Theatre Tale: When stories of different writers will find a stage

The festival has been directed by Baljinder Kaur, an assistant professor here, who says the choice of the stories was a
collective effort, and they chose stories of varied themes and subjects, each with a message.

From Doctor Ke Shabd, written by R K Narayan to Gharwali and Mughal Bachcha by Ismat Chugtai, Rahmat-e-Khudabandi Ke Phool by Manto and Do Aasthayen by Amrit Lal Nagar, the students have also worked together to dramatise the stories for stage, keeping intact the form and essence of the works.

This, say the students, gave them an insight into the process of writing a text for stage.

“We strove to create this festival with minimum available resources, simply to highlight the actors, and not let them
be overshadowed by design, sets and costumes. The focus of this presentation is the actor, and how the body, language, expression can be used to convey so much,” says Kaur.

The department hopes to take Kahaniyon Ka Rangmanch across the country.

“So the set has been designed in a way that we can get what we require for it from any place. In fact, our costumes, too, can fit into a bag,’’ say the students. Each student plays five to six roles, and studying the various characters was part of the challenge of creating this festival.

“Some of the male actors play the roles of women and focused a lot on training their voice, body and expressions for the parts,’’ adds Kaur, hoping that the festival will give a chance to students to understand the many nuances of staging productions.

Kahaniyon Ka Rangmanch will be staged at the studio theatre of Indian Theatre at 6.30 pm and entry is open to public and students.