Pratidhwani’s Staged Reading a Hit
Pratidhwani, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and cultivation of performing arts from the Indian sub-continent performed a staged reading of a play in Hindi titled SANGHARSH KII OAR on Sunday, October 9, 2005 at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre in Seattle. ‘Sangharsh Kii Oar’ – Hindi for ‘Towards Struggle’ is a play based on the story of Ram, adapted for the stage by Zafar Sanjari from ‘Abhyudaya’ – a novel by Dr. Narendra Kohli.
After a successful debut in Hindi theatre earlier this year with Hatyaare, this was Pratidhwani’s Drama wing’s (http://www.pratidhwani.org/Drama.htm) presentation to mark Vijaya Dashami – the first major festival in the Indian holiday season that stretches from mid October to mid November. Vijaya Dashami (also known as Dushehra) is the day Lord Ram defeated Ravana in battle – victory of good over evil, a theme celebrated by all societies and nations throughout the world.
This was a staged reading – not a full play. However it succeeded in delivering the message of the play and kept the audience involved and entertained throughout the evening. There were no sets, no props, and only a hint of costumes – a technique that was subtle and unobtrusive, yet extremely effective. Most actors played multiple characters in the play, and simply changed a chunni (scarf) to represent a different character. One may be skeptical of what a play would look like, if most of its visual elements were eliminated, but the audience on Sunday ate it all up – all 2:30 hours of it, and even the skeptics were surprised and amazed by the convincing performances.
“We are a brand new theatre group in town. Our success with hatyaare was extremely encouraging, and we wanted to return to the stage as quickly as possible. Unfortunately our limited resources prohibited a full staging of a play of this magnitude… but with the approaching festival season in mind, Sangharsh kii oar presented a perfect opportunity. A staged reading provided us with an avenue to achieve our goals without compromising our standards”, said Agastya Kohli, who directed and produced the show.
The auditions for Sangharsh kii oar were held in mid August, and the rehearsals ran through the month of September. A cast of 11 played 34 different characters, along with the stage directions that were read to describe the action, where necessary.
Pratidhwani hosts an annual show titled Gunjan for all its wings to showcase their talent. This year Gunjan is scheduled for December 3, 2005. The Drama wing stopped short of announcing the title of the play for Gunjan, but did confirm their participation in it.
Two successful performances in the last 4 months have created quite a following for this group. Theatre fans in Seattle have very high expectations from this young company – which continues to rise to the occasion every time. Mark your calendars – Pratidhwani Drama Wing returns to the stage December 3, as a part of Gunjan ’05.
This event was cosponsored by UW Desi and South Asia Center, UW. All profit generated from this reading will be donated to the American Red Cross to help with Katrina relief efforts.
