Mumbai, 26th Dec 2017:
Thespo, India's home-grown youth theatre movement has grown from a one-day event in 1999 to a year round programme training, recognizing and promoting quality youth talent in the performing arts. Thespo 19- a 7 day long theatre festival announced the awards on 24th Dec 2017 at Little theatre, NCPA, in presences of Filmmaker Alyque Pasamsee, Actor Farid Currim, Actor Faroukh Mehta and Renowned Theatre Artist Dr. Mohan Agashe who was honored with Lifetime Achievement Award for his incredible contribution to theatre in the field of acting and promoting Children's theatre.
At the finale, Thespo 19 saw competition between 4 groups i.e Vairangi’s Mrig-Trishna from Delhi, Karooj Theatre Group’s Main Mera Baaja Aur Who from Lucknow, Nirmiti Rangmanch’s Khataara from Ahmednagar and Actomers’s Trikonka Chautha Kon? from Mumbai. The awards were bifurcated in many different categories and the winners were as follows:
Outstanding Male Actor- Yash Pednekar from Trikon ka Chautha Kon?- Mumbai
Outstanding Female Actor- Monika Banker from Khataara- Ahmednagar
Outstanding Director- Amol Salve from Khataara- Ahmednagar
Outstanding Play- Nirmiti Rangmanch, Ahmednagar from Khataara- Ahmednagar
Outstanding Male Actor In A Supporting Role- Ahmad Raza Khan from Main, Mera Baaja aur Woh- Lucknow
Outstanding Female Actor In A Supporting Role- Archana Sathe from Khataara- Ahmednagar
Outstanding New Writing- Amol Salve from Khataara- Ahmednagar
Outstanding Ensemble- Trikon ka Chautha Kon? from Mumbai
Deryck Jeffereis Award for Outstanding Production Design- Pramod Kasabe and Nirmiti Team from Khataara- Ahmednagar
Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Mohan Agashe
Festival Manager Srishti summarises, "There was no better way to end the festival, than to honour Dr. Mohan Agashe, and celebrate youth theatre in India. 7 days of Thespo 19 was all things fun, frolic and theatre!"
Dr. Mohan Agashe explains, “Thespo is a platform for theatre lovers, and I saw one or two performances and they are just brilliant. Below 25 years of age, you don’t have any responsibilities and so the energy level is very high and this is the age you can decide your further step for career. I think art brings people together, be it youth theatre or Music. And my support for theatre people will stay till my last breath. Receiving lifetime achievement award is not an end for theatre but a new beginning for me.”
This year, Thespo 19 received registrations from 17 cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Nagpur, Islampur (Sangli), Udupi, Lucknow, Ahmednagar, Jaipur, Baroda, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Islamabad (Pakistan). Total registrations amounting to 182, which includes 141 plays and 41 Platform performances across the country made this a lively and empowering experience for the team at Thespo. Also, the multilingual plays like, English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Awadhi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindustani, Haryanavi, Spanish, Kannada and Telugu added more flavour to the selection process by raising the regional theatre quotient of the movement. Thespo 19 was boosted with many Live performances, Music Gigs, Revolutionary ‘Fringe’ performances, short outdoor platform performances and theatre workshops from International artists from Greece, UK, US and Brazil.