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This is an archive article published on March 1, 2013

Staging Success

The theatre society from Delhi’s Kirori Mal College takes pride in its six-decade legacy and its ability to churn out award-winning performances every year.

The theatre society from Delhi’s Kirori Mal College takes pride in its six-decade legacy and its ability to churn out award-winning performances every year.

Back in 1951,when Frank Thakurdas founded a theatre society — The Players — at Kirori Mal College,New Delhi,the idea was to have a group that would not just produce plays but also understand the finer nuances of dramatics. Over six decades later,The Players has become a name to reckon with across the country.

The group,which has performed several award-winning plays over the years,has come to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in the city to perform three plays. While two of the plays are adaptations — German play Threesome without Simone and Israel Horowitz’ Line,the third is a home production,Kaunsa Gaon Kiska Khet. The plays have been performed on 23 occasions before and have won 24 prizes at 14 competitions. The first two performances in the city were held on Wednesday and Thursday at the institute.

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Nina Sud,an English Honours student and president of the society,says travelling to other cities is not new to them. “We concentrate on creating works that will reach out to youngsters and otherwise. As a result,we have taken our plays outside Delhi,to cities like Pune or Hyderabad. We use the prize money to fund these trips,” she says.

Sud says that unlike other theatre groups,they enjoy an annual budget as well as a rehearsal space of their own. “But since all the actors are students,we generate fresh talent year after year. Right now we have 44 members in the group,” she adds.

Gautam Arora,a directors of Kaunsa Gaon Kiska Khet and also an actor in the group,says,“The play was scripted in-house. We give equal importance to adapting as well as producing our own works. It took us about four months.”

In the last one year,The Players has staged seven productions,including five new ones. “There were 53 performances overall and we won 25 prizes in 23 competitions. Even with the two plays we have adapted,we have brought along our own sensibilities,thereby creating a different version with our own distinct touch.”

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After they head home from here,the group is not looking at any more inter-city performances for a while so that the members can catch up with academics. “We will continue performing in Delhi though,” Sud says.


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