Rohtak artistes look for space to perform as open-air theatre used as parking lot

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, May 20

Despite an open-air theatre being located in the heart of Rohtak city, local theatre artistes and art lovers are compelled to stage plays at a chaupal and an Indian Medical Association (IMA) hall amid constraints.

The open-air theatre, which was constructed in 1960 and renovated twice thereafter, is being used as an office space-cum-parking lot by the local municipal authorities.

The artistes lament that the exorbitant fees and security charges fixed for the use of the open-air theatre are the biggest impediment to the staging of plays and other cultural events there.

“Artistes used to stage plays at the open-air theatre, Pt Shri Ram Rangshala, with the help of the local authorities till 2013. However, the “rangshala” gradually got occupied to run government offices and park vehicles like cranes, JCBs and cycle-rickshaws etc,” points out Vishv Deepak Trikha, a noted theatre artiste of Rohtak.

He states that due to the fee barrier, the artistes have been organising theatre shows and plays at different other locations instead of the open-air theatre, which has been built and well-equipped for the purpose. Artistes rue that the “rangshala” premises have been made available to a private hospital, a property-tax grievance redressal centre, a lodge for the workers of government contractors and a parking lot, defeating the purpose for which it had been established.

The Joint Municipal Commissioner, Mahesh Kumar, assured the artistes that he would look into the matter and make efforts to get the staging of plays at the “rangshala” resumed.