Aa Ba Ka Da  Activities

EK Kalakar… Ek Sandhyakal [An Artist… An Evening] .

Unfortunately cultural programs in Sangli were limited to the state sponsored drama competitions. There was a need to reintroduce programs catering to all tastes to the dwindling audiences of Sangli. Interactive programs that helped to create an interest in theatre was the need of the hour. The audiences had to be pulled out of their passivity and given a reason to come back to the theatre. EK Kalakar  Ek Sandhyakal was a small beginning. This unique program hoped to bring together distinguished personalities to directly interact with the audience. We were successful in bringing famous personalities from films, music, theatre, literary fields like Shri Nilu Phule, Late Vasant Kanetker, Dr. Shriram Lagoo, Jayashree Gadkar, Vikram Gokhale, Dr. Jabbar Patel, Satish Alekar, Kumar Ketkar, Ram Kadam, Prashant Damle etc. 

AaBaKaDa Membership Forum

The EK Kalakar… Ek Sandhyakal [An Artist… An Evening] program was a good experience. It taught us the mood and the needs of the audience. We capitalized on this and floated the `Membership Forum’. This forum has now become the extended family of the AaBaKaDa cultural group. We offer eight programmes per year including the Sangeet mahotsav for all members. We have 400 regular members who are given two passes each and have been able to sustain this forum for the past 11 years.

Some of the programmes offered in this package included dramas like `All the best’, Char Chowgi, Ghashiram Kotwal, musical programmes like Mangal Deep by Padmaja Phenani, Hits of O.P. Nayyar, Marathi Sugam Sangeet, Natya Sangeet, Mono Act Plays like Warhad Nighalay Londonla by Prof. Laxmanrao Deshpande, Dance Programmes by Prachi Shah and so on. 

Children’s Theatre Workshop

This workshop attracted 35 participants from the age group 6-14 years. The duration of the workshop was two weeks and the children were guided through a detailed syllabus covering all aspects of theatre production. At the end of the workshop the children were able to put up two plays of an hour each, `Nave gokul’ and ……….For children of this area this is a golden opportunity to be exposed to the fascinating world of theatre. The AaBaKaDa Cultural group will continue this series for children for the next five years.

National School of Drama

In collaboration with the AaBaKaDa Cultural group the NSD ran a 40 day residential theatre orientation workshop for participants from the Sangli region. AaBaKaDa Cultural group was able to provide 62 participants who produced a play called `Akrava Avatar’ at the end of the workshop. Prof. Yashwant Kelkar conducted the workshop. This is in keeping with the NSD’s dream of encouraging regional institutes to train in theatre development. AaBaKaDa Cultural group takes its inspiration from the NSD and hopes to become a premier institute in training and resource development in this region.

Productions by AaBaKaDa Cultural group

The group has produced seven plays out of which three Bangarwadi, Sangeet Soubhadra, and Sangeet Manapman, have been winning awards in various competitions. The AaBaKaDa Cultural group is slowly gaining a reputation for producing plays that are considered difficult and almost impossible to produce. Sangeet Soubhadra and Sangeet Manapman are both plays that require a tremendous range of acting and singing skills. These plays have remained evergreen by the artists who made them famous namely late Balgandhrva, the late Deenanath Mangeshkar and the late Chota Gandharva.