: 1 hr 05 mins

The Play
Prologue – Fear Walks
Study Partners – Sahani and Arun ‘study’ despite Kalana, when they see their creepy neighbour.
Lu, Lu – Sahani posts a story that goes viral.
Bus Stand – Kanthi and her daughter Charini learn about the grease yaka.
Shoe Shopping – Arukshi is shoe-shopping with Kishan, helped by a greasy salesman.
Lunchtime – Supun, Hansani, Ms. Shriya and Mr. Manjula are public servants. What happened to their dessert?
Channel Surfing – TV shows enthrall the nation. What is this grease disease?
Warriors – Sahani conducts a make-up tutorial, but can ‘darkies’ discuss beauty?
Spilt Coffee – Charini appeals to Arukshi for help against discrimination.
Fairness Treatment – Sahani needs help to become fairer.
Mirror – The politicians are with us.
The Cure – Kanthi seeks medical help for Charini.
Consequences – Riots!
Another Beginning – We look to our leaders.
Epilogue: A Mother’s Love – Is there a cure?

Directors’ Note
The Grease Yaka (grease demon) myth describes scantily clad, grease covered men suspected of crimes ranging from voyeurism to rape to abduction and murder in Sri Lanka. Although no grease yakas were ever caught, grease yaka ‘sightings’ hogged the headlines from time to time, causing widespread alarm and panic, especially during the conflict period. Ananda Drama’s Grease Yaka (2014) examined the emergence and proliferation of fears in the society by using this urban legend as a metaphor and a tool.
Grease Yaka Returns, first staged in 2018, explores the corrosive and sometimes devastating consequences of those fears. It looks at how easily distrust can be sown between various groups in the society through the aggregation of relatively small event and incidents. It looks at how quickly this distrust can morph into social divisions, sometimes even erupting in violence. It holds a mirror, and a warning, to the society.

The Directors & Playwrights
Nishantha de Silva is the founder of Ananda Drama, a non-profit theatre company based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Before Grease Yaka Returns (2018), Nishantha co-wrote and directed the trilingual political satire Picket Republic (2017) and a comic adaptation of Dracula (2015). He produced Grease Yaka (2014) and Grease Yaka Returns (2018) for Ananda Drama. Together with Rajitha, he won the awards for Best Direction and Best Original Script at Sri Lanka’s State Drama Festival 2019 for Grease Yaka Returns, which won a total of 10 awards including Best Play. His other directing credits include The Tempest at The Workshop Players’ Shakespeare in the Park Festival 2017 and Stuart Paterson’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom (2013). He holds an M. Phil from Cambridge University and a Fellowship in Directing from Trinity College London.

Rajitha Hettiarachchi joined Ananda Drama as a writer and director following its establishment in 2013. Rajitha co-wrote Grease Yaka (2014) with its director Ruwanthie de Chickera whilst also acting in it. He acted in Stages Theatre’ Group’s Walking Path, which won Best Play and Best Ensemble Cast at the THESPO theatre festival in Mumbai in 2014. Rajitha founded the performance company Idea Couch and was an Art Think South Asia Fellow in 2018. He holds a B.A. in English from Sri Jayawardenepura University and is an Attorney at Law.

The Group
Ananda Drama grew from the work carried out by its founder Nishantha de Silva and other alumni at Ananda College, Colombo, since 2006. With many students involved in the school’s English theatre activities wanting to continue their work in theatre after graduating, Ananda Drama was formed as a non-profit entity in 2014 to showcase their work to the general public.

Cast & Credits
Students                                   Leeth Singhage (Kalana), Eshani Seneviratne (Sahani)
Lakshitha Edirisinghe (Arun),
Mother and Daughter               Dmitri Gunatilake (Kanthi), Dinoo Wickramage (Charini)
Couple                                      Ashini Fernando (Arukshi), Chalana Wijesuriya (Kishan)
Government Servants              Jayavi Jayawardhana (Hansani), Sabreena Niles (Shriya),
Lithmal Jayawardhana (Supun), Gavin Ranasinghe (Manjula)
Opportunists                            Charith Dissanayake, Nandun Dissanayake
Pemanthi Fernando, Eraj Gunawardena
Ayudhya Gajanayake, Rithmaka Karunadhara
Vidura Manoratne, Malith Kulathilake
Amandi Kulathilake, Hiruni Herath

Designer                                 Jayampathi Guruge
Stage Manager                       Ishtartha Wellaboda

Playwrights & Directors          Nishantha de Silva and Rajitha Hettiarachchi

Contacts
St. Rita’s Road,
Colombo – 00350
Sri Lanka
M: +94 777268164
E: pem4christ@gmail.com
W: www.anandadrama.org

Playwright: Henrik Ibsen
Adapter: Ila Arun
Director: K. K. Raina
Group: Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation, Mumbai
Language: Hindi
Duration: 2 hrs 20 mins

The Play
This is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s controversial play Ghosts which was first staged in 1881 causing quite a stir. This is the story of the family of late Maharaja Kunwar Viraj Bhanu Pratap Singh, whose death is shrouded in mystery, talked of in whispers, and hidden in the inscrutable eyes of his widow, Yashodhara Baisaheb. As the story unfolds, we see the causes of the break-down of families, symbolised in the destruction of the havelis they inhabit. But yet the ghosts of the past cannot be destroyed. The play deals with the issue of domestic violence and suppression of women, whose voices are silenced by tradition and society. The voices of Ibsen’s women, just as the voices of women all over the world, need to be heard.

Director’s Note
Ghost is a family drama that deals with the conflict between generations due to changing human conditions, beliefs and customs which are handed down from one generation to another, thus degenerating the social system that was created to protect and nurture. These beliefs and customs turn into ghosts and keep haunting us in one way or the other. This relationship between past and future can make our present unbearable if not understood and analysed well. Ibsen had said “we sail with a corpse in cargo”. Therefore these ghosts need to be re-examined in the light of each individual’s experience, and socio-political and religious system he is confronted with. If not, the most gifted of society’s future generation will face destruction.

The Director
With over 30 years of experience actor, director and writer, K. K. Raina is a graduate of the National School of Drama, New Delhi. He joined Surnai theatre group as an actor but soon was entrusted with additional responsibility of direction. He has been directing and acting in all its plays since 1983 and is amongst the earliest members of the core group.
He has acted in over three hundred theatrical performances and directed over two hundred fifty shows. He has directed two short T.V. films and has been writing, directing and producing T.V. serials for Kashir Channel independently. He has acted in prime roles in over 30 Bollywood films and continues to do so. In the past he had acted in many T.V. serials.

The Playwright
Henrik Johan Ibsen (20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as ‘the father of realism’, and one of the most influential playwrights of his time. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and by the early 20th century A Doll’s House became world’s most performed play.

The Group
In 1982, Surnai began its journey with the twin objectives of promoting the folk arts of India and staging contemporary plays which are thought-provoking and focus on relevant social issues. In 2016, the group re-established itself under the aegis of its newly-established Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation. This foundation is committed to the uplift of women, starting with the survival of the girl-child, her literacy, health and the seemingly insurmountable problem of child-marriage and widowhood. The Surnai Foundation, with its focus on folk theatre, puppetry, and traditional story-telling forms like the phad hopes to reach out not only to urban audiences but also to rural platforms to carry these themes to villages in far-flung areas.

Cast & Credits
Yashodhra Baisa                            Ila Arun
Purohitji                                          K. K. Raina
Yuvraj Bana                                    Rahul Bagga
Thomas                                          Rajeev Pandey / Gaurav Amlani
Reena                                            Mia Maelzer

Music Arrangement                       Ila Arun.
Sets & Lights                                 Salim Akhtar
Music Operation                            Sanjoy Daz

Adapted by                                   Ila Arun
Director                                        K K Raina

Contacts
Director, Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation
401, Paradise Apts, 7th Road, Santa Cruz East
Mumbai- 700055
M: +91 9820047176
E: antardhwani5@gmail.com

Playwright & Director: Pranjal K Saikia
Group: Team Indipity, Guwahati
Language: Assamese
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
A retired teacher of Chengpung village of Assam and Nagaland border, Mr. Dharmeshwar Bora has a small happy family – his wife, a goat and a dog. Although Mr. Bora has had a dream to be a car owner since he was young, his dream became stronger with the provident fund money he received on retirement. On being a car owner, he realised that it is not easy to survive in a bordering village, due to car-lifters, militant’s etc. Day by day Mr. Bora became very possessive about his car, to the extent that the fear of losing his beloved car took away his sound sleep. The story takes a turn when Mr. Bora tries to save his car from such circumstances (Border miseries seem to have no end…..).

Director’s Note
Every border (national or state) has its own stories to tell. Living in a village of Assam and Nagaland border, I have experienced the border that has fear, relentless mountains and way-faring rivers. The border that has tasted blood, militant movements, illegal arms, cannabis (Ganja), banned pseudoephedrine tablets etc. The common and innocent people of bordering villages have endless miseries; their dreams are meant to be shot. This play deals with the struggle of their survival, aspirations, dreams and downfall.

The Director & Playwright
Pranjal K Saikia is a commerce graduate from Guwahati University and holds a diploma in Dramatic arts from the Himachal Cultural Research Forum, Mandi (Himachal Pradesh). Since then he has worked as an actor, theatre director, script writer and also theatre trainer in different parts of India including Delhi, Bhopal, Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. Few of the important plays that he has acted in are Lower Depths, Andher Nagari Choupat Raja, Gaatha- the 1st text, Ashaad Ka Ek Din, Yatra Subha Houk etc. His major directorial works are Badal Sircar’s Ballavpur ke Rupkatha and self-written Bhumura, Status Complicated, Indipity, Bhou, Kiri Daloi (Jaintia Play) etc. Apart from these he has worked with different NGOs on different social issues in Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Tripura. One of his plays Indipity was selected for the 8th Theatre Olympics, 2018, and his Play Bhou was selected for the inauguration of 20th BRM, 2019 at Dibrugarh. Both of these plays were written & directed by him.

The Group
Established in 2012 at Guwahati, Assam Team Indipity is a group of young and energetic Theatre Artists. Team Indipity conceived with the idea of raising consciousness about social and psychological issues through meaningful theatre activities. Right from its inception the group also conducts theatre workshops, street play in all over north-east. The group is dedicated towards establishing new practices of art forms in the drama world and to articulate talents both physically and mentally. The group has performed in various theatre festivals including 20th Bharat Rang Mahotsav.

Cast & Credits
Dharmeshwar                               Bora Monuj Saikia
Sakuntala                                     Rimjhim Deka
Naga Militants                              Arup Jyoti Rabha, Gokul Mipun, Utpal Hazarika
Goat                                             Monalisha Rajbongshi
Dog                                              Suraj Das
Villagers/Body Movements          Abhijit Chutia, Abhijit Roy, Kulumoni Bharali, Rijumoni Deori                                                                      Jyotishman Kaushik, Sanjiv Das Rakesh Bora, Bhaskar Dutta, Rinku                                                           Bora, Bidyut Bikash Borah, Desh Adhikari, Nandini Das, Achurjya Bora

Light                                            Tapan Borua
Music                                          Mandeep Mahanta
Costume                                    Rijumoni Deori
Production Manager                   Achyut Saikia
Assistant Director                      Gokul Mipun and Bhaskar Dutta

Playwright & Director                 Pranjal K Saikia

Contacts
Director, Team Indipity
Ivy Enclave, Flat No – 404, Bye Lane No. 9
Dr Zakir Hussain Road, Sorumotoria
Down Town, Guwahati – 781006
Assam, P.O- Dispur
M: +91 8638846349, 8638002401
E: teamindipity@gmail.com

Playwright: Euripides
Director: Vasilisa Tepliakova
Group: Goloborodko’s Workshop, Russia
Language: Russian
Duration: 1 hr

The Play
The play begins with two gods, Athena and Poseidon, descending from the heavens to discuss the aftermath of the war between the invading Greek armies and the people of the city of Troy. Poseidon has supported the Trojans, whereas Athena has supported the Greeks. However, she has now turned against them since the Greek warrior, Ajax, raped the Trojan princess Cassandra in Athena’s temple, which the goddess sees as an act of great disrespect. As a result, she has called on Poseidon, as well as Zeus, to work with her and create stormy seas to punish the Greeks on their journey home. The gods exit, and the mortal plot unfolds. The stage shows a tent with the recently enslaved women of Troy. Hecuba, the former queen of Troy, laments the destruction of her city, and the horrible treatment her family has endured. The Chorus, made up of her former handmaidens and other noble Trojan women, joins her, and together they sing, wondering what will become of them when Greeks will be their masters.

Director’s Note
The Trojan Women is based on the play by Euripides with the same title. This performance is an effort to understand tragedy as seen today, and to make the ancient text contemporary, but at the same time trying to keep traditions of ancient tragedy intact. Without the use of any props we are trying to create theatre with bodies, voices and psychological Russian theatre. It is an eclectic production with modern sounds and electric lights but with a deep and tragic soul. We are not trying to make the play’s situation similar to the contemporary problems, but we hope that the audience will create its own associations.

The Director
Vasilisa Tepliakova is a young director from Moscow. She graduated and post-graduated from one of the best theatre universities in Russia – GITIS. Nowadays she is working as a teacher and director in the Institute of the Theatre Arts in Moscow. She is a specialist in contemporary theatre with all her performances very different and experimental, not only with regard to the text but with regard to the audience as well. Her performances as a director are Dear Elena Sergeevna (2017), The Slide (Moscow, 2018), The Trojan Women (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 2019), Yerma-Show (Moscow, 2019).

The Playwright
Euripides (480 – 406 BC) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians of whom a significant number of plays have survived. Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

The Group
Institute of Theatre Arts’ Goloborodko’s Workshop is a group of young actors who are studying in Moscow in the Institute of Theatre Arts. They produce classical performances that are contemporary. The group’s method of acting is based on Stanislavsky’ system, with an attempt to deal with the psychology of the play while keeping it radical and contemporarily aesthetic.

Cast & Credit
On Stage                   Arina Rozhkova, Anastasia Belova, Marina Frolova, Ekaterina Berezina,
Anna Melnichenko, Olga Bogdanova, Svetlana Kuleshova, Timur Shukshin,                                              Mikhail Losev, Artem Komlev

Light & Sound           Oksana Kolesnikova

Playwright                  Euripides
Director                      Vasilisa Tepliakova

Contacts
Goloborodko’s Workshop
Botanicheskaya Street, 21, Moscow
Russian Federation, Russia-127427
M: +7 9055427370
E: anyabloggerofficial@gmail.com

Playwright & Director: Heisnam Tomba
Group: Kalakshetra Imphal
Language: Manipuri
Duration: 1 hr 5 mins

The Play
The play is an attempt to interweave two folktales – Yamata no Orochi from Japan, and Keibu Keioiba from Manipur. Yamata no Orochi is a serpent-dragon in Japanese myth, who has eight heads and eight tails, and its enormous body reaches across eight valleys and eight hills. It is a legendary story of how a young ingenious boy Susanoo saves a beautiful lady Kushinada from Yamata who was about to devour her. Yamata had already devoured seven of her elder sisters. In the Manipuri tale, Keibu Keioiba is a creature having half tiger and half human features. He kidnaps a young girl Thabaton, who was home alone. However, a clever old lady manages to make Thabaton’s seven brothers take revenge and save their sister.
The play highlights the virtues of sacrifice and martyrdom through the conversation between the mythical images of Japan and Manipur interwoven together to tell the stories of two hilltops.

Director’s Note
The play is an attempt to capture two different cultural tales and explore the possibilities of interpretation of these two cultures. It is an intercultural experiment of stories, music, dance and performing traditions. However, the attempt is also to give a contemporary meaning to the rich folklore of both the cultures of Japan and Manipur.

The Director & Playwright
Heisnam Tomba began his exploration of the world of theatre with his parents, Kanhailal and Sabitri, both well-known Manipuri artists. From them he received extensive training to be a director, playwright, music director and actor-trainer. Heisnam Tomba absorbed finer nuances of these skills early in life. He has written eight plays; has directed more than ten dramas including Kshudito Pashan by Rabindranath Tagore and An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen; and has been the music director for two of Kalakshetra’s best known productions, Dakghar and Draupadi. He specializes in voice and movement training, and has taught at institutions in Delhi, Mumbai, Mysore, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati, Patna, Heggodu, Bangladesh and Singapore. His versatility received recognition when he was awarded the National Sanskriti Award and Senior Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi. He has directed an off-beat feature film Nobap in Manipuri.

The Group
Established in 1969 by late Shri Heisnam Kanhailal, Kalakshetra Manipur has evolved a distinctive theatrical style that is predominantly non-verbal. The group is dedicated towards expressing the realities of oppression and resistance that are a part of day-to-day living in Manipur today, through plays like Pebet and Memoirs of Africa. Other major productions of the group are Tamna-Lai (Haunting Spirit), Keibu-Keioiba (Half Man-Half Tiger), Khomdon Meiroubi, Imphal ’73, Izzat, Karna, Lajja, Kshudito Pashan, Draupadi, Dakghar, Samnadraba Mami (Disjointed Image), Hungry Stone and An Enemy of the People.

Cast & Credits
Yamata                                           Maisnam Momocha
Keibu Keioiba (1)                            Kshetrimayum Priyobrata Singh
Keibu Keioiba (2)                            Pangambam Tyson Meitei
Susanoo                                         Romario Thoudam@Paona
Iben Hanubi                                    Kh. Sanjukta Devi
Mapa                                              Ahanthem Upendro Mangang
Mama                                             Huidrom Holina
Kushinada                                      Roslin Akoijam Chanu
Thaba                                             Thangjam Salini Devi
Mithingai                                        Guru Koken
Chorus                                           Takhellambam Budhichandra
Anantakumar Longjam
Lanchingna Laishram

Light                                               Laishram Ibochouba
Sound Designer                             Oinam Prasanjit (Boby)
Music Arranger                              Moirangthem Bise
Music Operator                              Moirangthem Prasanta Singh
Crafts                                             Ch. Kunjakeshwar
Costume                                        Khumanthem Sanjukta
Make-up                                        Huidrom Holina
Set & props                                   Guru Koken
Theme Picture Sketches               Wahwngbam Robin
Yamata Written by                         Prof. Devraj
Translation (Manipuri)                    Prof. IS Kangjam
Translation (Manipuri to Eng.)       Dr. Usham Rojio
Production Manager                       Kh. Ushakanta Singh
Assistant Director                           Pangambam Tyson Meitei
Production                                      Kalakshetra Manipur
Acknowledgements                       Phurailatpam Nandakumar Sharma
Ningombam Jadumani

Playwright & Director                     Heisnam Tomba

Contacts
Director
Kalakshetra Manipur
Langol Laimanai, Lamphel, Imphal – 795004
M: +91 7641031211
E: kalakshetra1969manipur@gmail.com