Sunday, January 8, 2012

Rangayana's weekend stage play completes 10 years

The weekend theatre programmes held every Sunday at Rangayana will be completing 10 years on January 26. With the
intention of providing a regular theatrical fest for art lovers, the practice of staging plays every weekends
(Saturday and Sunday) was started in January 26, 2002 by the then Rangayana Director Prasanna, the third Director to
hold office at Rangayana after BV Karanth and C Basavalingaiah.

In the beginning artistes from Rangayana staged plays every Saturday and Sunday at Boomigeetha. But since 2006 the
plays were staged only on Sundays.
Over the decade several plays have been staged, some of the outstanding among them being Kallarali Hoovagi, Kusuma
Bale, Maggadavaru, Alegalalli Rajahamsa, Kathale Belaku, Prathishodha, Gundegowdana Charitre, Gandhi Vs Gandhi,
Swathantra Suri, Checkmate, Tughlak, Sigal and several others.

Rangayana artistes are staging these plays for the past ten years. Saroja Hegade, Vinayak Bhat Hanasagi, Mime Ramesh,
Hulagappa Kattimani, Jagadish Manavarthe, Geetha Moontdka, Prashant Hiremutt, MC Krishnaprasad, S Ramanath, S Ramu,
Santoshkumar Kusnooru, BN Shashikala, Manjunath Belikere, Krishnakumar Narnakaje, Pramila Bengre, KR Nandini, Mahadev
and Noor Ahamedsheikh are the artistes who practice regularly before staging a play. To infuse life into play this
persons artists Srinivas Bhat (Chinni), HK Dwarknath, K Anjusingh are providing music, art director, samarakala
teachers are working respectively.

Speaking to TNIE, Rangayana Director Rajaram said 'most of the plays are being staged for the first time and re-known
Directors are invited to direct the artistes'. The artist will be any time ready to stage at least 12-15 plays.

"There are around 3,000 theater buffs in the city who are regular visitors for these weekend plays because of whom
there is a good response every week. Though seating arrangements inside the Bhoomigeetha auditorium is limited to only
250, it is usually not crowded as most of the plays are repeated 4-5 times to make it convenient for the visitors to
choose an appropriate week end," he added. The entry fee is a nominal Rs 30.

Rangayana former Director Prasanna said that, 'Mysore being tourists place, people from across country were visiting
city and to drew their attention towards theatre, the weekend plays were introduced. I am very happy its running
continuously and has made a record in our country completing for 10 years without any break.

'There are two types of repertory in our Karnataka one is Rangayana which is city based and other located in either
villages are small towns. The second category of repertory travel across and stage plays, he added.

About Rangayana

To promote theater activities and stage plays, Rangayana, an autonomous theater institution started in 1989 by State
Government was the brainchild of BV Karanth who became its first Director.

Rangayana consists of repertory company, Indian theater-training institute, Sriranga documentation and research centre
and Ranga Kishora. There are four stages at Rangayana named Vanaranga, Bhoomigeetha, Sriranga and Lankesh Art Gallery,
named after famous writer and journalist P Lankesh. There are 18 artists and three teachers selected from various
parts of State. It also provides vocational training for teachers, amateur theater artists and enthusiasts.

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