ANYA THEATRE Key Issues and
Operational Areas, Major Activiities & Achivements
Operational Districts: South Twenty Four Parganas
Operational States: WEST BENGAL
AchieveMents: Bibhash Chakraborty, who had been the chief architect of Theatre Workshop, Kolkata for 19 long years, and had had to his credit some outstanding productions of Bengali Theatre, founded a new group in 1985, by the name of ANYA THEATRE. From the very inception the group promised to be somewhat different from others in more than one way. It broke the barriers between groups and introduced a kind of relationship and collaboration among them in a meaningful and creative way. In the beginning, actors from other groups used to be freely invited to work in a particular production of the group under the direction of Bibhash Chakraborty. Trumpets and Raspberries of Dario Fo, Madhab Malanchi Koinya based on the folk ballad of East Bengal, Jochhonakumari by Sunil Ganguli, Atmagopan and Nakchhabita by Manoj Mitra are some of the examples to cite, and actors like Writa Dutta Chakraborty, Subrata Bhattacharya, Sumon Mukhopadhyay, Suranjana Dasgupta, Pijush Ganguli, Mime Artiste Anjan Deb, Dancer Anita Mullik, Lighting Designer Tapas Sen, Music Director Debashis Dasgupta and Set Designer Sanchayan Ghosh, all very eminent in their respective field, are some of the names to mention. After a period of time directors from outside the group were also invited to direct plays with and for the group. They are, to name only a few, Ramaprasad Banik, Gautam Haldar, Kaushik Sen, Bratya Basu, Sumon Mukhopadhyay, Dwijen Bandyopadhyay, Meghnad Bhattacharya who have already worked under the banner of the group or for the event Natyaswapnakalpo. Some more such productions are on the anvil. The group has travelled throughout the length and breadth of the country with its productions, and has had the distinction of visiting Bangladesh on several occasions. Participated in national level Theatre Festivals like Bharat Rang Mahotsav of NSD at Delhi, and Natyaprabha Festival of SNA held at Mumbai. The group bagged several awards at the state level, and director Bibhash Chakraborty was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Direction) in 1989. Anya Theatre is the only group to have a Theatre Centre housed in a three storied building of its own at Salt Lake, Kolkata, initiating several training programmes in theatre and allied arts, and providing facilities like library, sound studio, workshops, dormitory and guest rooms for artistes and technicians. Other projects of Anya Theatre includes the revival of Bijan Theatre, Annual event of Natyaswapnakalpo, a day and night event participated by hundreds of theatre lovers and workers, both old and young, male and female, from Kolkata and the districts. Anya Theatre shall be celebrating its Silver Jubilee Anniversary in 2010 in a big way by holding programmes by way of paying tribuites to the great directors, actors, playwrights and literatteurs of the yesteryears, producing a documentary, holding a Theatre Festival, publishing an Anthology of articles by eminent Indian theatre personalities and scholars. We have achieved very little, but we have a long way to go. We need support from all who care for THEATRE
