In a move to popularise the folk theatre in the state, Bihar state art, culture and youth affairs department is organising a five-day national-level, traditional theatre festival - 'Lokabhinaya' in association with Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Patna, The festival is beginning from Monday at Premchand Rangshala under the theatre rejuvenation scheme of the Ministry of culture, Government of India.
The festival will be inaugurated by Bihar art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey. The inaugural day will showcae five folk theatre plays namely, 'Bahura Godhin', 'Ankia Bhaona', 'Shumang Leela', 'Lepcha Theatre' and 'Mughal Tamasha' by the theatre groups from the states of Bihar, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim and Odisha respectively.
Addressing to media on Sunday (September 23, 2012) Vinay Kumar, Director Cultural Affairs of the department said, "By organizing such a theatre festival, we aim to promote artists from the marginalized section of society, who are striving to keep the folk theatre alive."
"On the second day, we are also organizing a seminar on 'Indian traditional theatre - origin and perspective' at the same venue," Prabhat Chaterjee, deputy director, EZCC, informed the media. Achintya Biswas, VC, University of Gourbanga, Malda (West Bengal) would be the key speaker at the seminar.
"We have seven zonal centres in the country which works for the promotion of art and culture in India. To help the artists, the government of India has started a 'guru-shishya parampara' under which we pay Rs 5,000 to teachers, Rs 1,000 to students and Rs 2,500 to instrument players enrolled under the scheme," said Tapas Sawant Rai, convener of the festival.
