JANA KARALIYA

Forefront theatre voyage for a new trend of drama art
Jana Karaliya
Mobile theatre & its duties
Expectations
Mission of the mobile theatre

Accomplishing a cultural mission by the use of ‘drama & theatre’ in an unprecedented way, through the first ever ‘Mobile Theater’ in our country, that will enlighten and build more human intimate relationships amongst the Sri Lankan people from the top stratum to the bottom and from north to south that will enable them to understand themselves and then the others better and to have peace inside themselves and then with the others.

Jana Karaliyathat goes from village to village taking a theatre with them

The accepted procedure in the drama field in our country is the drama troupes to travel to the fixed theater halls in the cities of distant areas. But, have you ever heard of a troupe of actors that goes beyond these cities to further remote villages carrying the theater hall with them and perform in that mobile theatre hall giving opportunities for these rural mass to enjoy a drama. The idea consumed in the mind of the veteran dramatist Parakrama Niriella, that this could be achieved if we can have a theatre inside a tent that can be dissembled, transported and assembled in another place. He further developed this idea as a project and discussed this with another dramatist/actor H.A.Perera.

There so many ways of using drama & theater. But there is only one of those practices established in our country at present. That is the writing of a play, producing it and performing in front of an audience which we call the 'Performance Theatre'. But, since a long time H.A. had the idea of establishing the other usages, such as using drama & theatre in education & personal development etc., which is commonly, called 'Applied Theatre'. The foundation to the mobile theater was laid by the combination of their two concepts. As a result of the long, hard, tiresome effort of both, the concepts has become a reality, and now there is a mobile theater and a mobile theater troupe to perform using this new methodology, and also to use drama & theater for education & personal development. It will travel all over the country with this modern theater not only performing in it, but also doing island wide provincial and district level 'theatre education' & 'theatre in education' programs.
Jana Kraliya 'Mobile Theater'
Since a long time dramatists in our country are accustomed to the picture frame (proscenium) theater that performs from one side of the theater to the spectators in the other side. But the janakaraliya mobile theater is constructed as a 'new arena theater' that performs to an audience in all four sides. But on the request of a director this theater can be converted to a 'thrust' theater that the audience will see the play from three sides. We still don’t have even a fixed theater with this flexibility. So this theater in this mobile tent certainly will be a new experience for the spectators as well as the dramatists in our country. This modern theater has an audience capacity of 500 adults or 800 children. It can be dismantled and loaded in a single truck and transported to part of the country.
Duties of Jana Karaliya
On the pathway of it the mobile theater troupe will assemble the theater in a particular place, stay there for a maximum period of one month, and accomplish the following activities.
Drama performances
Performing qualitatively high 7 creative dramas for the people who are deprived of enjoying any drama performance.
School children
Conducting drama & theater workshops, appreciation workshops and performing for school children covering the school system in the area
Conducting applied theater workshops for primary section teachers to develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes to use drama & theater in education.
Developing self esteem, personality and collective feeling in children by the applied theater programs done in collaboration with schools.
Youth
Conducting workshops to develop the skills & creativity of youth in those areas, who have any inclination towards drama & theater.
Dramatists
Providing performing opportunities for their already produced plays and/or encouraging them to write or produce plays for mobile theater.
get the participation of traditional folk drama artists in those areas and encouraging them to continue and develop their work.
Ethnic harmony
Janakaraliya is accomplishing a special cultural mission to develop relations between various ethnic groups (communities) estranged by the long standing war.
Make equal opportunities and treat all the Tamil, Muslim & Sinhala communities with equal respect when conducting the drama & theater workshops and all the other activities of janakaraliya.
Producing & performing all of the janakaraliya plays both in sinhala & tamil that enables every community to enjoy them.
forum theater
Apart from the performance and other applied theater programs mentioned earlier, the janakaraliya will hold 'Forum Theater' workshops, which is also a part of applied theater, to build self esteem & self confidence in various marginalized social sectors and to give them democratic space to express themselves through art, which will be useful to understand the hidden issues inside them that cause conflict with others. These issues certainly will be very useful in the process of conflict transformation.
Other activities
Screening quality films in the mobile theater that uplift the aesthetic appreciation.
Giving space in mobile theater for photographic & painting exhibitions.
Organizing or giving space for musical appreciation programs in the mobile theater.
Activities in Tsunami Affected Areas
In between the programs in the above mentioned areas our troupe will travel without the tent, to the tsunami effected areas and do drama therapy programs for the children.