As the year drew closer to an end, IPTA Raigarh’s annual National Theatre Festival began its 24th edition. The Chhattisgarh state unit also organised its state conference in Raigarh this year. In the times of greater access, lesser attention spans and majoritarian politics, the theatre association explored its role and relevance in empowering human emotions and empathy, as it completes 75 years of keeping theatre alive and thriving.
The theatre festival brought five IPTA teams from Patna, Raipur, Bhilai, Bilaspur and Raigarh to stage their plays in front of the empowered audiences in this culturally proactive town. The variety in premises explored was vast, ranging from global ‘babas’ in IPTA Raipur’s ‘Taich Bechaiyya’ to unrequited love story in a left-leaning college in IPTA Raigarh’s ‘Ramsajeevan ki premkatha’ to an entertaining fantasy of a temple idol coming to life to discover the fallacies of our times in IPTA Bilaspur’s ‘Bhaye Prakat Kripala’ to an eggplant which leads to full-blown carnival of superstition in IPTA Bhilai’s ‘Thali ka Baingan’.
The sense of urgency in fighting communal forces and protecting the diverse and inclusive culture of our country was a strong thread this year in all the plays. The highlight of this year’s festival was the participation of young people in large numbers from various teams.
The 9th Sharadchandra Vairagkar Memorial award for excellence in theatre was felicitated upon Sitaram Singh, whose work spans over 40 years in the field of music, theatre and films.
A special programme was organized where Sitaram Singh and his team from IPTA Patna took the audience down memory lane with ‘Ghada toh bol utha’ – which revisited songs from their past and marked an evening of progressive thought and powerful theatrical music.
IPTA’s annual magazine, Rangkarm, was also unveiled, which has a special edition on IPTA’s Chhattisgarh units. The state conference was attended by eminent poet and playwright Rajesh Joshi, director and actor Tanwir Akhtar, playwright Rajesh Kumar, eminent philosopher Shailender, IPTA’s General Secretary Rakesh and Vice-president Veda amongst many progressive thinkers and theatre activists.
The state conference also explored theatrical music, Dalit movement and the need to find an intersection with it, and folk art and the organisation’s relationship with it.
Fresh election was also conducted by the state unit, and Manimay Mukherjee and Ajay Athaley were elected as President and General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh IPTA, respectively. During the closing ceremonies of both the theatre festival and the conferences, the need to reach out to the newer generation was emphasized, along with the need to work amongst villages and join their cultural movements as well.
