2015 will be a fresh start to theatre traditions in city

Neha Saini

Tribune news service

Amritsar, January 3

The previous year held up the high standards of theatre and art-promotion activities in Amritsar, which have consistently projected the city as a cultural hub of the region. From hosting the National School of Drama alumni and artistes to bringing in Pakistani acclaimed theatre as a peace-exchange initiative, 2014 took another leap with some personal and cultural achievements in the form of folk and heritage fests. And the current year, too, holds promising prospects for the city’s literati.

The calendar full of cultural events, the year begins with the addition of Nanak Singh Hall at Virsa Vihar. The new small cultural space being created at Virsa Vihar will be a seat for seminars, discussions and intimate literary gatherings and is being designed with hi-tech light-and-sound equipment by Kewal Dhaliwal. The annual, Maa Boli Divas, and Punjabi Theatre Festival will lead the cultural celebrations in February and March, emphasising on the promotion of Punjabi language.

The summer will bring more as NSD theatre workshop and poetry workshop, which will be a first in the city, will host the best of the best from the drama and the literary world. The national theatre workshop in June, in collaboration with the National School of Drama, will get over 200 theatre artistes, senior and amateur, to the holy city for a month-long theatre exercise. This year will also host a special Indo-Pak theatre workshop in August, aimed to boost theatre collaborations from across the border. The Preet Vihar folk festival, which will be dedicating one day each to fine arts, theatre, literature, music and dance, will follow next. This will have folk themes, highlighting the traditional and folk art forms of Punjab. In between, the International Folk Festival will also bring in artistes from European countries, continuing with the tradition.

The second half of the year will have annual events like the International Sufi Festival, a consecutive edition of Saanjh, an Indo-Pak joint music and cultural event, and end with the National Theatre Festival, which has become a week-long dedication to the best theatre from the country. “We had hosted the National Theatre Fetsival twice in 2014 because we missed out on it in 2013. This year, we plan to stage more plays highlighting light-and-sound developments and contemporary theatrics,” says Kewal Dhaliwal, director, Virsa Vihar and theatre director.