Theatre activists of Bengaluru on Monday took out a rally — in theatrical costumes — in protest against the apathy of the State government in repairing and re-opening the auditorium, Rangamandira Cultural Centre on Jnana Bharathi campus at Mallattahalli, which was gutted last December. Members of theatre troupes, numbering over 100, staged plays and sang ‘ranga geethegalu’ (theatre songs) and collected signatures to draw attention of the government towards the plight of the auditorium.
The protest was led by the Ranga Vasantha Samskruthika Seva Trust.
Director, Bengaluru Chapter of Nationa School of Drama (NSD), Basavalingaiah, inaugurated the rally at Kalagrama, the large campus in which the Rangamandira is located, by beating the drums. Theatre activists Mallikarjuna Mahamane, Yogesh Master, and C.K. Gundappa joined the protest.
They later proceeded to submit a memorandum to the Department of Kannada and Culture. The rally was stopped from entering Kannada Bhavan.
Joint-Director of Kannada and Culture Department Balavanth Rao Patil received the memorandum at the Kalakshetra gate.
J. Lokesh, Chairman, Karnataka Nataka Academy, said: “We even met the Director of the Department and brought the plight of theatre community to him. But protests and appeals did not make any impact.”
Theatre activities have come to a grinding halt at Kalagrama in December after the equipment there was destroyed in a fire.
The presence of the Regional Centre of National School of Drama and Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Authority on the same campus helped in making the space a cultural hub.
“Theatre troupes in the south-western part of the city were depending on this auditorium. Theatre activities have halted as we are not in a position to afford private auditoriums,” said Ajay Kumar of Ranga Vasantha Trust.
“With some repairs, we started using the NSD studio on the top floor of the cultural complex last week. We felt that depending on the government will be foolish,” said Mr. Basavalingaiah, adding that the auditorium was still unusable.