If the mission behind celebration of the World Theatre Day was to bring the masses a little closer to the world of theatre, then Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya (USM), Orissa’s premiere college of performing arts, had the best celebration this year. For the first time, it hosted a week-long theatre festival on its campus in the Capital that kicked off coinciding with the day on March 27.
The 45-year-old USM has a drama department that has a legacy of producing the best professionals who have made a mark in the field of theatre, cinema and television in Orissa - Hara Patnaik, Subodh Patnaik, Dhira Mallick, Manoj Patnaik, Gouranga Rout, Bhaswati Basu and Raimohan Parida - to name a few. And its faculty had star actors like Sarat Pujari, Bijay Mohanty and Ajit Das who hardly need any introduction.
The festival witnessed participation of all those former and present faculty members and students of the prestigious institution this year - thanks to dramatist Nabin Parida who now heads the drama department. The highlight of the festival was emergence of two young women theatre directors - Samita Mohanty and Bhaswati Basu - both brilliant actors - who are now serving as guest members of the faculty. Mrugatrushna, the inaugural play and an Oriya adaptation of a Bengali play, was directed by Samita while Bhaswati directed Aparna, another Bengali play scripted by the immensely popular writer Banphool. The festival also offered enough space for young and emerging dramatists and directors. Ekalabya was one such play that was scripted by ex-student Ajit Muni and directed by Kumar Debu Patnaik, a final year student. Similarly, Tusarkanta Patnaik, another student of the USM, scripted and directed Khansa. Gifted actor Duryadhan Sahu, a department alumnus, made his directorial venture with eminent dramatist late Pranabandhu Kar’s Pagala Jantara Bahare.
It was exciting to discover acclaimed actor Bijay Mohanty, an alumnus of the National School of Drama, in the avatar of a dramatist. He scripted Saguna that was directed by Nabin Parida. Further, Choudhury Jayaprakash Das, another brilliant film actor, directed the play Janani Janmabhumischa scripted by Parida. Eminent theatre personalities Ananta Mohapatra, Bijay Mishra, Asim Basu, Niranjan Satapathy and Chandrasekhar Nanda - who were specially invited - were regulars among the audience much to the cheer of the hosts.