Pragya Cultural Centre began its journey on 16th February , 2001 as a registered Society in Kolkata.Over the years, the organisation has been able to establish itself as a notable Cultural Unit in cultural hub in Bengal.
Today, Drama Unit of the organisation is having many accolades, which includes many prestigious performances be it in India like NSD International Festival or in abroad. Today, we are integral part of the society where we do good for the people.
Pragya connects to people. In addition to our centre based Theatrical and other cultural activities, we are now working on an integrated Theatrical activity Programme in Tribal areas of Bengal. Our village wing of the organisation in Kheadaha I block of South 24 Parganas covering more than 10 tribal villages where tribes, viz., Oraon , Munda , Santals, Bhumijas etc. live for centuries, are now working in full swing. Further activities have been expanded by opening another training unit in Kanmari, north 24 Parganas.
The Organisation is now functioning from its Kolkata unit as well as its village wing at Boynala, Kheyadaha , South 24 Parganas,WB.
Our cultural activities covering acting, dance, rhythm dances continued with full vigour.
FULL LENGTH DRAMA
We have produced following theatrical compositions during the year
1. Buddhu Bhutum (New Production)
Directior: Jayasree Bhattacharyya
2. Ram Raboner Pala (New Production)
Directior: Soumita Bhattachya Shome , Jayasree Bhattacharyya
3. E Ka Holei (New Production)
Director : Swapan Sardar
4. Natok Nae Sotty ( New Production)
Director: Achinta Sardar
5. Phulo Jhanu Ulgulan ki Auratey ( Making – Script label, Chau, Kalaripattu, Stick Fight completed, Research work Completed)
Director : Jayasree Bhattacharyya
DRAMA ONE ACT
During the year, we staged following one act plays:
1. Inner Mind ( Drama On Drug Abuse ) (New Production)
Director: Jayasree Bhattacharyya
2.Sinrdara ( Drama on Against Child Marriage )
3.Guru Maa (Comedy)
Director: Jayasree Bhattacharyya
4. Bandhu (Drama Against Child Labour )
Director: Jayasree Bhattacharyya
DANCE THEATRE
In this year , we had two new Dance Theatre production :
1. Birsa Munda Katha
Director: Tapan Kumar Sardar, Satyajit Sardar, Joyanti Munda
2. Khoja Khoja Te aali
Tapan Kumar Sardar, Satyajit Sardar, Joyanti Munda
SCHOOL PROJECTS
We are now working in four schools towards implementation of theatrical project. Our school projects are now live in these schools:
1. IIMC Challapara School , Kheadaha , South 24 Parganas
2. Kheadaha Higher Secondary School, Kheadaha , South 24 Parganas
3. Boynala FP School, Kheadaha , South 24 Parganas
4. Antaranga , Budge Budge - (Special residential school for Mentally Challenged girls)
During the year these children under our projects produced and staged the following:
1. Dustu Bagh( IIMC Challapara School )
Directed By Bijay Sankar Sardar, Bidyut Dey, Jayasree Bhattacharyya
2. Daktar Didimoni(Kheadaha Higher Secondary School)
Directed By- Achinta Sardar, Bidyut Dey, Jayasree Bhattacharyya
3. Banua Katha (Kheadaha Higher Secondary School)
Directed By Tapan Kumar Sardar, Satyajit Sardar, Joyanti Munda
SPCIAL PROJECT FOR MENTALLY CHALLENGED GIRL CHILDREN
At Antaranga , Budge Budge ,a Special residential school for Mentally Challenged girls, expert team members of Pragya are working over the years on mentally challenged girls through Theatre Therapy. It is one of the most challenging but boosting project for us which gives us a huge satisfaction when these girls perform at stages even. We are now working for our next production “ Cycle Wala “ by Bijay Tendulkar where all the challenged girl children will perform.
BASA E BAROMASYA
In the year under review, we have now established our own open air theatre “ BASA” at Boynala Tribal Village in Kheadaha I , South 24 Parganas, WB. We have launched a new programme “ BASA-E-BAROMASYA” where every month , there is performance by our theatre group and other artists. Simultaneously, we share this platform to other groups to perform. In turn, it is now a regular Cultural destination. Mainly it is on 3rd Sunday of the month.
BASA was inaugurated on 9th May, 2022 under gracious presence of distinguished theatre personality SNA award winner Shri Probir Guha , Shri Prakash Bhattacharyya , Theatre personality , Scholar and Tribal culture expert Shri Prabhakar Tirkey and Shri Soumitra Basu , theatre personality. Month wise on 9th May, 2022,19th June,2022 , 17th July 2022 ,15th August 2022, 26th September 2022 , 30th October 2022 , 23rd November 2022 , 20th December 2022 and 4th March ,2023 respectively we had this programme.
WORKSHOPS
We are conducting regular workshops and programmes which are essential to bring and maintain quality and standard. We conducted following Workshops towards training and development initiative: 1. Saraikela Chau Dance Workshop ( 3 Months) - Special Worksop taken by famous Chau Dancer Shri B B Mahato ;
2. Kalari Pattu Workshop (4 Day) - Special workshop taken by famous Kalari Pattu Dancer Dr. Murugan Pillai
4. Folk Dance Workshop (Every Saturday , Sunday)
6. Special Children Drama Workshop (Monthly)
8. Ventriloquism workshop for Children( One Day)
CELEBRATION OF IMPORTANT DAYS
We celebrated following auspicious and important days during the year.
9th May - Rabindranath Tagore Birth Day
30th June - Hool Divas
9th August - Adibasi Divas
15th August - Independence Day
15th November - Birsa Munda Birth Anniversary
16th February - Pragya Cultural Centre Foundation Day
FESTIVALS
One Day Ganga Jamuna Natya Utsab Colaboration with Aneek Kolkata held on 4th March 2023.
However 3rd Year Adi Sapta Pallab (Festival of Indigenous Dance Drama Art and Craft) due to non-availability of financial support as budgeted
OTHER TRAINING PROGRAMMES
Grooming for CCRT Scholarship and Training on Folk Dance, Folk Song, Folk Art and Craft This year, we took initiative for expert training in tribal dances and songs so that that our young children can groom themselves in a systematic way. Out of these children, 10 of our children got selected for prestigious CCRT scholarship of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India in the year under review.
CALL SHOWS
During the year, we had following call shows :
Saras Mela, Kolkata - 1 Day
Gangasagar Mela, Ganga Sagar - 3 Days
Kolkata Bookfair - 1 Day
Awareness Drama Show - 1 Day
KANTHA KATHA
At Boynala
We engaged Tribal women in kantha stitch and embroidery works. They are getting trained through experts and now they are taking care of our costume designing/ making.
ARCHERY AND FOOTBALL
In one of our upcoming production “Phulo Jhano Ulgulan Ki Awratey “is on Phulo Jhano , who was sister of great tribal freedom fighters Sidhu and Kanho. For this purpose, we require archers. To train, we have included Archery in our activity calendar. Similarly, for making a real life based experimental production , we have introduced football training for tribal girls. They are also doing well . The entire journey in this aspect will be transformed into theatrical work. Pragya Cultural Centre has developed huge trust amongst the villagers, and we are now an integral part of them. In turn we have been able to build up a huge team of 350 plus tribal actors/performers. Some of activities are appended to this report for ideation about Pragya Activities in the year under review. We are confident that with proper planning and teamwork and support of all, Pragya will present more creative works in days to come.
Together We can