JOURNAJUNKIE

After their recent shows in Kala Academy, Goa, this March the National School of Drama (NSD), Sikkim Theatre Training Centre will be on another tour where they will perform their two popular plays. Their first show will be performed in Goa on March 6 and their second show will be in Tripura. 

Director NSD, Dr. Anuradha Kapur and Professor Kirti Jain are currently in the state to see the operation of the center. They expressed their happiness on the working of the center and the response it received from the state. The artists of Sikkim are very promising and talented, felt the two guests.

The STTC is the first functioning state centre of NSD in the country that teaches as well as organizes performances. Currently under the Center Director Bipin Kumar, there are 13 repertory artists and 17 students in the Sikkim Theater Training Center. The artists are from Sikkim itself and they are being paid by the NSD on contract basis. The students taking classes also get scholarships. And all these artists are engaged in other duties as well. Activities like set designing, props designing, costume designing are done by different groups of 2-3 members each. The faculty members are from NSD Delhi. The local artists at the centre have been doing a tremendous job and have immense potential to excel. The centre has been getting positive and encouraging response from the locals.

Dr. Anuradha Kapur said, “The centre has been working in collaboration with the state government which has been extending full support to the centre in all its endeavors.” Though all the artists in STTC are locals from Sikkim, the scripts for the play are made by the NSD from Delhi. “We always look for all kinds of literature from various regions and if a writer from Sikkim comes up with a good story, we will surely make it a play”, she added. “These artists from Sikkim are very talented and hardworking. They have a promising future in theater,” said Prof. Kirti Jain.

The National School of Drama has been working with different state governments of the Northeast region to promote theatre among the youth. The theatre group, trained by the National School of Drama, New Delhi, is working hard to promote art and culture among the youth in Sikkim.