- Masquerade (theatre group)
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This article is about the English group in Chennai. For the American group in Houston, see Masquerade Theatre.
Masquerade - the performance group is a Chennai based English theatre group. It is one of the few theatre groups in Chennai that survive without financial sponsorship or funding, backed by public faith and smaller donorships.
Contents
Company history
The early years
'Masquerade - The Performance Group' was founded in June 1994 and debuted with its first performance at Sittrarangam (a little thatched-roof performance structure that existed inside the Island Grounds that overlooks the War Memorial), near Anna Square. Masquerade's first theater performance was an experimental adaptation of Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Elektra. Later in 2004, 10 years after Masquerade's inception, when the group decided to found Chennai's first youth theater group Landing Stage, Electra [1] was again to be the debut performance. Masquerade has currently completed 16 seasons and more than 60 productions.
Masquerade was instrumental in setting up and promoting "Natak" An inter-collegiate theatre festival. The first season of Natak was in 2000, which saw the participants from various city colleges, The following year saw entries from colleges across India. Students were given the platform to design, plan and execute the entire production. Students were provided professional support from the Masquerade team in areas of Light and sound design and execution, as with back stage support and planning. A stipend was paid to the teams to minimize the financial burden on the teams. A standard set of lights and sound equipment, paid for by Masquerade, was made available to the teams in designing their shows.
Performances are social and community-oriented[2]. Masquerade introduced "Three @ Twenty", a community theatre initiative to promote new writers in 2006.[3]
Selected Productions
Year Title Author Language Notes 2009 Dystopia adapted from The Twilight Zone English 2009 Charandas Chor (an MYT Production) Habib Tanvir English 2009 JigSaw Multiple Authors English 2008 The Truth Mohan Narayanan English 2007 Thus Spake Shoorpanakha, So Said Shakuni Poile Sengupta English 2006 Wood Gautam Raja English Parrots Lies Andreas Marber English 2005 A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare English [4] References
- ^ [A Classic Beginning][1]
- ^ "Acting and delivery carry the show". The Hindu. 3 August 2001. http://www.thehindujobs.com/thehindu/2001/08/03/stories/09030356.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ "Fresh talent at play". The Hindu. 21 September 2006. http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/09/21/stories/2006092100440100.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ "The Bard and Bollywood". The Hindu. 28 September 2005. http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/09/28/stories/2005092800260400.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
External links
Categories:- Chennai culture
- Theatre companies in India
- Theatre stubs
- India stubs
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