Taruna Kalakar Sanstha stages Tasmei Shree Gurave Namah at Bhanja Kala Mandap in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 5: Natya Dhara, the yearlong theatre festival organised by Odisha Natya Sangha, appears to have changed its format.

From presenting the same play for three consecutive days, they are now staging three different plays. The plays were staged at Bhanja Kala Mandap. At the same venue, Panchamaveda will host a five-day theatre festival. The 10th edition of the festival will begin on March 9.

The first play of the Natya Dhara series that was staged on Saturday was Tote Jhure Mun Rati Dina. The play was also staged at the recently concluded 16th edition of the Kalinga Natya Mahotsav, the national-level multilingual dr-ama festival.

Directed by Prashant Mahapatra, the play by Ranga Bhumi narrated the story of Sanjay the protagonist who is a paan (betel leaf) lover. His father Sankarshan died of cancer that was caused by consumption of paan. His uncle wanted him to continue eating paan so that Sanjay meets the same fate as his father. His greedy uncle wants to acquire his father's property. Sanjay has a friend who sells paan but warns him about the devious plans of his uncle.

On Sunday evening, it was Tasmei Sri Gurube Namah directed Manmath Satpathy and presented by artistes of city-based Tarun Kalakaar Sanstha.

Arjun Pathi played by actor Govind Mahapatra is a man of principles and being a teacher he expects the same demeanour from his students. On the occasion of Teacher’s Day, he awaits the arrival of his pupils to seek his blessings.

He even chides his wife Drapaudi essayed by artiste Umarani Das for roaming around the house in shabby attire. But as the play progresses, he only gets restless as many people come to visit him for different purposes but his students don’t pay him a visit.

The poignant story was a take on the apathy and irreverence shown towards the teachers who have been equated to Gods in our culture.

The enthralling array of plays concluded with Tribeni Tirtha by Hawa Hawa Natya Sansad, a theatre group based in Jatni on the outskirts of the city. A work of dramatist Ashok Dey, the play was directed by Gopal Dey.

The 10th edition of the state level drama festival by Panchamaveda would commence with the host team staging the play Manisha Hata, directed by Prakash Maharana and penned by Bijay Mishra. On the subsequent days, well known teams from Rourkela, Dhenkanal and Jatni would showcase their presentations. The festival would conclude with Chetabani, a Hindi play directed and written by Pragyan Khatua and to be staged by Bhubaneswar-based troupe Magic Theatre. Also on the occasion, the organiser will felicitate singer Prafulla Kar, playwrights Saileswar Nanda and Subodh Patnaik and actors Raju Padhy and Mamata Mohanty.

“It is our humble effort to add a bit to the rich and diverse form of stage theatre,” said Haren Sahoo, secretary of the troupe.