Despite bad infrastructure artists perform at Pa Sa

With Prashant Damle highlighting deplorable state of Kalidas Kalamandir, the debate over sad conditions of city theatres have started once again. However, the state-level one-act play competition organised by Baba’s Theatre demonstrated how much Nashikites love theatre.
“We had overwhelming response from colleges and theatre groups across the state. So much so that we had to cut down the number of one-act-plays and say no to few groups.The groups and colleges which performed here truly mesmerised the audience,” says Pravin Kalokhe, competition co-ordinator. “Along with Nashik, contestants from Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad participated in the competition. Total 25 plays were presented in this three-day competition,” he further adds.

All the 25 one-act-plays presented here at Pa Sa Natyamandir had a common theme – ‘Search’. “In our play, we showed two youths looking for humanity. Their search takes them to places and back to home. In the end they realise that the answers they are looking for were always hidden within themselves,” says Rahul Kanade, director of ‘Hide n Seek’. Another play presented by Natyaseva Nashik showcased a playwright facing writer’s block. “Not just in the play, I think search is a common factor in our life as well,” says Krutarth Kansara, lead actor of Victorious Defeat play.

One of the strong points of this competition was presentation of new forms. “First of all this competition aptly depicted the level of confidence among Nashik’s young performers. Secondly, many new theatre forms and gimmicks were seen here. Of course, Pune-Mumbai plays excel in presenting different forms and coming up with innovative scripts but city groups learnt a lot by simply watching,” says Satish Varade, another city actor who performed in the competition.

Despite of artists’ efforts to give their best shots, plays were constantly interrupted by technical flows. “Not a single thing works properly here. The switches have loose contact, speakers are worn out. Even if the lights or sound go wrong due to technical failure, we lose our points. If we have to deal with such auditoriums then how we are going to stand in competition with Mumbai and Pune’s theatre artists,” expresses Anand Gangurde, who handled lights of ‘Hide n Seek’.