The beloved mango is Indiaʼs special gift to
the world. A beautiful Sunday in Jun every
year, when the King of Fruits is at his
bountiest best, Ranga Shankara hosts the
cityʼs most awaited open-to-all parties – the
Mango Party – where just one thing happens –
eating of mangoes!
The Mango Party is older than Ranga
Shankara itself. The first party was held in ʼ03
while the building was still being finished. The
mango chitranna that MS Sathyu made that
day still remains unbeaten as the best thing
ever in a Mango Party.
People from theatre, literature and arts come
for the party, along with people from all walks
of life. Naturally, there are theatre songs,
mango stories, mango competitions and more
mango! Close to 50 varieties of mangoes are
sourced and we suspect around 300 kgs of
the gold and yellow fruit is consumed.
Ugadi marks the beginning of the New Year in
the Deccan region. At Ranga Shankara, we
ring in the New Year with a uniquely
conceived daylong event aptly called Ranga
Ugadi.
A signature Ranga Shankara event, Ranga
Ugadi celebrates Kannada literature.
Typically, each year showcases one literary
giant with plays, poetry, songs, short stories
of the writer brought to centrestage.
Conceptualised by our Artistic Director S Surendranath, Ranga Ugadi brings together the theatre and artiste community in a beautiful manner. The poetry, song, short story sessions are all delivered by them, in a show of love for the language and the writer.
Can the Café be left behind? The menu on
Ranga Ugadi day reflects the Ugadi specialty
of the region the writer being celebrated
belongs to.
Loka Sanchara takes the best of Bangalore’s
theatre to tier-two cities and the interior
districts of Karnataka. In January ʻ16, we took
our own plays, Gumma Banda Gumma and
Mullah Nasruddin for children, Maryade
Prashne for youngsters and Dweepa to four
locations across the state. District tours for
our productions will continue through the
year. The program will include workshops for
school teachers and for theatre practitioners
outside the metropolitan areas.
Through Loka Sanchara, we seek to expand
and disseminate a quality theatre experience
to the rest of Karnataka. We hope to inspire
theatre enthusiasts to create similar theatre
spaces and theatre programs based in a
rigorous practice and professionalism.
Do artistes let their audiences get a peek into
their world? Will they share their stories of
their journey, passion, struggles and triumph
with their audiences? Will they answer
questions that their fans have?
Well, yes! They do. Every year at the Ranga Shankara Theatre and Arts Appreciation Course. Curated by Culture Critic Sadanand Menon, the course runs over two week-ends during our annual festival and packs in artistes from across streams – theatre, music, dance, visual arts, films, photography, etc.
Sadanand Menon believes that an artiste is best understood through the story of her/ his journey – and that’s exactly what the artistes share. Stunning details of pursuit are revealed that leave the motley group of registered participants speechless and with a deep understanding of what it takes to hit excellence in arts.
The course is opened for registrations a month before the annual RS festival.
Bahauddin Dagar (Veena), Rajiv Menon (Filmaker), Atul Dodiya (Painter), Usha Nangiar (Nangiarkoothu), Pt. Satyasheel Deshpande (Hindustani Singer)
Shubha Mudgal (Hindustani Music), Pablo Bartholomew (Photography) N Pushpamala (Visual Art), Deepa Dhanaraj (Film), Anil Srinivasan (Carnatic Music- Instrumental), Priyadarshini Govind (Barathanatyam)
Parvathy Baul (Baul Singer), Sanjay Subramanyam(Carnatic Vocalist), K.S. Radhakrishnan (Sculptor), Riaz Komu (Visual Artist)
Dayanita Singh( Photographer), Malavika Sarukkai (Bharathanatyam), Sumantra Ghosal(Filmaker), Sunil Shanbagh (Theatre), Govind Nihalani (Filmaker)
Kristine Michael(Ceramic Artist),Madan Mohan Singh (Sufi Singer), Master classes.
Girish Karnad, Ashok Vajpeyi (Poet), S. G. Vasudev (Painter and Sculptor), Uday Bhawalkar (Hindustani Vocalist), Surupa Sen (Odissi Dancer) Bijayani Satpathy (Odissi Dancer), Anmol Vellani (Director)
Ramakant and Umakant Gundecha (Dhrupad Singers),Margi Madhu (Kudiyattam), Maya Krishna Rao (Theatre) , Balan Nambiar (Painter and Sculptor), Sunil Kothari (Dance Historian)
Girish Karnad (Playwright), Bombay Jayashri (Carnatic Music), Leela Samson (Bharatanatyam), Anand Patwardhan (Documentary Films), Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, and N Pushpamala (Visual Art).
Amal Allana (Director), Aruna Sairam (Carnatic Singer), TM Krishna (Carnatic Singer), Ashish Rajadhyakshya (Film Historian), Suresh Jayaram, Navroze Contractor, Satish Alekar
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