16th Bharat Rang Mahotsav festival from January 4-19

New Delhi: The Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the National School of Drama`s annual theatre festival, is back with its 16th edition and will showcase 71 plays from 17 Indian states and 6 international countries.

The festival will kick off from January 4 with a performance by the NSD Repertory Company. The play, titled `Chhaya Shakuntalam`, is directed by KN Panikkar and is a take on Kalidas` classical text Abhigyan Shakuntalam. This year, theatre groups from 17 Indian states - representing North, South, East, West and 6 international countries - Japan, Israel, China, Germany, Sri Lanka and Poland - will showcase their performances on this international platform. Some of the plays include `Pampa Bharata` (Kannada), `Raaze Pather` (Kashmir), `Hey Manush` (Bengali), `Balkan Women` (Urdu/Hindi), `Nokiyampo` (Assam), `Bhavai` (Gujrati) and `Bastarband` `Chattisgarh`. From the international arena plays like `Sindu Kirilli` (Sri Lanka), `The Woman Who Didn`t Want To Come Down To Earth` (Israel), `The Diary Of Anne Frank` (China), `Awkward Happiness` (Poland) and `Mephisto Waltz` (Germany) will be showcased. The highlight of the festival is also the addition of 11 performances from Folk and traditional theatre, making the event a platform for education and interaction. "I am very new to the festival since I took on the position few months back. It was difficult since we didn`t have much time but we have tried our best to bring in the best talent. This year we are aiming at reviving the identity of Indian theatre. We want quality over big names," said Ratan Thiyam, Chairperson, NSD. As part of the festival, two seminars will be held this year on `Global Exchanges, Local Encounters` and `Use and Abuse of Tradition in Today`s Theatre`. NSD has also planned a poster and photographic exhibition on in house Shakespeare production through out the festival period. As a parallel festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav will for the first time travel to North East with six plays. Three international plays from Israel, Japan and Sri Lanka and three Indian plays will be performed in Imphal and Guwahati from January 9-16. Thiyam revealed that NSD also has plans to open more institutions on the same lines in different regions.