Kalakshetra Manipur

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[edit] Artistic History

Kalakshetra Manipur, India is a theatre group, established on 19th July, 1969 with Haisnam Kanhailal as founder director and it has been registered under Societies' Registration Act XXI of 1860 with its No. 1149 of 1972.

A scene from the play Pebet

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 etho - 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: (i)performance of NUPI LAN (Women's war of Manipur, 1939)in which market women around one hundred from women's market of Imphal town took the active participation in December, 1978 as players, (ii)At Umathel, a sleepy village in the remote corner of southern Manipur SANJENNAHA (cowherd) was performed by the villagers themselves in December, 1979, and (iii)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.

[edit] Major Production

Play	Playwright	Director	Year

TamnaLai(Haunting spirit)	H.Kanhailal	H.Kanhailal	1972
Kabui-Keioiba(Half man half Tiger)	"	"	1973
Imphal`73	Improvisation on Shri Biren's poem	H.Kanhailal	1973
Khomdon Meiroubi(the last maiden)	W.Kamni	H.Kanhailal	1973
Pebet	Improvisation on the folktale Pebet	H.Kanhailal	1975
Laigi Machasinga(with the children of God)	Improvisation on the essay of Mao Naga, a major tribal group, of L.Samarendra	H.Kanhailal	1978
Mrityu Swar	H.Kanhailal	H.Kanhailal	1985
Memoirs of Africa	Improvisation on the poem by L.Samarendra	H.Kanhailal	1986
Rashamon	Film script of Akira Kurusawa	dramatized and directed by H.Kanhailal	1987
Migi Sharang(Human Cage)	H.Kanhailal	H.Kanhailal	1991
Hijan Harao	Based on the folk poem	dramatized and directed by H.Tomba	1995
Karna	H.Kanhailal	H.Kanhailal	1997
Lajja	Based on the Taslima Nasrin's novel	dramatized and directed by H.Kanhailal	1997
Makokto Pokhaikhi(The head blasted)	H.Tomba	H.Tomba	1999
Draupadi	dramatized from the story of Mahasweta Devi l	H.Kanhailal	2000
Kshudito Pashan(Hungry stone)	dramatized from the story of Tagore by H.Kanhailal	H.Tomba	2003
Kangkhathang(The unused sword)	H.Tomba	H.Tomba	2005
Sati	Dr.H.S.Shivprakash	H.Tomba	2005
Dakhgar	Rabindranath Tagore	H.Kanhailal	2006

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 H.Sabitri bagged the Best Actress Award of the panel of critics in her performance in Migi Sharang(Human Cage). 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.