A platform for young theatre artistes

The second edition of ‘Telangana Yuva Natakostavam’ (TYN) will be held from October 20 to 22 at Ravindra Bharathi. Last year, to encourage young theatre enthusiasts, Department of Language and Culture, Government of Telangana along with Telangana Rangasthala Samakhya organised the festival. Delighted with the huge response from theatre enthusiasts, the Cultural Department decided to organise the festival every year.

The Hans India spoke to the organisers and theatre enthusiasts about the festival. Mallesh Balast, co-founder of Telangana Rangasthala Samakhya says, “Last year, cultural director Mamidi Harikrishna advised us to create a platform for young theatre enthusiasts and we started this festival. He is the man behind this initiative. We organised the festival in January 2016 and staged 11 plays. More than 465 young theatre enthusiasts have participated in the festival.”

“We selected the plays according to Telangana culture and traditions, stories written by Telangana writers, and the plays which give importance to Telangana dialect. This time, we received 35 entries in which we shortlisted 10. For the first time, in the Telugu theatre, a play ‘Baaki Ithihaas’ was staged by using a set costing 1.5 lakh by Telugu University scholar Kondal Reddy in the first edition of TYN,” he added.

Mallesh informed that the same festival will be organised in all districts of Telangana. This year plays including ‘Andhakara Nagaram’, ‘Sandesham’, ‘Interview’, ‘Mattavva’, ‘Vinashi’, ‘Swamy Kalyanam’, ‘Kanaktara’, ‘Oosaravelli’, ‘Annadatha Sukeebhava’, and ‘Sardar Sarvai Papanna’ will be staged.

Srikanth Banala, who is participating for the second time in the festival shares, “TYN is a good platform for the budding theatre artists to showcase their talent. Last year, we staged a play ‘Chai Yedi Bey’ and this time we are coming up with ‘Swamy Kalyanam’. These kinds of festivals help us to meet many theatre lovers who come from all over Telangana. This festival helps us to get good recognition in theatre circle.”

Another theatre artiste Pavan Kumar opines, “Two months back, I completed my Masters of Theatre Arts from Telugu University. This is the first time that I am participating in such a huge theatre festival. We will be staging ‘Sandesham’, which revolves around the death of an Indian army official. I hope the Telangana government will organise more such festivals to encourage theatre lovers.”

Schedule:
October 20: Andhakara Nagaram, Sandesham, and Interview
October 21: Mattavva, Vinashi, and Swamy Kalyanam
October 22: Kanaktara, Oosaravelli, Annadatha Sukeebhava and Sardar Sarvai Papanna.
All plays will be staged between 5:30pm and 9pm at Ravindra Bharathi.