Masquerade (Theatre Group)
Encyclopedia
Masquerade - the performance group is a Chennai
based English theatre group. It is one of the few theatre groups in Chennai that survive without financial sponsorship or funding, backed by public faith and smaller donorships.
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playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal
's Elektra
. Later in 2004, 10 years after Masquerade's inception, when the group decided to found Chennai's first youth theater group Landing Stage, Electra was again to be the debut performance. Masquerade has currently completed 16 seasons and more than 60 productions.
Masquerade was instrumental in setting up and promoting "Natak" An inter-collegiate theatre festival. The first season of Natak was in 2000, which saw the participants from various city colleges, The following year saw entries from colleges across India. Students were given the platform to design, plan and execute the entire production. Students were provided professional support from the Masquerade team in areas of Light and sound design and execution, as with back stage support and planning. A stipend was paid to the teams to minimize the financial burden on the teams. A standard set of lights and sound equipment, paid for by Masquerade, was made available to the teams in designing their shows.
Performances are social and community-oriented. Masquerade introduced "Three @ Twenty", a community theatre
initiative to promote new writers in 2006.
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
based English theatre group. It is one of the few theatre groups in Chennai that survive without financial sponsorship or funding, backed by public faith and smaller donorships.
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The early years
'Masquerade - The Performance Group' was founded in June 1994 and debuted with its first performance at Sittrarangam (a little thatched-roof performance structure that existed inside the Island Grounds that overlooks the War Memorial), near Anna Square. Masquerade's first theater performance was an experimental adaptation of AustrianAustrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal ; , was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.-Early life:...
's Elektra
Elektra (opera)
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
. Later in 2004, 10 years after Masquerade's inception, when the group decided to found Chennai's first youth theater group Landing Stage, Electra was again to be the debut performance. Masquerade has currently completed 16 seasons and more than 60 productions.
Masquerade was instrumental in setting up and promoting "Natak" An inter-collegiate theatre festival. The first season of Natak was in 2000, which saw the participants from various city colleges, The following year saw entries from colleges across India. Students were given the platform to design, plan and execute the entire production. Students were provided professional support from the Masquerade team in areas of Light and sound design and execution, as with back stage support and planning. A stipend was paid to the teams to minimize the financial burden on the teams. A standard set of lights and sound equipment, paid for by Masquerade, was made available to the teams in designing their shows.
Performances are social and community-oriented. Masquerade introduced "Three @ Twenty", a community theatre
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
initiative to promote new writers in 2006.
Selected Productions
| Year | Title | Author | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dystopia | adapted from The Twilight Zone The Twilight Zone The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist... |
English | |
| 2009 | Charandas Chor Charandas Chor Charandas Chor is 1975 children's film made by noted director Shyam Benegal, based on the famous play by Habib Tanvir, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha... (an MYT Production) |
Habib Tanvir | English | |
| 2009 | JigSaw | Multiple Authors | English | |
| 2008 | The Truth | Mohan Narayanan | English | |
| 2007 | Thus Spake Shoorpanakha, So Said Shakuni | Poile Sengupta Poile Sengupta Poile Sengupta was born in 1948 as Ambika Gopalakrishnan. Today she is one of the foremost Indian writers in English especially well known as a playwright and writer for children.... |
English | |
| 2006 | Wood | Gautam Raja | English | |
| Parrots Lies | Andreas Marber Andreas Marber Andreas Marber is a German playwright and dramaturge.Marber wrote began his career at the Children and Young People's State of Esslingen. In 1988 he moved to the Municipal Theater Bielefeld, 1989 to 1993 he worked under Friedrich Schirmer at the Theater Freiburg... |
English | ||
| 2005 | A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta... |
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... |
English | |