Soon, Koraput will be known for theatrical exchanges amongst the theatre artists of different States, thanks to the initiative of the Sangeet Natak Academy (SNA) and the Nandanik, a Koraput-based theatre group.
For the first time in the KBK region, a five-day-long Festival of Folk Theatre “lok Jatra” from January 27 is being organised, that too to be a national-level event.
The festival, hosted at the Samskruti Bhawan of the District Council of Culture of Koraput, would feature ten productions. Odisha’s Prahllad Natak will be performed by two teams, one of the SNA and the other of the Sri Sri laxmi Natya Sangha of Ganjam, under the direction of Manmath Satapathy.
The other two productions of Odisha are lankapodi Jatra by the Ramleela Natya Parichalana Sangha of Kandhamal under the direction of Manmath Satapathy and Dhemsa and Desia by the Adivasi Gabeshana Mancha of Koraput under the direction of Rajendra Padhy.
The Manbhum Chhau Academy and the Birbhoom Blossom Theatre are two teams from West Bengal, and Purulia Chhau and Santhal Natak are to be their performances, respectively. Other participants are Anwesana from Bihar to perform Bhaget directed by Ranju Kumari.
The troupe from Assam will bring Golpuriya Koshan directed by Uday Shankar Dey. The team from Chhattisgarh will present Nacha directed by Kansiram Sahu. THe Indravati Natya Samiti of Madhya Pradesh will stage Karma directed by Neeraj Kunder.
Sourav Gupta, who co founded Nandinik with his wife Monideepa Gupta in 2014, feels the festival will go a long way in popularising the rich tribal culture of Koraput.
The festival will see two productions everyday from 6 pm. There will also be an interactive session everyday between art lovers and artists which will be conducted by Sourav Gupta and Manmath Satapathy.
While Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Rourkela are said to be centres of theatrical activities, Koraput will soon have such a berth.