National Theatre Workshop at NEHU
A National Theatre Workshop was held at the Department of NEHU on 7 December 2023 with the award-winning theatre director Avi Chakraborty of Ashoknagar Nattyamukh Kolkata and his team. The teachers from NEHU and various colleges from Shillong, PG students, research scholars, and others participated in the workshop wherein the participants were trained on the Natya Rasas, theatrical expressions, body coordination, mental exercises, voice modulation, etc. In the workshop, participants also learned about production designs and planning and enacted scenes from the American absurd play The Zoo Story by Edward Albee. Dr. Jyotirmoy Prodhani Head of English Department informed that the Department would collaborate with Avi Chakraborty towards the actual production of the play. In her opening remark of the workshop, Prof Sukalpa Bhattacharjee said the theatre had always been strongly political and therefore a powerful platform of bold social discourses.
In the evening the Ashoknagar Theatre group performed the play Bengali Vemula's Ramayana, written by Angshuman Kar and directed by Avi Chakraborty, based on the suicide notes of Rohit Vemula which is juxtaposed against the story of Shambook from the Ramayana who was killed by Rama following the supposed violation of the social codes when he began tapasya, total commitment to learning was considered the sole domain of the Brahmins. The play was enacted by the superbly choreographed performance and brilliant interplay of lights and sound.
Prof D.K. Naik, VC in Charge of NEHU inaugurated the play. Dr Setolu Tunyi coordinated the entire programme.
