Academic Thespians Theatre Festival 2023, UVPA, Colombo

The annual students’ theatre festival, ‘Academic Thespians Theatre Festival’ organised by the Department of Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance, the University of Visual and Performing Arts, will be held from 22 to 28 July at Panibharatha Thearte, UVPA Colombo. The opening performance will place at 5.30 pm on 22 July.

A Celebration of Communal
Essence through Theatre and Dance

The Academic Thespians Theatre Festival (ATTF) is an annual student theatre festival organised by the Academic Thespians Student Association and the Department of the Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance, Faculty of Dance and Drama, University of the Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA) Colombo. This festival was initiated six years back with the concept of developing creative culture among undergraduates and the academia of the UVPA Colombo and also to engage with the contemporary cultural industries outside the university.

The Department of Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance was first established in 2005 at the Faculty of Dance and Drama to undertake undergraduate studies in Theatre and Drama. Within a few years of teaching and learning at the Department, the student body of the department came up with the idea of establishing a student society titled Academic Thespians Student Society through which the initial idea of an annual theatre festival was germinated.

The Covid 19 pandemic adversely affected the university undergraduate education and teaching and learning and other communal activities were on hold for two years. Due to restrictions imposed on human gatherings and the resultant new normal, theatre and other activities at the department were not held during this time. After a long pause, the Department of Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance and the Academic Thespians Student Association and the Social Reconciliation Centre of the UVPA Colombo have announced the ATTF 2023 and its activities.

Community and Festivity

Theatre and dance bring about communal engagement. Without an audience, theatre does not exist. Similarly, dance and other performing arts forms are surely nourished and sustained through constant communal engagement. In this sense, ATTF emerged as a result of the need of the UVPA Community to open up its doors for Colombo centric arts lovers to engage with the university and its activities.

The emphasis of this year’s ATTF is on the importance of community engagement in resolving social, cultural or other issues pertaining to Sri Lankan society. As the festival and event studies suggest it is vital for a particular community to celebrate its identities and beliefs with other communities around and share thoughts, ideas and practices that are exclusive to that particular community. ATTF, as an annual celebration of students’ artistic and creative insights with the society, reveals its accountability with the society.

As a state university, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the moment are facing a myriad of financial difficulties and lack of other resources. At a time, the country is facing a major financial crisis and a heavy portion from salaries of university academics and the administrative staff are being cut down as tax, we still strongly demonstrate our commitment to serve the society through these activities which invite the artistic community to engage with the university and its creative innovations.

As Jepson and Cleark clearly show (Jepson & Clarke, 2016) that the community festival and events enhance the engagement and inclusivity through festivals and events (Jepson & Clarke, 2005, 2013, 2014; Jepson et al., 2008; Jepson, 2009; Clarke & Jepson, 2011; Jepson et al., 2013; Stadler, 2013; Ragsdell & Jepson, 2014) Moreover, festivals and events can further increase the wellbeing and the quality of life (QOL) of people. In the Sri Lankan context, the cultural celebrations and the artistic engagements of the communities are merely narrowed to national ceremonies and the government sponsored religious ceremonies. Other cultural activities have been superimposed upon the society where the community engagement is less visible and present.

As Jepson and Clarke clearly argue, these festivals and cultural events can enhance the understanding between communities and create opportunities for cultural development (Getz cited in Jepson and Clarke, 2016), these communal activities further promote and enhance the understanding and engagement between various ethnicities. ‘Ability to entertain, educate, hold aesthetic value and provide a platform Festivals hold a unique for escapism through the creation of an often-unique event experience’ (Jepson and Clarke 2016, p. 4). In this sense the Academic Thespians Theatre Festival is not a mere theatre festival which showcases students’ creative works but opened up avenues and opportunities for other communities to engage with the university community to celebrate diversity and inclusivity.

ATTF 2023

This year ATTF showcases five major original theatre productions produced at the Department of Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance and also two dance productions. Five short plays including monologues of solo actors will also be performed at the festival. For the first time in the history of ATTF at UVPA Colombo, an international production from Nepal will be staged at Panibharatha Theatre. One of the experimental and socially engaged theatre group from Nepal, Mandala Theatre led by playwright and director Som Nath Khanal and 11 drama students from Mandala theatre school will perform a play on the 23^rd July, titled ‘Wounds of War’, an ensemble theatre production written and produced by the students of the Mandala Theatre school. The ‘Wounds of War’ explores the violent armed conflict of Nepal such as forceful disappearance, killing, physical torture and sexual violence, displacement, and disability. The guest performance from Jaffna University titled Marapuchchumai (Burden Legacy) will be performed on the 25^th of July. This production is by the Drama and Theatre Arts, Sri Ponnambalam Ramanathan Faculty of Performing and Visual Arts, University of Jaffna. The production is supervised by Dr. K. Navadarshani.

The festival starts on the 22 of July at 5.30 pm with an opening performance. This opening performance is developed through a musical play titled ‘Secret Symphony’ produced by the UVPA in March 2023 and was performed at Nelum Pokuna Theatre with the involvement of a larger number of students of all three faculties of the university. On the same night the festival is inaugurated with a final year graduation production titled ‘Desiderata’ (Things Desired). This play is developed through the inspiration from the German dramatist George Buchner’s famous play, Woyzeck. Desiderata examines the modern state that systematically exploits the regimented soldier and the shaping of our social construct. The latest final year graduation production, ඇස් ඉස් මස් (Body Parts) is also developed from the Austrian playwright by Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play “The Visit“. This encapsulates the patriarchal and crime centric lifestyle of a tycoon whose journey has begun in the gutters of lumpen political and cultural degradation. Haunted by his past, he is now forced to confront the crisis of his own moral decadence.