Mandali
Theatre
Community | Creative education
Mandali is a student run and managed theatre group that was founded in 2015 by Rajat Khurana, batch of 2018 of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, under the initiative of SSociety, founded by Varun Ram Kurthkoti and Vivek Singh Sangwan, batch of 2015, which was a platform at Srishti to promote other forms of art and interests within Srishti as it was absent previously.The founding members mainly included students from the Foundation Studies batch at Srishti of 2015-2016, which included my batchmates and I, along with a few students from the senior batches. The main agenda for such a student run group to exist was to maintain a democratic and creative space in performing arts over the years even after its initial members would pass out. Therefore, even today this ratio between freshers and seniors is maintained in order to inculcate the culture of theatre and provide a familiar and productive space for those who share their passion for the same. With the help of SSociety the college recognised the determination and potential of this student club and gave it its support that made it possible for a full scale production within its first year named 'Woh Ghar'.
I started out as an actor and dancer within the space of Mandali in 2015 and then took up the role of a director cum mentor between 2017 - 2019 along with the help of new students who joined the theatre group once the old members had to leave. During this time we concentrated on writing our own play for a production we named 'Nangeli' which is based on a Malayali folklore about the evil of breast tax that existed during the 17th century. 'Nangeli' is a commentary on the progress we have made against bigotry uptill now but also the possibility of the progress we have to make against bigotry in the present for the future. The play of 'Nangeli' was written by Utkarsh Pathak and Malavika Suresh. We also concentrated on honing our improvisational skills by creating new theatre exercises and using our space as a workshop for creativity that would help us in our respective fields of design as well as art. We also acted as a hub for acting talent and used our education within this space for other students who aimed to produce plays and films.
Thereafter in 2019 the baton had been passed on to another named Kumuda Rishi, a student of Visual Communication and Strategic Branding, who is using his role to explore the genre of comedy and widen the interest of theatre to public and students outside of Mandali by collaborating with RMZ Galleria, a local mall, and MUJO, a college platform for collaborative art.
As of 2020, Mandali is mentored by four instead of one member as a step forward in the spirit of democracy namely Anchita Kaul, Ritu Pant, Shivani Varma and Shuili Jamuar. These young Artists and Designers have started an initiative called 'Katha' where they organize script reading and script writing sessions during the COVID - 19 pandemic lockdown which is also open to the former members of the club, such as myself. They have organized the script writing sessions to be overseen by Ramneek Singh, a playwright and social activist who is also a faculty at the college. The broader goal of 'Katha' is to generate a new and original script for Mandali to produce in the form of a stage play later this year.
