Other States - Orissa   

Theatre groups come a long way

KORAPUT: Association of 10 persons at one place does not necessarily form a group if they do not share a unifying idea, said Girija Choudhury, the spirit behind creating at least 20 Folk Theatre Groups(FTG) under the Community Based Theatre (CBT) programme being supported by the UNICEF in the district . These groups, which were formed in Koraput, Kotpad, Jeypore, Pottangi , Semiliguda and Dasamantpur blocks by taking members from villages were empowered to identify their problems and issues, discuss and think in the community, prepare a script, convert them to theatre form and present before their very own people in the village , he added.

It was altogether a different experience for these performers as majority of them were first timers in the field of any form of theatre. The feeling of being trusted by the community gave them more strength to move forward. They were able to speak and act in front of people who were eager to listen to them, Sekhar Gouda, one of the performers from Maliguda village said. Drawing lines from the popular street theatres that were used for spreading the messages of change, CBTs have come a long way to stay, Prabir Bose, the fame in the field of people’s theatre from Ambernath in Mumbai, said . He was at Koraput to take forward CBT to the masses with a sustainable approach . While the street theatre or even the stage shows , which were used as one way of dissemination process to spread the desired messages, CBT used the many fold interaction approach to maximize the realization of messages by the public especially in rural pockets, he added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Theatre groups come a long way
Training camp for NCC cadets
Carom meet concludes
Great potential for jatropa plantation seen
Gelatin sticks seized
140 kg of ganja seized; four arrested
BJP to revive demand for river-linking
Puja panels steal limelight
Three-day children’s writers’ convention inaugurated
Vendors firm against Reliance Fresh
Naveen’s plea to Manmohan

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu