For years, conversations revolving around Indian theatre focused on actors, directors, and performances. Chiguru X Kusumaale, an upcoming theatre festival in Bengaluru, wants audiences to experience the writer instead.
Launching this week at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts (PCPA) in Bengaluru, the festival is a celebration of new Kannada playwriting, stringing together fresh scripts, live productions, seminars, and much more.
Celebrating nine new voices
Organised by Bhasha Centre, the festival will take place from June 6 to 14 and showcase nine original plays that have been honed and developed through the Girish Karnad Fellowship for Kannada Playwriting.
“It is a celebration of nine new voices on the Kannada theatre stage,” says Vivek Madan of Bhasha Centre. He added the event was going to be a “space for people to come together to hear stories and watch them unfold, and engage in meaningful conversations, workshops and seminars around the finer aspects of making theatre.”
Focus on the writing process
Unlike most conventional theatre festivals that focus on finished productions, this one emphasizes the writing process. Created as a tribute to legendary playwright and actor Girish Karnad, the fellowship was designed to address a “lack of structured developmental spaces for regional-language playwrights,” say the organisers.
Irawati Karnik, a facilitator in the programme, spoke about the long-drawn-out process it took to get these scripts to where they are. She says, “Good plays are not written, they’re rewritten.”
Kannada-specific focus
For Madan, the Kannada-specific focus was their primary intention. “There is a need for spaces that people can claim as their own,” he said, explaining that language-specific artistic spaces allow writers to tap into their own lived realities and cultural contexts.
Five plays will be staged as full-scale productions, while four will be presented as rehearsed readings. Madan stressed that the distinction was logical rather than artistic. “You don’t have to watch a play in order to be immersed in theatre.”
The plays
- L.B.W. by Shrunga BV – A coming-of-age story about friendship, cricket, and aspirations, set in Bengaluru in 1996
- Ghaati! by Sumadhura Rao – A young woman’s search for autonomy within family and political structures in coastal Karnataka
- Angaara by Usha Kattemane – Examines identity, ritual oppression, solidarity, and love in Tulunadu
- Saragu by Maruthesha Kasapura – A story of religion, politics, caste, and power rooted in village life
- Banna by Bhimanna Hattikuni – Explores caste, performance, and artistic resistance in a village
Despite their differences, Madan believes the plays share a common grounding in lived experiences. “The stories are already there,” he says. “They just need to be unearthed.”
Workshops and beyond
Beyond performances, the festival will also feature workshops on fundraising, arts management, feminism, politics in performance and more, reflecting the organiser’s desire to build a more sustainable ecosystem for theatre.
At Prestige Centre for Performing Arts (PCPA), Konanakunte, from June 6-14, 11am onwards. Tickets are priced at ₹250.
