ECTA Mini Theater Festival: Satyameva, Ashomoy, Taconic Parkway

Posted on June 9, 2008 by sudipta

After a long hiatus and constant requests from theater lovers, ECTA will be staging three plays on June 28th and 29th, 2008, at the Edison Valley Playhouse (EVP) in Edison, New Jersey.
On 28th June, Saturday, there will be an encore staging of “Satyameva” , a play by Sudipta Bhawmik, directed by Indranil Mukherjee; starring Sudipta Bhawmik and Pinaki Dutta.

On 29th June, Sunday, two plays will be staged. Theater Practitioners of Cleveland, OH will present an audio and video staging of “Ashomoy” a new play by Sudipta Bhawmik starring Saubhik Sengupta and Moushumi Sengupta.

This will be followed by “Taconic Parkway“, written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik, starring Indranil Mukherjee, Keka Sirkar and Pinaki Dutta. This play will premiere at the California Natyamela on June 7th. Continue reading →

Vijay Tendulkar : A Real Indian Playwright

Posted on May 30, 2008 by sudipta

I was deeply hurt to hear the news of the death of Vijay Tendulkar, one of the greatest playwrights of Indian theater. It was only last year, at the South Asian Theater festival, I had the opportunity of meeting Mr. Tendulkar. It was an experience that I will never forget. He was physically frail, but his will was as strong as any young man. It was this will and his love for theater that brought him over here, few thousand miles away from home, to see how are we doing our theater. During his speech at the opening ceremony, the way he protested against the non-issuance of visa to one of the participating teams demonstrated that the fire was still burning within him – the fire that led him to write the plays that changed Indian theater.
Continue reading →

A Mini Theater Festival

Posted on May 29, 2008 by sudipta

On June 28th and 29th, ECTA Inc. will be presenting a mini theater festival of three plays. On 29th June, an encore presentation of the highly acclaimed play “Satyameva” will be held at 3.30pm. This play has received great reviews both in Kolkata and USA and has been recently made into a Telefilm (titled Satyasotyo for Tara channel) by the reputed actor and director of Kolkata, Chandan Sen. Watch the promo video by clicking the image above.

On 29th, the festival features two shows of two plays each. The first play, Ashomoy, is a novel audio-visual presentation by Theater Practitioners of Cleveland OH, directed by the veteran All India Radio and Doordarshan artist Saubhik Sen. “Ashomoy” will be followed by “Taconic Parkway“, a one act play by ECTA Inc. “Taconic Parkway” is a dark play of an immigrant Bengali couple and a visiting actor from India. The play premieres at the California Natyamela on June 7th, 2008.

Synopsis of the plays and other details are given below. Seating is limited, hence please book your seats as early as possible.
Continue reading →

Advantage Bengal: A Video on the IT Industry Opportunities in West Bengal

Posted on May 24, 2008 by sudipta

Take a peek at this exciting promotional video “Advantage Bengal” produced by the Department of Information Technology, Govt. of West Bengal and Webel. Listen what the IT business leaders are saying about the IT opportunities in West Bengal as well as from the Chief-Minister Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya and IT Minister Dr. Debesh Das. Share this video with others who may be interested by using the “Share This” button on your right.

West Bengal on the Verge of an IT Revolution?

Posted on May 15, 2008 by sudipta

The Financial Express on its March 19 issue published an article which drew the attention of many high-tech entrepreneurs. It reported the laying of the foundation stone of a twenty story building that will house the India Design Center (IDC), a semiconductor chip design facility. West Bengal IT minister Debesh Das, who laid the foundation stone, said the facility will be set up according to a concept paper prepared by IIT Kharagpur and will offer semiconductor-related post graduate courses. It will also have space for semiconductor-driven companies and serve as an incubation centre for promoting entrepreneurs. Continue reading →

North America Bengali Conference (NABC) and the North American Bengali

Posted on May 1, 2008 by sudipta

Undoubtedly, the North America Bengali Conference (NABC) or Bongosammelan, has become the key annual cultural event of the Bengalis not only belonging to the North America but also to the Bengalis all over the world. The amount of interest amongst the Bengalis back home in West Bengal is phenomenal. Artists of all genre’s (musicians, actors, writers) consider an invitation to perform at the NABC as a major achievement in their career. It was quite evident the other day when in one of the Bengali tele-serials/films, one of the characters (a musician) was expressing with pride about her recent invitation to perform at the Bongosammelan and highlighting the fact as a key measure of her success as a musician. Besides, any person who has been even loosely associated with any NABC organizing committee would know how they get deluged with requests from performers to get an invitation. However, the organizers of NABC are very careful and they place their bets only on the time tested popular artists with very few promising performers in the list. Continue reading →

Rabindranath: Universe and Beyond

Posted on April 28, 2008 by sudipta

The Indian Institute of Performing Arts (IIPA) and associating friends will host an event entitled “Rabindranath: Universe and Beyond” on Sunday, June 1, 2008 at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The program (2PM – 8PM) will celebrate the multifarious output of India’s Nobel Laureate poet, philosopher, composer Rabindranath Tagore, and attempt to expand the boundaries of appreciation of his literary and musical work through performances by different cultural groups. For further information, visit http://www.iipa.us/Rabindranath.

Some Upcoming Shows of ECTA

Posted on April 17, 2008 by sudipta

I’d like to notify some of ECTA’s (Ethnomedia Center for Theater Arts) upcoming shows.

Those of you who have missed our play “Satyameva” at the Edison Valley Playhouse, you may catch the show on April 26th 5.30pm at the Gwyn-Nor Elementary School, 139 Hancock Road, North Wales, PA 19454 . The show is hosted by Pragati of Greater Philadelphia.

ECTA has been invited to participate at the California Bay Area Natyamela to be held on June 7th at the Amador Theater, Pleasanton, California. ECTA will be staging their latest production, a one act play titled “Taconic Parkway”, at this venue. The play is written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik and the cast includes Pinaki Dutta, Indranil Mukherjee and Keka Sirkar. Please inform your friends and family in the area to attend the festival and watch our play.

Actors Needed

Posted on April 3, 2008 by sudipta

ECTA (Ethnomedia Center for Theater Arts) is looking for two actors for their upcoming theater production (“Baanaprastha” written by Sudipta Bhawmik and directed by Indranil Mukherjee) to be staged in fall 2008. A brief description of the characters are given below. Interested person may please contact by email to either indymukh@gmail.com or bhawmik@gmail.com. Actors may be called for a brief audition.

Character A: Bengali speaking male, mid to late twenties, tall and thin built.

Character B: Bengali speaking female, late teen – early twenties.

Actors must be committed to the rehearsal schedule and all stage productions of the show and should posses the passion to act.
Please note that this is a voluntary service and ECTA will not compensate the actors or the crew either financially or by any other means.

A Brief Note on ECTA:

ECTA (Ethnomedia Center for Theater Arts) Inc. is a not-for profit community theater company dedicated to produce and stage quality theater. ECTA’s past productions include, “Phera”, “Alibaba”, “Kalsudhhi”, “The Redemption”, “Durghatana”, “Ron” and “Satyameva”. ECTA has staged plays all across USA and also in India. ECTA’s mission is “to tell our own stories through theater.”

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