BHUBANESWAR: Much to the cheer of innumerable aspiring actors of the State, the well-known city-based theatre institution `Satabdira Kalakar' opened an acting school on its premises here on Tuesday.

Named as Satabdira Kalakar School of Drama, it launched a three-month diploma course in acting, said institution founder-secretary and dramatist Dhira Mallick.

Lack of patronage

"The State has a large number of amateur theatre institutions that kept the theatre tradition alive despite severe lack of patronage from people and the government. People involved in these institutions, including actors, wish to be trained in acting, direction and stage-craft but there is hardly any institution in the State to train them except the drama department of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya that is a seven-year full-time programme and meant for young students. To bridge the gap, we decided to introduce a flexible training programme in acting that will benefit people of different age groups and occupations," he said. For the growing television, film and album industries, there was a sharp rise in the number of aspiring actors in the State, Mr. Mallick observed . Such budding actors and dramatists cannot afford to enter the institutions like the National School of Drama or the Film and Television Institute of India, he pointed out.

The school would be affiliated to Utkal University of Culture and it would introduce courses in other departments of entertainment industry in future, he said.

Mini theatre

`Satabdira Kalakar' would soon have its mini theatre hall in the city to cater to the needs of amateur theatre groups. "The rent of the Rabindra Mandap and Jayadev Bhawan, the two major theatres of the city, has gone beyond the affordability of several cultural institutions. Moreover, these two halls seldom remain available for reservation. In view of this, we decided to construct a mini theatre hall with a sitting capacity of 200," Mr. Mallick said.

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