Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 3: Benchmark of contemporary theatre practice in Jammu, the Annual Drama Festival, which is starting from tomorrow, is all set to offer a bonanza of 14 plays in different languages to the theatre enthusiast of winter capital.
Organized by J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, the Annual Drama Festival 2014, will showcase the talent of local theatre groups comprising of mostly amateur directors, actors, set designers, music and light designers, who having chosen and rehearsed scripts of nationally famous playwrights and local writers, will vie for awards in different categories.
Out of the 14 plays, three are in Dogri, three in Punjabi, one in Kashmiri, and rest in Hindi and Hindustani. The famous playwrights whose Hindi/Hindustani plays are going to be staged include Dr Dharamvir Bharti’s Andha Yug by Samooh Theatre, Jayant Dalvi’s Sandhya Shaya by Rangshala, Dr Shanker Shesh’s Komal Gandhar by Pancham Group, while local writers who are represented include Kumar A Bharti’s The Last Colony by Natraj Natya Kunj, Rajneesh Gupta’s Adalat Mein Gandhi by Yamini Cultural Society, Vikram Sharma’s The Last Séance by Shivani Cultural Society, Balraj Bakshi’s Vatan Fry by Nav Durga Kala Manch.
The Dogri plays are–Shiv Mehta’s Translation of Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakha Ram Binder, Rajneesh Gupta’s Shah Shani by Sangam Tru Art Production, Vijay Goswami’s translation of Sharad Joshi’s Ik Ha Gada urf Alladad Khan by The Performer. The Punjabi plays are Sahid Nadeem’s Dukh Darya by Balraj Sahni Punjabi Rangmanch, Kirpal Singh Kasali’s Kandyali Taar by Society for Environment, Education and Modern art and Jatinder Brar’s Fasley by Manoranjan Kala Kendra. The lone Kashmiri entry is Dr Sohan Kaul’s Local Tax Extra by Bhoorang Foundation.
The Annual Drama Festival will be held from March 4, 2015 to March 18, 2015 (with one day break on March 8, 2015), at the auditorium of Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, at 5 pm.
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