Street Dramas
Kac ‘s team performing the street drama show in kathyad RM mugu
Photo By : KAC Team
The Kac organizes street drama based on various social and political issues, largely affecting the Karnali region. We involve local people in the artistic and production process of the dramas and our audiences are also local people. We believe that street drama is the best tools of social transformations in the rural community where is not access of any kinds of information technologies un till yet, So that we call it citizen format information or accessible information for all. In the past 15 years we have performed approximately 3500 show of street drama by walking in 500 different villages of karnali province. 200 street drama have been written on different social issues and nearly 150000 audiences have watched them.
Creative Workshops
Play back Theatre performance first time in karnali province, DDC Hall, Mugu
Photo By : KAC Team
We also organize creative workshops for all age groups irrespective of any theatre background. We work with various mediums ranging from theatre to photography and by local to global extra ordinary mentors . We collaborate with local artists, organizations, and independent researchers for these workshops. Through these wonderful creative workshops we want to seed for the next generations of creative community in karnali.We think these creative people can understand the importance of Respect, love and unity. So that now we are running various types of arts and other professional skills class like creative writing, film and theatre acting, Drawing and panting, traditional music, dance and other regularly in birendra nagar, surkhet .
Question to the culture
A Progressive hudke dance performance in August 9, 2019 in Nepal Nritya Utsav at Rastriya nach ghar .
Photo By : Nabin Babu Gurung for setopati.com
Our approach to cultural preservation is quite different from others. Everyone says “Karnali itself is a treasure trove of both tangible and intangible cultural heritages.” Despite it’s massive cultural prosperity and delightful history in one hand, we can see the ferocious orthodox, inhumanity, and caste violence that has been dreadlocked with the region’s cultures as a Religious tradition in another hand. As long as such feudal caste system,various other inhumane cultural practices continue to prevail in the society, we can never build a civilized society.So we, in Karnali have been using the centuries old folk arts which has been used to sing the praises of native rulers, to question and eradicate such cruel caste system, patriarchy, inhumane cultures and practices.We want to take those heartless dark element hidden in our culture under the spot light of social Transformation and questions again and again . So,we have been collaborating with various other organizations who are working and raising voices against these social issues.
We believe that this art will definitely wash out all these swamps one day.
Our Projects
After the show of forum theatre “Antar” at SOS Hermann Gmeiner school in march 9,2023 .
Photo : kac team
After 7 days long workshop Karnali arts center produced a forum theatre named “ Antar” (The difference) in August 19,2022 with the financial support of Samata Foundation, Nepal. The paly was design and directed by Bishnu maya pariyar . The play is focus on the Cast based discrimination which is the biggest social issue in our society but people don’t want to talk any more about that social evil .After the first collaborations with the samata foundation Chhayanath rara municipality of mugu district supported us to speak once more time and US embassy Book Bus Nepal and Satori Center for the Arts kindly support us for four more show in surkhet . We want to expand the discussion of anti castism as a campaign in around the karnali porvience through this wonderful concept of forum theatre.
Forum Theatre performance
Karnali arts center team performing a play back theatre first time karnali province at DDC Hall Mugu in Nov 18, 2021.
Photo By : Kac Team
Play Backer’s of karnali Arts Center After the play back theatre show at DDC Hall Mugu in Nov 18, 2021.
Photo By : Kac Team
Play back Theatre
Play Back Theatre is also known as “Chautari Natak” in Nepal. Chautari is often considered as the traditional resting place where everyone can shed their thoughts.
In our society, people have agonies of caste discrimination, gender discrimination, and many other tortures invited by the discriminatory cultures and religious believes and practices buried within themselves which is neither expressed nor heard. As a result, there is increase in confusions, hatred, frustrations, hostility and restlessness. Moreover, these may led to the animosity and social violence.
Chautari Natak provides a safe and dignified space for such stifled voices to unfold freely. Adopting this concept of Play Back Theatre, we for the first time in Karnali Province heard the muffled expressions of so called Dalit women of Mugu and let them unfurl their hidden agonies and immediately displayed their stories through Chautari Natak. Those women narrating the story found themselves relieved after seeing their own stories being demonstrated through Chautari Natak.
Like these Dalit women of Mugu, we want to listen the other suppressed voices of Karnali such as the sentiments of the girls going through Chaupadi system and gender discrimination & sexual abuse, people missing the opportunities due to disability and stories of many others and demonstrate them through Chautari Natak. We want to make them feel relieved too. Everyone says “Karnali itself is a treasure trove of both tangible and intangible cultural heritages.” Despite it’smassive cultural prosperity and delightful history, we can see the ferocious orthodox, inhumanity, and caste violence that has been dreadlocked with the region’s cultures. As long as such feudal caste system,various other inhumane cultural practices continue to prevail in the society, we can never build a civilized society.So we, in Karnali have been using the centuries old folk arts which has been used to sing the praises of native rulers, to question and eradicate such cruel caste system, patriarchy, inhumane cultures and practices. And we have been collaborating with various other organizations who are working and raising voices against these social issues.
We believe that this art will definitely wash out all these swamps one day.
Project Archive: Storytelling Series is an arts-based, research-oriented community engagement project that aims to document, archive, and curate the intangible heritage of the Karnali region through their rich history of stories and storytelling culture. This project will involve a two weeks long residency in Gamgadi, one of the villages of Mugu district where a team of a researcher, a writer, a visual artist working with the medium of photography and videography, and a theatre artist.
This project focuses on creating an experimental environment wherein oral narratives and visual narratives are inter-woven in order to facilitate a deep and connected dialogue amongst the younger and older generation of Karnali about their culture through the medium of stories.
Project Archive:
Storytelling Series
Pampaa Phool
Karnali Arts Centre collaborated with Srijanalaya with the support of Shikshya Foundation Nepal to create a theatre production based on a folklore called Pampaa Phool (The Flower, Pampaa) by providing a 15 days long theatre workshop to 14 young artists from Gamgadi, Mugu who went on to perform the lyrical play in front of more than 400 community members. This production was possible with the creative partnership with a team of 15 artists, musicians, dancers, writers, educators, storytellers, photographers, and researchers from both Kathmandu and Mugu. The main aim of the project was to facilitate an environment where younger generation can engage in a creative pursuit of dancing, singing, performing, and at the same time, understanding their cultural heritage.
Garbha Chitta
The play Garbha Chhita put lights on those traditional aspects of karnali,which we all can feel like the biggest obstacles to social transformation. Garbha chhita is a tradition in karnali where parents fix the marriage of children who are in their mother’s wombs.Such marriages happen without the consent of the bride and groom destroy many lives. This is one such story, where pampha malla and mansoor shahi are engaged each other before they are born. pampa is in with her so called low cast household helper but gets married to the son of her father’s best friends . Her lover chaure is unable to elope with her, burdened by social social pressure of cast,family tradition eetc in the end pampha leaves her husband’s home with her lover’s child in her womb. This scene might be the most powerful scene of the entire plaay that despicts the revolutions of the women in fighting against the social norms and traditions.