(From top) Children and adults take part in the theatre workshop and veteran actor Surya Mohanty (right) addresses the participants at the event organised at Sunabeda in Koraput district. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, June 19: Eleven-year-old Akshay Kumar Moharana, who has hardly seen amateur theatre at his town Sunabeda of Koraput district, now knows the works of Ingmar Bergman or the plays of Ibsen.

Thirty-year-old theatre enthusiast Susant Routray, who believed in loud dialogue delivery, can now mould his voice accordingly to suit the mood of the script.

Veteran theatre personality Surya Mohanty’s fortnight long workshop has worked wonders for amateur dramatists and aspirants.

The workshop includes script-writing exercises, discussions, acting sessions and direction. School kids have found a new perception of theatre after taking part in the children’s workshop.

“Within the first week, my creative skills have developed immensely. Now, I know ability to think is the most important characteristic for an artiste. Earlier at school dramas, we would monotonously follow the system of picking a play and mugging up dialogues,” said 14-year-old Swati Mishra.

For Smita Rani Parida of the adult’s group, Mohanty’s advice to read versatile genres of literature has helped a great deal. “We now understand different emotions and feel them instead of just forcefully emphasising on our dialogues,” she said.

Workshops and interactions in interior regions of the state are important to bring a change in the situation of theatre in Odisha, feels Mohanty.

“We have become so stereotyped that we cannot think of writing new scripts or experimenting while designing the stage or creating characters that leave an impact on the audience,” he said.

“Bringing these young artistes out of the imposed conventions with just a basic orientation of acting and voice culture has given me so many good artistes with imaginative, investigative and innovative skills,” he added.

The workshop conducted with the support of Utkal Sanskruti Parishad of Sunabeda. Eight child artistes and 15 adults took part in the sessions. It will come to a close this weekend.

“We wish to make it a regular affair. We are planning to host another workshop by Surya Mohanty in a couple of months,” said Biswaranjan Kanungo, an organiser and a participant.