A group of trained theatre artists of Sikkim have come together to organise Sikkim Theatre Festival 2019 by the end of this month.
The theatre festival is organized mainly to promote theatre culture in the State and to motivate young generation in the field of theatre.
The four-day long theatre festival is being jointly organized by Artist Recognize Theatre of Sikkim (ARTS) and Ujjwal Kala Kendra (UKK) in collaboration with Culture Department from September 26 to 29 at Manan Kendra in Gangtok.
The first day of the festival will have a play, Bhustigray Ko Subha Vivah by a group from East Sikkim on September 26.
The play is directed by Suman Rai.
This will be followed by a play, Aadha Adhuro directed by Pabitra Kumari Gautam and to be performed by a group of West Sikkim on September 27.
On September 28, another play, Georgette Saree directed by Bikram Lepcha by a group of South Sikkim will be staged.
The final day of the festival will have a play Tendong-Lho-Rum-Faat directed by Lapchen Lepcha by a group of North Sikkim.
Addressing a press conference in Gangtok on Monday, UKK president Kala Subba mentioned that UKK has been working in the field of folk song and dance since 2004.
She added that the centre has been working to conserve traditional folk and culture of the State.
She expressed that the centre has decided to support the theatre festival mainly to promote theatre in the State and local artists of the State.
She mentioned that such festival would not only create platform for local theatre artists to perform but would also help to promote theatre culture in the State.
ARTS general secretary, Deepika Chettri mentioned that it was established by a group of like-minded trained theatre artists of Sikkim in year 2017.
The group was formed to promote local artistes in theatre, movie and traditional forms of Sikkim by creating awareness in youths through road skits, workshops and other activities.
She stated that local theatre artists of Sikkim trained from the National School of Drama (NSD) have come together to organize this theatre festival by involving aspiring artistes of the State.
She urged the people to support in promoting theatre in the State and to support local artistes of Sikkim.
An ARTS member, Suman Rai mentioned trained artists from NSD have been directed these plays by involving aspiring and interested artistes of their respective district.
He stressed upon the need to support local artistes to encourage young generation of the State to come in this creative field of theatre by taking it as career.
“We trained theatre artistes from NSD wants to prepare our young generation in this field as it has tremendous scope to do well in the life and if any interested can contact us to go ahead in the theatre,” he said.
Rai mentioned that such festival would also help to uplift local theatre groups in the State.
Likewise, another ARTS member Guru Karma T Lepcha urged the people of Sikkim to support the event by their presence in large numbers in all four days.
He expressed that such endeavour would help to promote theatre culture in the State.
He mentioned that such festival was important to introduce and promote local artistes of the State.
He asserted on the need to organize such festivals to create awareness in the theatre.