Guwahati Theatre Festival

26°10′43″N 91°44′06″E / 26.178509°N 91.7350864°E / 26.178509; 91.7350864

Guwahati Theatre Festival
StatusActive
GenreTheatre festival
FrequencyAnnual
VenuePragjyoti ITA Cultural Complex
Location(s)Guwahati, Assam
CountryIndia
Inaugurated2016 (2016)
FounderSunit Jain
Previous event2017
Next event2018
Organised byG Plus
Websiteguwahatitheatrefestival.com

Guwahati Theatre Festival is an annual theatre festival held in Guwahati city of Assam state, India.[1] The festival is organized by G Plus, an English-language weekly tabloid newspaper in Guwahati.[2] The festival aims to provide a platform to performing groups to showcase their productions before a new audience in the Guwahati city and North East region.

History

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The festival was started in 2016 by G Plus.[3][2]

2016

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The inaugural festival began on 23 September 2016, and featured Kalki Koechlin, Saurabh Shukla, Neil Bhoopalam, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Jim Sarbh, Sadiya Siddiqui, Shernaz Patel, Dolly Thakore[4] and Achint Kaur.[1][5] The maiden festival also featured globally acclaimed play Hamlet - The Clown Prince, directed by Rajat Kapoor and The Vagina Monologues written by Eve Ensler.[6]

Other plays staged during the festival was The Living Room, 2 to Tango 3 to Jive, The Vagina Monologues, The Truth of Womanhood, and One on One.[7]

2017

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The second edition of Guwahati Theatre Festival commenced on 1 November 2017,[8][9] featured Bollywood actors Rajat Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, and Arundhati Nag.[10] The festival featured plays like Quasar Padamsee's Mother Courage and Her Children, Alyque Padamsee's Broken Images, The Gentlemen’s Club aka Tape[11] by Sheena Khalid, Vikram Phukan, Puja Sarup, Rachel D'souza. The event also presented two plays based on William Shakespeare's works, What's done is done, and Piya Behrupia (Twelfth Night) by Mumbai based two theatre production houses.[12]

The Guwahati Theatre Festival also conducts workshops for school and college students in various areas of theatrics in collaboration with Brahmaputra Foundation and supported by North Eastern Council, Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region.[13]

2018

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The third season of Guwahati Theatre Festival was held from 16 November to 18 November 2018.[14]

The festival featured plays like Laughter Therapy, played by Bollywood actors like Mona Singh, Siddharth Merchant, Danesh Khambata, Danesh Irani and Sajeel Parakh and Hindi escape drama, Detective 9-2-11, directed by Atul Kumar, featured actors like Neil Bhoopalam and Sukant Goyel.[15]

It also featured a solo show, Foreign Body, by artist Imogen Butler-Cole from London about hope, healing and forgiveness after sexual assault and Stories in a Song, which was directed by Sunil Shanbag.[16]

The festival organised a theatre workshop, conducted by Namit Das[16] and Atul Kumar Khamakar, which was attended by more than 60 school students.[17]

Life in a Theatre Award

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The festival also constitutes the Life in a Theatre Award that was given out to Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee[18] in 2016 and posthumously to Padma Shri awardee Arun Sarma in 2017.[13][10]

The Life in a Theatre Award, 2018 was posthumously presented to Sukracharjya Rabha for his contribution in the field of theatre direction.[19]

Patrons

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Audi, Ballantine's, State Bank of India were the main sponsors of The Guwahati Theatre Festival 2016.[6] The second edition in 2017 was sponsored by Apollo Hospitals, Airtel, Indian Oil, Ballantine's and Hastakshar.[9]

The third edition in 2018 was supported by Apollo Hospitals, North East Small Finance Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Indian Oil.[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Rakshit, Rajibika (15 September 2016). "জোকারদের হ্যামলেটে মন-ধাঁধানো সূচনা গুয়াহাটি নাট্যোৎসবের" (in Bengali). Anandabazar Patrika.
  2. ^ a b "Assam: 1st Guwahati Theatre Festival to start". The Northeast Today. 7 September 2016.
  3. ^ Deka, Prantik (25 November 2017). "Shabana Azmi Enthralls Crowds at G Plus Guwahati Theatre Festival". Kothasobi.com.
  4. ^ "Big theatre groups from Mumbai to perform at Guwahati". India Today. 14 September 2016.
  5. ^ Chaliha, Akankshya (13 September 2016). "Starburst at theatre festival". The Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016.
  6. ^ a b "First edition of Guwahati Theatre Festival brings a smile to people of northeast". Sify. 23 September 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016.
  7. ^ Shukla, Saurav (23 September 2016). "First edition of Guwahati Theatre Festival brings a smile to people of northeast". topnews.in.
  8. ^ "Guwahati Theatre Festival to begin from Nov 1". The Hills Times (Diphu). 13 October 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Guwahati Theatre Festival to begin from November 1". Guwahati: Business Standard. Press Trust Of India. 13 October 2017.
  10. ^ a b Fauz Hasan, Ali (21 October 2017). "Top Bollywood actors for Guwahati theatre festival". The Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018.
  11. ^ "The Gentlemen's Club aka Tape performed at the Guwahati Theatre Festival 2017". northeastindia24.com. 3 November 2017.
  12. ^ "Guwahati Theatre Festival 2017 Concludes With Atul Kumar's Piya Behrupiya". mediainfoline.com. 7 November 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Guwahati Theatre Festival 2017 concludes". The Morung Express. 6 November 2017.
  14. ^ "Guwahati Theatre Festival All Set To Begin From Nov 16". Pratidin Time. 3 November 2018.
  15. ^ "Guwahati Theatre Festival concludes". The Shillong Times. 19 November 2018.
  16. ^ a b "3rd season of Guwahati Theatre Festival ends". The Sentinel. 19 November 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Laughter Therapy marks start of Guwahati theatre fest". The Assam Tribune. 17 November 2018.
  18. ^ "Veteran Actor Kulada Bhattacharjee Awarded 'Life In A Theatre' Award". The News Mill. 21 September 2016.
  19. ^ "The Life in the Theatre 2018 posthumously awarded to Sukracharjya Rabha". The Shillong Times. 19 November 2018.
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