A decade with theatre arts

Udaan Academy of Arts and Education’ an organization founded by Saurabh Gharipurikar in Hyderabad on December 16, 2008, started with the vision of imparting practical education of life through the field of performing arts completes 10 years.

An actor, director, musician, workshop facilitator, actingtrainer and founder of Udaan Academy of Arts and Education Theatre, Saurabh’s journey started when he was 13-years-old after attending a theatre workshop. Trained under eminent theatre personalities like Prof. Bhaskar Shewalkar, Dr Satyabrata Rout and many others. A Hindi teacher by profession, Saurabh, in order to pursue his passion towards theatre, integrated his teaching and theatre skills, that led to establishing Udaan.

He shares, “Udaan encourages untapped talent in the city to explore and discover their hidden potential as artists. Our artists are from various fields and walks of life. There are software specialists, engineers, doctors, scientists, bank officials, and hardcore theatre artists who have immense experience on stage, TV, and films.”

This month the theatre company presents its 13th workshop production William Shakespeare's ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (A Love Story) on two days. On December 21 at Phoenix Arena and December 23 at Apollo Foundation, Jubilee Hills.

The story of Romeo and Juliet is familiar. Both were in love, but Romeo was a Montague and Juliet was a Capulet. Both Montague and Capulet families hated each other. The story happened in the city of Verona, where both the lovers met and instantly fell for each other. They were so in love that they decided to forego the history of the enmity between their families, decided to challenge the norms of honour and respect, decided to live together. But honor and name of the family were and are always bigger than the idea of love.

Uddan recreates the master storyteller Shakespeare’s work and here are a group of young people exploring it in their own ways.