Natarang Pratishthan - Documentation

Documentation

India’s rich history of theatre and performing arts is backed by poor documenting skills, since the oral tradition laid no emphasis on the recording of individual performances. Unfortunately, in spite of increased awareness on the importance of documentation today, the situation regarding contemporary theatre practices is no better. No wonder the Pratishthan has dedicated itself to acquiring old collections, scripts, photographs and other material of value from all over India, its preservation and treatment.

Simultaneously, it has undertaken discourses on interdisciplinary issues, and documented the theatrical processes of Indian and Asian directors and actors in the audio-visual and verbal media. Not only is it one of the main objectives of the Pratishthan, its documentation that has included performances, interviews and work processes continues with new material being added regularly to the archives. The Pratishthan is in constant dialogue with theatre people in this regard.

Lately it has undertaken a major project on compilation and documentation of material on important theatre personalities with a view to facilitate an indepth study and eventually publication at a later stage for wider dissemination. Under this scheme it had earlier worked on five eminent directors and is presently working on ten theatre personalities with financial support from Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the J.R.D. Tata Trust respectively.

Sombhu Mitra, Habib Tanvir, B. V. Karanth, Vijaya Mehta, E. Alkazi, Satyadev Dubey

Some of the significant documentation undertaken:

Video recording of work process of B. V. Karanth while he was directing Andher Nagari with students of Ninasam, Heggodu.
Video documentation of work process of three women directors - Anamaika Haksar, Neelam Mansingh, and Anuradha Kapur.
Written documentation of the work process of Satyadev Dubey and Prasanna.
Complete video recording (now transcribed) of Poorva – the Asian Women Theatre Festival and Conference [more...].
Exhaustive listing of audio, video, written material available in India on theatre directors:
- Sombhu Mitra [Sample of documented material],
- Habib Tanvir [Sample of documented material],
- B. V. Karanth [Sample of documented material],
- Vijaya Mehta [Sample of documented material],
- Satyadev Dubey [Sample of documented material], and
- E. Alkazi [Sample of documented material].
Exhaustive list of material being prepared on:
- Abhilash Pillai [Sample of documented material],
- Badal Sircar [Sample of documented material],
- Bansi Kaul [Sample of documented material],
- Kavalam Narayan Panikkar [Sample of documented material],
- M. K. Raina [Sample of documented material],
- Neelam Mansingh [Sample of documented material],
- Om Shivpuri [Sample of documented material],
- Prasanna [Sample of documented material],
- Rajinder Nath [Sample of documented material],
- Savitri Heisnam [Sample of documented material], and
- Waman Kendre [Sample of documented material].
Click here to view photogallery of the documented directors.
Books on Satyadev Dubey, Badal Sircar and K. N. Panikkar are being prepared for publication under the documentation project.

Such listing on theatre personalities and institutions is ongoing and it is planned that monographs will be printed based on the material collected in the process.