Paradip, May 21: Children showcased their artistic creativity at the inaugural edition of the children's theatre festival organised at Paradip.

"It was an experiment that turned out to be a success. In Paradip, children used to take part in dramas during annual school functions. Scope to display their talent was limited. So we organised the festival for the first time. Various schools took the opportunity to take part in the three-day event," said Sriman Mishra, the secretary of Canmass, a socio-cultural group. It organised the theatre festival.

"'The plays staged at the festival had child-centric themes and were socially relevant. Performances of the children who donned the role of adults were impressive and praise-worthy," Mishra said.

On the inaugural evening, the students of DAV School performed a family play Aadha chaddar written by Sanjukta Jena under the direction of Topha Tripathy. Later the students of Saraswati Sishu Vidyamandir staged a social play titled E dunia rahile hela, written and directed by Tapas Kumar Barik.

On the second day, the students of Bethany Convent School, Paradip presented a play called Be the change directed by Itishree Puhana. The students of Port Trust High School presented one realistic play titled Ahe dayamaya biswo bihari written by Bijay Satpathy and directed by Bikram Prakash.

On the valedictory evening, the students of Shri Arabindo Integral Education in Paradip presented a social and family drama Kanhu written by Kailash Panigrahi and directed by Bikram Prakash. The play portrayed the struggle of poor parents to provide education to their son.

Abhisek Routray of PPT High School got the best actor award and Akruti Mishra of Bethany Convent got best actress award.

Itishree Puhana of Bethany Convent got best director award while Abhishek Barik, the young actor who performed in the play Kanhu was given a special prize.

Attending the valedictory function as the chief guest, noted theatre personality Dolagobinda Rath praised the endeavour of Canmass for organising the theatre festival in Paradip. He said art and culture keeps us united.

"For the last 13 years we have been holding a national theatre festival. But for the first time we organised a theatre fest for kids," said Mishra.

The festival attracted many people and they gathered at the venue in Jayadev Sadan in large numbers.