“Tepantor”, a place with a magical name, is actually a place - TopicsExpress



          

“Tepantor”, a place with a magical name, is actually a place of Theatre Tourism ; a three acre property in a village called Satkohonia, on the banks of the Ajoy River. It is a beautiful village with red soil (Rarh Bangla) surrounded by lush green forest. The property is well planned, and boasts of a spaciously designed infrastructure for holding theatre workshops. It has a large concrete open stage, a huge hall that also serves as a dining space, and accommodation for 20 people. Many theatre groups from Kolkata come here to perform and to hold workshops. The NGO, Ebong Amra organizes a theatre festival here every year in November. “Ebong Amra” has their own theatre unit; the performers rehearse four days a week and undergo physical fitness routines every day. During our stay, the group performed their latest production, Oedipus, the King, for us in the hall, as it was raining and the open stage could not be used. We were completely taken by surprise by the quality of the performance and the innovative use of household materials to create situations in the drama. Kallol Bhattacharya, the founder and leader of “Ebong Amra”, is also the script-writer and director of this Greek classic. Curious, we asked him about what motivated him to choose such a complicated story to dramatize in such a grass root environment? “That was the challenge for me, how to break down this classic epic to a form so that the story percolates down to the grass roots. And I find it is working,” he said. The performers of “Ebong Amra” live in villages around the property. They work in “Tepantor” in various day-to-day functions to earn their living. Most interestingly, they, their family and their neighbours as well are thoroughly understand the characters they portray on stage. The funds for these activities come from three sources: 1. Farming activities like Poultry, Fishery, Mango Orchards, etc. 2. Theatre-centric tourism 3. Theatre Workshops for various city based groups. 4. Grants from the Central Govt. Their aim is to become independent of the Grant may be because of some binding obligation. Presently they are focussing on earnings through farming activities as a step towards self-dependence.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 23:35:01 +0000

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