The Sombhu Mitra Theatre festival at the NABC 2023 will showcase some of the finest Bengali theatre from around the USA. Eight theatre groups from Chicago, Columbus, Atlanta, New York, Boston, North Carolina, Maryland, and Michigan will be presenting their theatrical productions of a wide range of genres. Come and celebrate Bengali theatre at the NABC 2023.
NABC SPOTLIGHT
Title of the play : অবচেতন/Abocheton
Name of playwright : Jayati Banerjee
Name of Director : Jayati Banerjee
Cast : Aadia Bose,Kieran Wangai, Ashish Brahma,Saimanti Das, Nilay Mukherjee, Amitabha Lala, Jayati Banerjee
Synopsis : Even in today’s world, we are influenced by our own prejudice, negative pre-judgment about a person, a group or even a nation.The way we try to hold on to our key values, our sense of social identity, social norms often lead to discrimination. Prejudices run in our core for generations. We try to rationalize them or try to justify them but they are there, deep down in our subconscious.“Abocheton” is a story of a first generation immigrant family in America where they are coming in terms with some of these conflicts in a most unexpected way.Is ‘normal’ overrated until we learn to ask questions ? If our children are challenging our unchecked and un-examined prejudices which have been handed down from generation to generation, are we prepared to face it ? How can we transform ourselves until we learn to admit ? Owning up to our own prejudices is possible but it is hard because we have to be open to disruption.
Name: Park Bench
Name of Playwright : Sandip Mazumder
Name of the Director : Sandip Mazumder
Name of artists : Arunita Ghosh, Debasmita Mukherjee, Shreyan Ganguly.
Synopsis of the Play : Park Bench depicts the story of two young college students in Kolkata–Onnesha (Oni) and Akmal (Aki), who come from diametrically opposite backgrounds. Are they just classmates? Besties? Lovers? Soul mates? The play takes the audience through a journey in which they start to wonder what the true meaning of love is.
Name : EKTI CHURIR GOPPO
Original : Dario Fo‘s The Virtuous Burglar
Adaptation : Anika Mahin
Direction : Rokeya Rafique Baby
Light : Shamim Mamun Litton
Sound : Ziaul Hoque
Stage Manager : Shamim Mamun Litton
CAST : Alamgir Chanchal
Swapna Kawsar
Fazlul Kabir
Sharmin Reza Eva
Rokeya Rafique Baby & Faruque Azam.
Synopsis : ‘Ekti Churir Goppo’ is an adaptation of Italian playwright Dario Fo’s satirical farce “ The Virtuous Burglar”.It is a tale of deceit and sexual philandering by the wealthy as opposed to the straightforward way of life of a petty burglar.
The burglar breaks into the flat of a wealthy politician believing he and his wife are away for a few days. The phone rings continuously. He answers it and it is his wife. This is the first of many surprises. When the burglar hears a couple entering the flat, he has to hide immediately inside the grandfather clock. The man, a wealthy politician, is the owner of the flat and the lady is the wife of another. They are here to consummate their affair. At the same time, they are there. The plot thickens when the burglar is discovered and further characters appear, the burglar’s wife, the politician’s wife, and her lover Moulana. it is the intricate web of extramarital affairs, amorous adventure, and infidelities. Each tries to explain their innocence to save their social image. Confusion and misunderstanding, suspicion, jealousy, and lies pile up, leaving the burglar completely baffled.
It’s only the burglar who is the virtuous one. The play is ushered and ended by the interjection of five jesters, added in the adaptation. The grandfather clock and the Telephone are vital logistics of the play.
Name: SARARATTIR- A Play by Badal Sarkar
A Michigan Literary and Theatrical Society (MILITS) Production
Cast : Abhijit Biswas
Ananda Sen
Mala Chakraborty
Music: Jayanta Mitra
Design and Direction: Mala Chakraborty
Additional Support Crew: 2
Synopsis: Sararattir is a psychological drama by the late playwright Badal Sircar that delves into the introspection on relationships. In the play that spans the hours of a stormy night, a couple takes shelter in a dilapidated house. They are received by a strange old man, the owner of the house, whose words seem to break their illusion of a happy conjugal life. Each of them spends a wakeful night, forced to step out of their known orbit for some time. Morning promises to bring them back to their familiar world. Or does it? Sararattir is about revelations, about looking deep into one’s own feelings, about trading peace for joy.
Title of the play: Beporowa ( বেপরোয়া)
Name of the playwright: Ujjwal Chattopadhyay (based on original script Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward)
Name of the director: Dibyendu Paul
Synopsis of the play: Beporowa is a farcical play set at the house of writer Chandan and his wife Rupa. Chandan is desperately looking for a suitable theme for his next publication. Hitting a writer’s block, Chandan invites local eccentric Pakrashi who holds a meeting with the dead through a medium. Pakrashi unwittingly brings back Chandan’s dead wife Olivia. What follows is utter chaos, with both wives trying to take possession of Chandan.
Name: Khesarath presented by Aabaha
Original Playwright: Ujjwal Chattopadhyay
Direction and Music: Kallol Nandi
Cast and Crew: Akashlina Sayed, Shubhagato Bahttacherjee, Soutik Das, Debleena Bandopadhyay, Kaushik Bardhan, Pranjal Karmakar
Synopsis: Basabi was a political activist, who was put in prison by the then government. Now she is married to a Human Rights Commissioner who is in-charge of investigation and searching for malfeasance in office. Incidentally Basabi finds one of her husband’s friends resembles a doctor who tortured and molested her while she was in prison. This intrigues Basabi to find the real identity of this man. Story evolves depicting how every person learns something new and pays the price for their deeds, however, does it bring justice?
Name: TRITIYO NOYON presented by Chicago Natyogoshthi
Story: Debabrata Dasgupta
Singer: Kaushik Chakraborty
Direction: Dev Hazra
Light: Satya Subhajit Ghoshal
Sound: Jaya Maitra
Cast: Pratik, Dev, Sushmit, Abhijit, Pradeepta, Bikash
Synopsis: What is justice? Is it simply a verdict by the court constrained by the boundaries of the law? Or is it the ruthless search for the truth aided by the deep probing “third eye”? This is the conundrum that manifests itself in its gory details in the enactment of – Tritiyo Noyon – by Chicago NatyoGoshthi. The ebb and flow of logic, emotion, vindictiveness and veiled nuances are rendered through edge-of-the-seat excitement in this play. What transpires in the drama reaches an unexpected crescendo highlighting the third eye’s truth-seeking dominance over the limitations of the man-made legal system.
Title: আবার সংকট/ Abaar Shongkot
Playwrite : Kaushik Sen
Director : Ananya Sen
Art and Music Director : Debojyoti Lahiri, Payel Mukherjee
Project Manager : Kishoerjit Kar
Cast : Pinaki Mukherjee, Prithwiraj Ghosh, Samrat Das, Biswajit Mazumder, Sritama Nath, Debojyoti Lahiri, Trina Das, Nupur Kar
Synopsis: A satirical drama presented by Athoi Kotha of Raleigh, NC, is inspired by the famous Bengali short story ‘Chikitsha Shongkot ’ by Parashuram and the English drama ‘The Doctor’s dilemma’ by G. B. Shaw.
A simple young man immigrates to America and gets into a car accident. He gets into a mind boggling array of medical investigations and legal issues prompted by the well meaning enthusiastic friends. Switching between one diagnosis to another he was about to lose his mind when an unexpected turn of events takes him by surprise.
