Asia's stages coming to Delhi

Lights are on, the stage is set and the curtain is about to rise on the 'Asia Pacific Bureau' (APB) meet of drama schools with a host of performances and workshops from the 10 participating countries from the region.

The ninth APB meet, to be held from October 19 to October 25 at National School of Drama (NSD), will have a participation of 14 schools including the host school, said NSD Director Waman Kendre.

"The festival will see the participation from ten countries including Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the theme of this edition of APB meet is 'The strength of Asia in Contemporary Performance Culture.

"APB will explore the contemporary theatre culture in the continent.

"The participating schools will dive into and explore the nuances of different cultures in theatre performances and the technical aspects of it," Kendre told media persons here on Thursday.

This edition of the festival has an elaborate learning programme for the participating schools, consisting of festival performances, directors' meet, interactions and workshops.

Each school will conduct a workshop for all other participants providing a glimpse into its training methodologies through a series of exercises for the participants.

There will also be a practical session, where a studio space will be provided to each school to perform. Participating schools will perform a 45-minute student presentation, which will be held in the Flexible Performance Space at NSD.

According to NSD Professor Tripurari Sharma, who is heading this edition of the APB meet, "the festival is beyond performances, as it will have multiple workshops where we will try to understand each other's mannerisms and explore an Asian methodology".

APB was established in 2008 under UNESCO's International Theatre Institute with the aim to promote interaction and exchange among Asia Pacific theatre schools. Each year, APB meet is rotated amongst different member schools from countries across the region, she informed.

"In six days, 40 workshops would be conducted and many of them would be repeated. It's going to be more about teaching drama than witnessing it," she said.

--IANS

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