Banikanta's 'Dreams from my Room' gets highest nomitions

MAHINDRA THEATRE FESTIVAL

NEW DELHI, March 23: Chingtham Banikanta’s  Manipuri play -Dreams from My Room which received highest number of seven nomitions in the 10th edition of Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) 2015 along with with the Kanda play- Chitrapata,   was staged at Little Theatre Group Auditorium on Sunday in the ongoing Mahindra Theatre Festival from March 21 to 26 in New Delhi.

Pan Manipur Theatre’s production - Dreams from My Room received nomitions in Best Director, Best Actor in Lead Role (Male) and Best Stage for Chingtham Banikanta Singh, Best Origil Script for Buddha Chingtham, Best Innovative Sound design for N. Tiken Singh, Best Light Design for L. Ibochouba Singh and Best Costume Design for R.K. Sumitarani Devi. Manjuth L. Badiger’s Chitrapata received seven nomitions in Best Director, Best Choreographer, Best Stage design, Best Actor in Supporting Role (Female), Best Costume Design, Best Light Design and Best Innovative Sound Design.

Ten plays are being staged during the Mahindra Theatre Festival, which began on Saturday at the Little Theatre Group and Kamani auditoriums in New Delhi.

Plays in eight languages, including Hindi, English, Marathi, Konkani, Assamese, Kanda, Manipuri and Malayalam, will be staged at the six-day festival, which that concludes on March 26.  This year marks one decade of the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META).

The plays, selected by a jury comprising Anup Hazarola, Deepa Punjani Krishn, Sajitha Madathil, Sudhir Tandon and Vinod gpal, had been short-listed from 290 entries.

Later, a jury comprising persolities including Amal Alla, Anjum Katyal, Neelam Mansingh, Ranjeet Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla will give away the META awards in various categories like best production, director, best lead and supporting actors, stage/sound/costume design, choreography and origil script.

Recognizing and rewarding all aspects of theatre production and stage craft,  Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META)  provides a concrete platform to celebrate and promote theatre’s varied elements like play-writing, set design, costume and light design, direction and performance.    The awards consist of a specially designed trophy and a cheque of Rs. 100,000 for the Best Production, Rs. 75,000 for Best Origil Script and Rs. 45,000 for all other award categories.

Seventy five minute-  Dreams from My Room is solo play performed by Chingtham Banikanta.  It attempts to visualize the mental state of people in a conflicted world.   The play emphasizes the psychology of the victims in a traumatic world and their serious emotions.  An artist dreams from his theatre room for a peaceful living but his theatre room for a peaceful living but his dreams could not change the reality of the conflict world.  The clashes between ethnic groups and mass-killings increases the number of child soldiers in different conflict zones of this world and contributes to the deterioration of human civilization.   The seriousness of minds leads to an emotiol ending.

About the play, Banikanta said, “I experiment with the expressions, trying to interpret the contemporary problems in a conflicting world.  The ture of the play is that of a dark and horrific scerio.  This play uses the idea of self-induced schizophrenia or multiple persolity disorder as a way for the psyche to cope with severe trauma.   They are dotted events within the testing room to shake the minds and to retain a level of seriousness, building up slowly to a frantic, bizarre and emotiol ending.”

Chingtham Banikanta Singh is a well-known theatre persolity in Manipur and has been involved in the theatre since 1968.  He got his theatrical experience through an Intensive Theatre Workshop of NSD in 1980.  He has been awarded tiol and State level theatrical awards numerous times.  He also works on Manipuri feature films.

Buddha Chingtham is a critic and playwright.  He has received several META awards nomitions.  He is also the recipient of Best Origil Script META 2011, Ambedkar tiol Award 2013, Best Writer Awards and Best Actor Award amongst others.  His work can be seen in the Sangai Express, Theatre India and Rangavarta.  His plays have been part of many Intertiol and tiol festivals.

 N. Tiken has been working for a long time as composer, with 17 ballets to his credit.  He has won a number of awards, including Best Music Director and State MAIBI awards for Best Music Director for film and won the Best Innovative Sound Design in the 7th META 2012.  He has performed in India and overseas several times.

 As a light designer and trainer, Laisram Ibochouba has over 25 years experience working in the theatre world.  He has won several awards like Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuba Puruskar and Best Talent Certificate Awards on Lighting Design.  He has toured tiolly and intertiolly as lighting director.

R.K. Sumitrani Devi is working as a costume designer of Pan-Manipur Theatre.  She started her theatre career under the guidance of the eminent and intertiolly renowned theatre playwright and director Heism Kanhailal Singh of Kalakshetra, Manipur.  Her costume design is always very innovative and origil.