ATG organises theatre workshop

Amateur Theatre Group (ATG) organized a theatre workshop in which the participants were trained in all the technical aspects of theatre. The participants took keen interest in lighting, set design, sound, stage craft etc. Speaking to the participants, Mushtaq Kak, the Director of the workshop, explained that the methods of staging, like methods in other arts, are based on forms, light and colours. These three elements are at the disposal of a theatre director who can use these in an artistic manner. The art of scene design must be based on the only reality worthy of the theatre: the human body, he added. Besides imparting theoretical knowledge to the participants, they were also trained in the art of stagecraft by giving practical examples by enacting scenes from various plays like ‘Andha Yug’, ‘An Enemy of the People’, ‘Othello’, ‘Devyani’, ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’ and ‘Rakt Beej’. Readings from Dogri plays and short stories were also organized in order to train the participants about visualization of various plays and short stories. Amateur Theatre Group is one of the most prominent theatre groups of the State that has performed its plays in most of the major theatre festivals at the national level. The productions of the group have won numerous awards at the State and national level. The recordings of the plays of the group have been screened at international theatre festivals to wide acclaim from the viewers for the unique, innovative and experimental style adopted by the group. The artistes of the Group have already participated in feature films like ‘Sikandar’ and a number of television serials. It is pertinent to mention here that Mushtaq Kak, after serving as Director of Sri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, New Delhi for 9 continuous years, is back in Jammu, his home town, in order to help and encourage fresh talent of the State to reach their respective goals in the field of theatre & electronic media and films. Amateur Theatre Group will soon be organizing an acting oriented theatre workshop in collaboration with Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation and National School of Drama. All the participants in the Workshop will be offered work in the forthcoming theatre productions of the Group and television serials.