Kalakshetra Manipur


Kalakshetra Manipur, is an Indian theatre group situated in Manipur It was established on 19 July 1969 with Heisnam Kanhailal as founder director and it has been registered under Societies' Registration Act XXI of 1860 with its No. 1149 of 1972.

Overview

The main objective: To study, revive and project the culture of Manipur through the art of theatre and to set highest standards of performance to match not only the best in India but the world theatre scene.
As Kalakshetra believed in the notion of a workshop that is a laboratory or research theatre rather than a production company it began its experiment in a continuous process of 'renewal of ancestral tradition' for a contemporary cultural expression as they are all the progeny of an ethno - social tradition of Manipur. The artists of the group endeavored to learn afresh the native lore traveling throughout the nook and corner of Manipur and strengthened their creative will.
They created the performances for the 'work-in-progress' shows rather than 'Public Theatre'-a finished production for public exhibition.
Besides, the group launched cultural expedition in organizing theatre events with the non-actors in three different socio - cultural contexts. They were: performance of NUPI LAN in which market women around one hundred from women's market of Imphal town took the active participation in December, 1978 as players, At Umathel, a sleepy village in the remote corner of southern Manipur SANJENNAHA was performed by the villagers themselves in December, 1979, and Introduced theatre in the tribal area of Paite community of Churachandpur district with the production of THANGHOU LEH LIANDOU performed by tribal youths in March, 1980.
Along with the training and research programmes the group created remarkable performances that stood out as milestone of an originally alternate theatre.
Heisnam Kanhailal was awarded the Padma Shri award by Government of India in 2004 for his work.

Major Production

PlayPlaywrightDirectorYear
TamnaLaiHeisnam KanhailalHeisnam Kanhailal1972
Kabui-Keioiba""1973
Imphal`73Improvisation on Shri Biren's poemH.Kanhailal1973
Khomdon MeiroubiW.KamniH.Kanhailal1973
PebetImprovisation on the folktale PebetH.Kanhailal1975
Laigi MachasingaImprovisation on the essay of Mao Naga, a major tribal group, of L.SamarendraH.Kanhailal1978
Mrityu SwarH.KanhailalH.Kanhailal1985
Memoirs of AfricaImprovisation on the poem by L.SamarendraH.Kanhailal1986
RashomonFilm script of Akira Kurosawadramatized and directed by H.Kanhailal1987
Migi SharangH.KanhailalH.Kanhailal1991
Hijan HaraoBased on the folk poemdramatized and directed by H.Tomba1995
KarnaH.KanhailalH.Kanhailal1997
LajjaBased on the Taslima Nasrin's noveldramatized and directed by H.Kanhailal1997
Makokto PokhaikhiH.TombaH.Tomba1999
Draupadidramatized from the story of Mahasweta Devi lH.Kanhailal2000
Kshudito Pashandramatized from the story of Tagore by H.KanhailalH.Tomba2003
KangkhathangH.TombaH.Tomba2005
SatiDr.H.S.ShivprakashH.Tomba2005
DakhgarRabindranath TagoreH.Kanhailal2006
Samnadraba MamiEnsembleH.Tomba2009
The Hungry StonesRabindranath TagoreH. Tomba2011

Besides the above, short improvisations and performances were created as part of the process of training and research. The group toured throughout India for the last 25 years for staging its shows. In abroad too like Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt.
At Cairo in 1991 at the International Festival for Experimental Theatre Sabitri Heisnam won the Best Actress Award of the panel of critics in her performance in Migi Sharang. The group worked with different ethnic groups from September, 2005 to August, 2006 and produced two multi-lingual plays, Sati and Dakhgar, as directed by H.Tomba and H.Kanhailal respectively.