Prutha Goa

His drive to promote mime is evident in the fervour resonated in his voice. One of Goa’s own has taken the state to the international stage and still somehow remains unsung and uncredited for his contribution. Drupad Gaonkar, who spent about a month in Goa recently actively disseminating his artistry, became a mime artist at a later stage in his career. Earlier, all of Goa knew him as a dancer and a theatre person. Today he works as a researcher in mime perspectives and history at the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research. He says, ‘I had a backdoor entry into mime. Earlier, I used to write plays, choreograph dance dramas, etc. I’m more of a teacher type. In my performing arts I would include many elements…including juggling. I always wanted to bring mime on stage.’ In 2004, Drupad had his first opportunity to focus entirely on mime when he was told that Isabel de Santa Rita Vás required someone proficient in the art at IFFI. Following this venture, he felt the

There have been claims that Konkani (Devnagri) and Marathi theatre seems to lose out to the tiatr every time. Whether it is negligent advertising or a bias in favour of the Romi script tiatrs is not absolutely clear. Calculating the worth of a play on the basis of language, script or dialect seems rather unfair to the art form as a whole and the participants: actors, directors, producers, set designers, etcetera. Each has its own virtues to excite artistic sensibilities. Prayog Saanj is an initiative of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Goa, to provide a suitable platform for experimental theatre without any discrimination on the grounds of language. The last Saturday of every month sees the unveiling of original plays by talented playwrights which are presented at the Multipurpose Hall of Sanskruti Bhavan, Panaji. The last Saturday of June saw the Konkani drama Chakra , a one act play written and directed by Gopal Bhimber. The cast included Ugam Zambaulikar, Saurabh Karkhanis, Preet

Goa has talent bursting at its seams, and this is no secret. Unfortunately, in the sphere of drama enough of it has not been tapped. The reason for this is not a dearth of avenues, but rather the unwillingness of parents to permit their children to explore this area as a career option has been a stumbling block. In 1987, Kala Academy decided to start the School of Drama, initially called the Theatre Art Faculty, under the direction of S B Josalkar. The motivation was to secure talent in theatre and mould it according to its capabilities. The Director of the School of Drama, Mrs Padmashree Josalkar tells us, ‘Kala Academy invited my husband and me to come here. Before that we were in Delhi. My husband was in the Repertory Company of the National School of Drama and I was teaching at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya as a drama teacher.’ S B Josalkar, a Goan by birth, had received a scholarship to the National School of Drama. It is no surprise then that he returned to his home state to give Go

‘One of my father’s and my mother’s greatest gifts to me was our home in Goa,’ said Sanjna Kapoor at the theatre seminar organised by the Hauns Sangeet Natya Mandal, Ponda and the Directorate of Art and Culture, Goa. Recalling childhood experiences of coming here since the age of three, she said, ‘My first earning…25 paisa…was from selling fish in Mapusa market.’ The progeny of the illustrious Kapoor family was happy to be in Goa to talk about why theatre matters to her. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjana_Kapoor#/media/File:SanjnaKapoor.jpg As time goes by and society is transformed, the reasons for the existence and significance of theatre change too. As she addressed an audience mainly composed of teachers, Sanjna expressed her dream of finding theatres in every neighbourhood and seeing teachers upheld as heroes alongside film stars and cricketers. This would truly be a result of our culture that we can take pride in. Geoffery Kendal, Sanjna’s grandfather, came to India during Wor

The Mustard Seed Art Company draws in crowds to its dramatic presentations merely by the mention of the name of the production company. As amateur theatre, it vies for a billing similar to that of one of the better theatre production companies, thanks to the skilled writing of playwright and director Isabel Santa Rita Vás. The latest play, Whistling in the Light , revolved around thought provoking themes. The year is 2030 and the world has undergone a monumental change since 2020, the commencement of the Age of Light. Most countries, with the exception of France and Brazil, have shielded themselves from the natural light and are illuminated through artificial lights called LEDX. The programme is called Fiat Lux and the State dictates times when you can venture outside and the nature of the light you will experience. For all intents and purposes, it seems like a utopian world, as the move was brought about in an attempt to protect the people from the ever expanding hole in the ozone lay

It was right from childhood that Vaishali Lall, a visualiser cum graphic designer at International Centre Goa, Miramar, had an affinity towards doodling mandalas. At the time, she had no idea what they were called or what they might stand for. ‘The process was soothing and beautiful,’ she says. Mandala is the Sanskrit word for ‘disc’, ‘circle’, or ‘completion’, where a design is created within a circle. It goes back to ancient times when yantras were depicted on mandalas. Yantras are mantras, or chants, invoking the name of a particular deity. To create a yantra mandala, one had to study mythological texts for a number of years and detach oneself from the allurements of the world to work in perfect silence. The mandala has been found to be an essential part of major religions. Western history shows us churches with representations on stained glass windows; there is the Celtic cross with the circle in the centre; and there would be a maze like structure, where the centre contains an ene

Twenty years of celebrating World Goa Day are nearing successful completion, and a global cartoon contest is being organised with the theme of ‘Goa’. This event is open to the Goan diaspora irrespective of age and gender. Your cartoons can be uploaded to the World Goa Day Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WGD-2019-Cartoon-Contest-296427724639421/  until the 30th of June 2019. World Goa Day was first celebrated on the 20th of August 2000 with a special emphasis on the date as it is when Konkani, Goa’s native language, was included in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution by the Indian Parliament in 1992. The date varies in countries around the world for the reason of practicality but is always celebrated around the original date. The cartoon contest for 2019’s World Goa Day is of particular significance because it sees a collaboration between the founder of World Goa Day Rene Barreto and Goa’s own socio-political cartoonist Smitha Bhandare Kamat. The focus of this competitio