Ranga Shankara to provide professional help to amateur theatre companies in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Having provided a one-of-its-kind theatre space for Bengaluru, Ranga Shankara is looking at taking the art form to different parts of Karnataka through its travelling theatre initiative, Lokasanchara.
Playwright Girish Karnad, chairman of the Sanket Trust that administers Ranga Shankara, said, “The idea is to provide a platform for theatre groups to go to different places since they cannot travel, sell tickets, advertise and book venues on their own.“

The outreach activity will also provide professional support to amateur and upcoming theatre companies that find it difficult to scale up and to get exposure to audiences beyond Bengaluru. The first tour will see staging of Ranga Shankara's productions simultaneously in Davangere, Haveri, Tumakuru and Sanehalli from January 21 to 24. The plays are Dweepa, Gumma Banda Gumma and Maryade Prashne. The Incredible Mullah Nasruddin, an English play for children, will also be performed.

“Besides this, we will also have workshops for school teachers, students and theatre enthusiasts in each district,“ S Surendranath, artistic director with Ranga Shankara, said. “We will head to Mysuru and Mandya districts in February .“

Arundhati Nag, founder and artistic advisor, said the long-pending initiative will become part of Ranga Shankara's event programming. “It was Shankar's (Nag) dream to have travelling theatre that is easy to understand and can be taken to every district headquarter in Karnataka. This would help good quality theatre reach people who are not otherwise exposed to it,“ she said. “We plan to start with our productions this year and then enable other quality productions in the country to travel with us.“

The initiative hopes to bring one director in each district for a workshop in Bengaluru in May . “It is a residency program involving eight faculty members from across India. We will support them with their theatre production at the end of it,“ Surendranath said.