MEMORABLE "INTIMATE THEATRE" PRODUCTION :

Natya Chetana has a commitment to create plays based on own land. So it has never attempted any play being translated or adopted sources originated outside Odisha state. It has been creating plays after an intensive field survey or adopting stories written by Odia literary intellectuals. It has created plays based on popular stories like : ‘Sua Munhanara Patar’ (1991) of Late Pranabandhu Kar; ‘Kuhudi’ (1991) of Prativa Ray, ‘Abu Purusha’ (1996,1999) of Manoj Das, ‘Pataka Uttolana’(1998) by Late Surendra Mohanty, ‘Bihanga Biploba’ (2002) of Mohapatra Nilamani Sahu, ‘Dak Munshi’ (2004) and ‘Reboti’ (2005) of Late Fiakir Mohan Senapoti.

Play : Kaatha (1992-2003) – has been performed in many towns of Orissa, in important National Festivals at Jammu, Delhi and Kolkata. Sangeet Natak Akademi (National Performing Art Council), New Delhi had extended the first grant to create the play and has chosen it as one of the 50 plays (as language representative) in its Golden Jubilee Theater Festival – 2003. This has broken the silence of ‘theatre from Odisha’, in 19th Nandikar National Theatre Festival, Kolkata – 2003. This play also got invitation to perform in an International Theater Festival of Europe(FITA - 2002 )to perform in Italy, France, Belgium, The Netherlands. This play has been considered as a ‘Brand’ of Natya Chetana.

Play : Geeta (2000,2003) – The play based on a life story of an old lady who became the victim of the super-cyclone 1999, where Natya Chetana addressed trauma by counseling through theatre. The play became a bridge between the affected and non-affected areas in the state and generated a significant mental and physical support, after the performances. This play was also got selected for National Theatre Festival (Bharangam)-2003, organised by National School of Drama, New Delhi.

Play : Tote Jhure Mun Rati Dina (2004) - Natya Chetana first time undertook a production written by an established playwright named Mr. Rati Ranjan Mishra. The dramatic irony was that – he wrote a comedy on ‘no tobacco’, when he became sick of cancer. Following the Natya Chetana process , he read his script like a ‘radio play’ before theatre critics for a review. He became happy and appreciated after witnessing the production when celebrating the World No Tobaco Day-2004. That became the last creation of his life.

Play : Reboti (2005) - This play was being created when Natya Chetana was organizing a Peoples Theatre Festival having productions created by women theatre directors on women issues. As a mark of self-demonstration Natya Chetana promoted Sujata, a leading actress of Natya Chetana to direct a play. She chose the story – “Reboti” of well known Late Fakir Mohan, which is considered as the first short story of Odia literature. The story was based on the women’s right to get education by reading and writing. It also became a symbol of breaking the traditional taboo around women in India. This play also was being invited to be performed by 5 women artists in Europe (The Netherlands, Finland and France) in 2005. This was also selected by the National Television to play for live telecasate, when celebrating the birth day of the veteran story writer Fakir Mohan in 2006.

Play : Dhuan (2005) – This play was about the impact of industrialization on common mass of the same locality, who used to dream for better lives. This was being created and played in industrial region of Orissa. And this was first time where Natya Chetana wanted to use body as the main instrument (just like cyco theatre) to express the composition of the scenes. It also adopted few significant, artistic and popular body compositions to expose the urban audiences to the style of cyco theatre by Natya Chetana. It is because the artistic intellectuals of cities misinterpret Natya Chetana’s cyco-theatre style for villagers as an easy propagandistic street theatre attempts.This play also was being performed in State level theatre festivals in Odisha.

Play : Maa’ti (2007,2008) – The play based on cases of ‘farmer’s suicide’ and ‘common mass joining terrorist groups’. The concept of the play is to project both the attempts as making suicide. The play was being performed all over Odisha and in National Theatre Festival in Mumbai-2008 (Basant Mahotsva-Rang Sangam) organised by Mumbai University and Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. This was also got invitation to play in Nandikar’s Silver Jublee National Theatre Festival – 2008, includidng National and International Festivals in West Bengal.