Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and theatre personality Usha Ganguli at the inauguration of the Paschim Banga Natya Akademi’s new premises on Tuesday. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

Paschim Banga Natya Akademi finally has its own premises at 1/1 AJC Bose Road. It was inaugurated on Tuesday by Akademi president and theatre personality Kumar Roy, in the presence of the chief minister and other dignitaries.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said at the inauguration that the centre would be a boon for theatre-workers, especially those hailing from the districts. He hoped it would also prove useful for researchers.

The chief minister announced at the programme that Minerva theatre will be inaugurated in April and requested the Akademi members to decide how the hall can be utilised solely for theatre.

Instituted in 1987, the Akademi has had to shift its base several times. “We began at Girish Mancha, but then moved to Rabindra Sadan. In the 1990s, we shifted to Calcutta Information Centre,” recounted Sukanto Roy, member-secretary and administrative head of the Akademi.

The three-storeyed building, designed by chief government architect Prasad Ranjan Das, has been built at a cost of Rs 1.08 crore. Its windows offer views of the Victoria Memorial, AJC Bose Road flyover and the Nandan complex.

The building houses workshop and production spaces of about 60 sq m each. There are five guestrooms for workshop participants.

“The rooms will be useful, because we organise four to five residential workshops every year. Guests often have to put up at makeshift shelters,” stated Roy.

There is also a large conference room and a smaller room to store the Akademi publications and audio and video material. “We had been forced to stash away our collections in cupboards, making them almost inaccessible,” said Roy.

The first play staged in the airconditioned production area on Monday was Ferot Chai, an adaptation of Percival Wilde’s Refund by Arun Mukhopadhyay.

Presented under the banner of Sthapona, the actors of the 45-minute play were teachers and guardians whom Mukhopadhyay had trained during a three-day children’s theatre camp in Santiniketan.

The actors came from Santipur, Halisahar, Suri and Santiniketan.