Mysuru: Mysuru-based theatre group ‘Samathentho’ completed a glorious 50 years of its establishment two years ago and as part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations had organised a programme titled ‘Suvarna Samathentho’ in the year 2016.
The celebration was planned for a year and the valedictory of the Golden Jubilee celebrations was to be held in 2017. However, due to unavoidable circumstances, the valedictory was delayed and is being conducted this week.
The troupe is concluding the same ‘Suvarna Samathentho’ through a valedictory function starting from Thursday (Mar.15). It will be a three-day event which will be held at the Mini Theatre in the premises of Kalamandira. An interesting play will be staged each day at the venue.
Below are the details of the three-day event:
March 15: 6.30 pm: Theatre songs by Y.N. Puttannaiah and troupe; Staging of Chandrashekar Patil’s play ‘Tingara Buddanna’ directed by veteran actor Rameshwari Verma.
Theatre artiste B.V. Rajaram and Department of Kannada and Culture Director N.R. Vishukumar will be the chief guests. Dr. Na. Ratna and artiste H.S. Umesh will be present.
March 16: 6.30 pm: Lakshmi Chandrashekar’s Kriyative Theatre troupe, Bengaluru, will stage S. Ramanath’s play ‘Carbon Cake’ directed by Pramod Shiggaon.
Rangayana Director Bhagirathi Bai Kadam and Department of Kannada and Culture Assistant Director H. Channappa will be the chief guests. Dr. Na. Ratna will preside.
March 17: 11 am: Nepathya Sanmana — Felicitation to Gururaj and Ratna Gururaj couple, Mahalinga-Manjunath, Auto Vishwanath and Geethanjali Achar.
‘Samathentho – Nenapu – Meluku,’ a reminiscence of Samathentho will follow.
6.30 pm: The programme will conclude with the staging of Maurice Maeterlinck’s play ‘The Blind’ directed by H.S. Umesh.
Theatre personality Srinivasa G. Kappanna and Rangayana Joint Director Mallikarjuna Swamy will be the chief guests.
About Samathentho
‘SaMaThenTho’ (Saraswathipuram Madhyada Thengina Thopu) was the brainchild of Dr. Sindhuvalli Ananthamurthy, Dr. Na. Ratna, Vishwanath Mirle, H.M. Channaiah, Dwarakanath and Balagopal Verma — who also formed the core group of the amateur theatre group that took form in 1966.
The first play Samathentho staged was ‘Yamala Prashne,’ written by Poornachandra Tejaswi, during the Kannada Writers Conference in 1967, but Samathentho gained some recognition during 1968 by staging the play ‘Raktakshi’ written by Kuvempu. Later, plays such as Kaaduprani, Ellige Eli Bonu, Sattavara Neralu, Mruchhakatika, Jo Kumaraswami, Ghashiram Kotwal, Hucchu Kudure Tuglak, Vamshavruksha, Taledanda, Bhootagalu, Maadriya Chite, Muktaadhaara, Huliyakathe, Cocktail Party, Kadadidaneeru and others were staged by the group over the past five decades.
It also started the legacy of honouring great personalities who have contributed immensely to the field of theatre.
The specialty of Samathentho is that all its members have an equal say as they believe in universal decision making. The friendship among the troupe members is such that all of them consider themselves a family.
The troupe, not limiting its activities to Mysuru, has staged plays in Bengaluru, Gonikoppal, Udupi, Dharwad, Mangaluru, Ooty and other places to a packed audience.
This post was published on March 14, 2018 6:29 pm