Mokokchung to host National Theatre Festival

Mokokchung, Oct. 8 (EMN): The National Theatre Festival (NTF) is scheduled to be held in Mokokchung town hall during Oct. 10-15. The event is stated to be the first for Nagaland. It will be organized by the National School of Drama (NSD), based at New Delhi, in collaboration with the department of Art & Culture.

Informing about the event during a press conference in the town on Sunday, the members of the event’s organising group said that the festival was a ‘seed sowed’ during a workshop programme organized by the NSD way back in 2008.

The director of the festival during the five-day festival will be Parag Sharma, production manager of the NSD. The person in charge of the technical aspects of the festival will be actor Pabitra Rabha, who has played roles in Bollywood and French movies such as Tango Charlie, Mary Kom and recently Mission China.

Bendang Walling, whose play ‘Jina & Etiben’ will feature on the first day of the event expressed hope that the festival would bring out the ‘aesthetics feeling of Nagaland.’ He disclosed that Mokokchung was the place that motivated and encouraged him to pursue a career in the NSD.

Pabitra Rabha informed that they will be bringing in a local play as the event will be the first for Nagaland. He expressed hope that the audience would be impressed by the theatre during the festival. He said that the programme is part of an extension programme of the NSD to promote cultural exchange among the Indian states ‘where a particular region’s play is featured in other states.’

Rabha announced that the NSD will soon be organizing a theatre Olympics for the first time in India where theatre artists from various countries will perform.

Temsu, a senior member of the Mokokchung District Art & Culture Council (MDACC) appreciated that the NSD team for picking Mokokchung to be the place to host the festival. He asserted that Mokokchung was ‘part of the theatre culture.’

Before the free show starts, there will be a 25-minute folk performance of folk music and dance outside the venue of the theatre. The festival will feature Jina & Etiben (Nagaland), Kamala Kunwarir Sadhu (Assam), Madhyamvyayog (Uttar Pradesh), Be-dawa (Punjab), The Net (Kerala), Chinnamul (Assam).