By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 9 Mar: Uttarakhand Ratna, Narender Singh Negi, delivered the first lecture at the NSD intensive theatre workshop being held for one whole month at Olympus High School campus.
The workshop was inaugurated by the Finance Minister, Prakash Pant.
Then followed the first lecture of the workshop delivered by Negi. He enriched the gathering by providing valuable insight into theatre with folk elements.
Yet another session of questions and answers was very interesting in which all the participants and the audience participated with great interest and fun.
Prakash in his scholarly address said that the artistes of Uttarakhand should showcase their creative works at the national and international levels, but what was of paramount importance was the cooperation and financial assistance of the government.
He added that the government can help tackle the problems in theatre and related arts.
He further said that efforts must be reinforced to enrich theatre with folk elements.
Narendra Singh Negi discussed the importance of script selection, folktales, and folk legends to be presented in the modern context. Folk songs and folk music energized theatre.
Replying to a question he said if someone does a production which is against the values culture or it is distorted, it should be opposed by the people.
Journalist and actor, Satish Sharma; Kunal Shamsher Malla, Chairman of Olympus High; Former Planning Commission advisor, Virendra Uniyal, also presented their views before the audience.
The workshop director, Shrish Dobhal anchored the program. Prominent theatre persons of Doon TK Agarwal, Dr Jagriti Dobhal, Jagdish Bavla and Kousalya Agarwal were also present on the occasion.
Theatre enthusiasts from different cities of Uttarakhand and also from some neighbouring states too were present.
The selection is being done through an audition.
NSD is organising this National workshop in collaboration with Shail Nat, a well known theatre group of Uttarakhand having units in 10 cities.
Pancham Ved, Anurag Verma and Sanjay Badoni were actively engaged in the event.