Natarang Pratishthan

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Natarang Pratishthan, established in 1989, is a private trust that has one of the most exhaustive collections of material pertaining to Indian theatre including books, journals, play scripts, photographs, seminar papers, brochures, posters, press clippings, audio and video material, and other rare data.

Natarang Pratishthan is not just a set up that deals with the past. It constantly forges a link with the present by fresh and imaginative initiatives - that both set up significant debate and help in the promotion of contemporary theatre.

History in the Archives

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The rich repository at Natarang Pratishthan consists of a well-documented library with many rare works related to theatre activities generally from all over India, but more specifically concerned with the performing arts in north India. While the archives are constantly being enriched, at any given moment the student or visitor can find at least following:

• 5,000 books
  on various subjects that include theatre, drama criticism, culture, music, fine arts, dance, folk art, folklore, mythology, philosophy as well as play texts in different languages
• 3,500 journals
  most of which have been bound for easy reference, many of them complete files, or rare first issues, beginning 1931, and including the writings or editings of several 'greats' of Indian theatre
• 17,000 photographs
  of actors, directors, traditional and contemporary stage performances and cultural festivals. The earliest photographs in the archives date from the 1920s
• 1,50,000 clippings
  pertaining to individuals, theatre groups, or institutions, often the most exhaustive documentation on them inclusive of review of performances, interviews, articles etc.
• 775 play scripts
  including original works of Hindi playwrights
  translations of Indian and foreign plays, as well as unpublished works
• 470 Audio and 970 Video recodings
  from theatre performances, workshops, interviews, documenteries, dialogues as well as those recorded especially for reference
• 6,500 brochures of plays
  from the 1940s onwards
• 1,000 posters
  from different theatre productions, providing a visual history of stage performances in India
• 7,000 invitations
  an exciting reference of the history of Indian theatre literature and other art activities
• 250 rare seminar materials
  including reports on the first National Theatre Festival, papers of national seminars on Film (1955), Drama (1956), Music (1957) and Dance (1958), as well as discussions from the Conference of Asian Writers (1956), a Shakespeare Seminar (1964), Indian Theatre Fact Book (1958-62) and other important reports

B. V. KARANTH

(1928 - 2002)

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