In the wake of founder Veenapani Chawla’s untimely death, the team at the Adishakti theatre group has had to not just deal with the huge personal loss but also take a fresh look at the path ahead.
Chawla, who served as the Managing Trustee and Artistic Director of Adishakti, was also in charge of the financials. Her death came at a time when she was making plans to raise a corpus fund for Adishakti, and using the interest generated from it for its day-to-day functioning. While costs have increased over the last couple of years, the inflow of funds has not kept pace, says Vinay Kumar, one of the seniormost and earliest members of Adishakti. It is in this scenario that Adishakti has announced ‘Vision Veenapani,’ a fund-raising initiative to ensure her ‘legacy continues and thrives.’
It is anything but easy to carry on, but the team seems to be taking the challenge head-on, much like Chawla would have wanted them to. “We are trying to stay strong. We began our regular rehearsals from the third day after her passing away,” says Mr. Kumar, who has been central in the key works of Adishakti, including its expanding role in theatre research, working alongside with Chawla.
To generate funds, the team has lined up some of its famed programmes such as the Source of Performance Energy Workshops (January 9 to 19 and February 20 to March 2) and Master Classes. The team is also exploring the idea of letting out its sprawling campus space, inclusive of technical assistance and accommodation, for rehearsal and performance to other theatre groups which find renting auditoriums in the cities prohibitively expensive. As the Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts and Research is a registered organisation, the team is examining funding under Corporate Social Responsibility.
The packed calendar of events is expected to create funds for the long run till which time donations can support the group’s activities, says Mr. Kumar.
Chawla was last working on the script of ‘Sita’ which had evolved from a paper she had produced. The team at Adishakti hopes to begin rehearsals for it by mid-year.
The theatre of Veenapani Chawla
Chawla wanted Adishakti to be a ‘seminal space’ for not just ‘radical’ but ‘inclusive’ thinking as well, says Mr. Kumar. This explains the wide use of traditional art forms such as Koodiyattam, Dhrupad singing and Kalaripayattu in her theatre, while infusing it with a contemporary approach.
Theatre for Chawla was a ‘route to an internal journey.’ She was also clear about each person’s journey being their own. Thus, her team members were encouraged and even pushed to do their own thinking and research and quite a few of them created their own performances under her mentorship. In her physical absence, the team wants to continue in this journey.
She was almost wholly responsible for radicalising contemporary Indian theatre with ‘physicality,’ says Mr. Kumar. When she drew from Kalaripayattu for Adishakti’s research and performances, it signified a new path for Indian theatre.
Her most significant contribution was the ‘institutionalisation’ of theatre, says Mr. Kumar. This has involved sacrifices and treading down the unknown path when she could have easily stopped with making a name for herself with standout performances. Instead, she created Adishakti using her ‘extraordinary imagination’ and built a community around it. She has worked hard to set up the primary infrastructure for its future and for those who are to come, says Mr. Kumar, adding, “To stop now would be a disaster.”
The details for making donations (tax deductible under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act) are on Adishakti’s website at www. adishaktitheatrearts.com.
