Jaipur, July, 2020. Jaipur chapter of Coconut Theatre has organized series of live sessions by theatre practitioners. In this series Renowned Daily one session has been organized with one Theatre Expert from India or other countries on Coconut Theatre Facebook Page at 6 PM Indian Standard Time i.e. Veteran Actors, Award Winning Playwrights & Directors, Make-up Specialist, Music Composers, Designers, Choreographers and Technicians share their Golden Experiences which will be helpful to all the theatre practitioners based in Jaipur. 

Coconut Theatre embarked on this ambitious and challenging project during the current World-wide lockdown. It has developed an Intellectual Property titled - “Chai-Wai & Rangmanch - 2020”, which comprises of one daily Online Session with a reputed Theatre Expert from India and various countries all over the world including the USA, Africa and UK. The sessions were live on the official Coconut Theatre Facebook Page at 6 PM Indian Standard Time .Veteran Actors, Award Winning Playwrights & Directors, Make-up Specialists, Music Composers, Designers, Choreographers and Technicians shared their memorable experiences, as also their life changing inspirational moments. This collectors’ item is an invaluable tool for any aspiring Theatre Student, Amateur Theatre Artist[e]s, Writers, Directors, Music Composers, Choreographers, Make-up Artists, Designers, Technicians and Theatre Groups and everyone connected with the theatre fraternity.

Managing Director of Coconut Media Box LLP. Mr. Rashmin Majithia shared that Chai-Wai & Rangmanch is the biggest activity for theatre practitioners, speakers from various cultures, age groups and despite not being conversant with the online process, willingly consented. A Few senior Theatre Experts who are 80+ years old too, enthusiastically joined the fray.

The celebrity speakers included names like Padma Shri & Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Winner Smt. Rita Ganguly, Shri Bansi Kaul, Shri Manoj Joshi, Smt. Neelam Mansingh, Shri Satish Alekar, Shri Dadi Pudumjee and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Winner Smt. Dolly Ahluwalia, Prof. Ashok Bhagat, Shri Suresh Sharma (Director – National School of Drama), Shri Amod Bhatt, Smt. Anjana Puri, Shri Sanjay Upadhyay, Smt. Rohini Hattangady, Smt. Nadira Babbar, Smt. Himani Shivpuri have done their sessions.

Theatre stalwarts  Makarand Deshpande, Ananth Mahadevan, Kewal Dhaliwal, Mahesh Dattani, K.K. Raina, Lillete Dubey, Rakesh Bedi, RaghubirYadav, Lubna Salim, Darshan Jariwala, Siddharth Randeria, Ila Arun, Aanjjan Srivastava, Alok Chatterjee, Salim Arif, SaifHyder Hasan, Asif Ali Beg, Tiku Talsania, Sachin Khedekar, Sandip Soparrkar, Vijay Kenkre, Nina Kulkarni, Jayati Bhatia, Suchitra Pillai, Vipul Mehta, Jimit Trivedi, Rajoo Barot, Ramesh Talwar, Chandrkant Kulkarni and many others also conducted live sessions that spilled over to an hour at times, thanks to the audience participation.

Global Theatre Experts also have been added to Coconut Theatre’s repertoire, seeing Writer-Director David Woods from Australia (22^nd June), International Production Designer Neil Patel (Production Designer of Mughal-E-Azam The Musical) (23^rd June) from USA, Megan Furniss – Playwright from South Africa (24^th June), Actor-Director Glenn Hayden from Australia (25^thJune), Writer, Actor, Director Jessica Litwak from Californina, USA, Writer-Director Ana CândidaCarneiro from the USA (27^th June), Three Times Tony Award Winner Scott Pask from USA (28^th June), Actor & Director Motshabi Tyelele from South Africa and World Renowned Writer-Director Jeff Baron from the USA (30th June).

These sessions are freely available to all and no registration is required.

Upcoming sessions from 1st July 2020, Theatre legends Mr.M.S.Sathyu and Mr.Prasanna, Padma Shri Awardee Mr. WamanKendre&Mr. Balwant Thakur, Ms.NinaTiwama, Theatre and Bollywood Actress Sonali Kulkarni, Theatre & Bollywood Actors Sharman Joshi, RajpalYadav, Rajat Kapoor and Adil Hussain, Singer and Actress Pallavi MD, Music Director Kuldeep Singh, Eminent Writers Ranjit Kapoor &Saumya Joshi, Famous Actor SumeetRaghavan, WamanKendre (Ex-Director – National School of Drama), Director Parvez Akhtar, Popular Actresses Apara Mehta &BharatiAchrekar and on-going.

Unfortunately the Indian Theatre Industry has minimal support from the audience, corporates and other bodies compared to Bollywood, Sports, Music and other Digital Entertainment Platforms but this rising IP has made a promising start by showcasing the best names during this pandemic. The response too is very encouraging, Both Indian and International Theatre Fraternity appreciated the initiative of these sessions.

"The objective is to connect entire Theatre Fraternity LOCALLY & GLOBALLY on one platform to emphasize avenue of learning also to build a career. Our vision is to achieve
100+ sessions before 31^st July 2020. This archive will be available shortly on Coconut Theatre YouTube Channel with no cost.” Shared by Mr. RashminMajithia - Managing Director (Coconut Media Box LLP.)

The daily live sessions or archived sessions could be accessed by following Coconut Theatre Facebook Page.