BANGALORE: The National School of Drama will be opening their first centre outside the capital in Bangalore. Laying the foundation stone at the Bangalore University in the 3 acre land allotted to the NSD by the Karnataka Government, the administrators announced the various courses that would be available for students of South India in the campus that will be set up here. “I hope that the Bangalore chapter of the National School of Drama will satisfy the long-pending aspirations of theatre enthusiasts in Karnataka and go a long way in further promoting the theatre movement in the southern states of India,” said Kumari Selja, Union Minister of Culture, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Announcing the plan for Bangalore, chairperson of the National School of Drama Amal Allana and Director of the NSD Dr Anuradha Kapur said that the aim of this new chapter of NSD was to make theatre training a truly national experience. “As the rich tradition of performance have evolved over generations, we will finally have the opportunity to interact with modern trends, techniques and training methodologies at the regional level through an institution like this,” said Amal Allana, Chairperson of National School of Drama.
Envisaged as a Centre/State collaboration, the Bangalore chapter of the NSD will be housed in a specially designed, state-of-the-art premises with fully equipped classroom studios and multiple performance venues to accommodate a wide range of technically challenging performances. A three year theatre training programme will commence in August at Guru Nanak Bhawan.