National School of Drama

About National School of Drama

The National School of Drama is one of the foremost theatre training institutions in the world and the only one of its kind in India. The idea to set up an institution in theatre first germinated in a seminar on ‘Education’ organized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1956.With the financial help of UNESCO and committed to the cause of helping students realize their aspirations in the field of theatre, the theatre institute itself, finally came into existence two years later on the 20th of January 1958. In July 1958, the ‘Asian Theatre Institute’ (ATI) was taken over by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) - India’s premier institute of music, dance and drama - to meet the growing needs for developing a national theatre in the country. A year later, in april 1959, the ‘National School of Drama’ (NSD) came into being physically and was housed at 25/A, Nizamuddin West, New Delhi, from where it functioned under the supervision of SNA. At this time it was called the ‘The National School of Drama and Theatre Institute’, the latter half of the name being dropped eventually, when the two were merged to form single entity. The Institute was officially recognized in December 1975 under the erstwhile Ministry of Culture and Education, Department of Culture. In 1975, it became an independent entity and was registered as an autonomous organization under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860, fully financed by Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Besides the training programme which is of 3 years duration, the school has explored new vistas in the areas of children’s theatre and decentralization of theatre training through workshops under the extension programme. In 1999, the school organized its first national theatre festival, which was christened 'Bharat Rang Mahotsav' and is generally held during the second week of january each year. The training in the school is highly intensive and is based on a through, comprehensive, carefully planned syllabus which covers every aspect of theatre in which theory is related to practice. As a part of their training, students are required to produce plays which are then performed before the public. The admission to the school is restricted to 23 students in the first year of the course. The selection of students is done on the basis of screening on an all India basis.

The School has two performing wings:

Repertory - The National School of Drama Repertory Company is the school's professional performing wing and is responsible for introducing contemporary and modern productions in the country and abroad. The National School of Drama Repertory Company was started in 1964 with four artistes, namely Shri Ramamurthy, Ms. Meena Williams, Ms Sudha Shivpuri and Shri Om Shivpuri. The company presented works of various playwrights and directors who have been associated with it from time to time. The objective of the Repertory Company was to provide a platform to the graduates of the school in their academic interest and to perform plays professionally. However, with the passage of time, it became one of NSD's major institutions working on contemporary and modern plays and introducing experimental works on a regular basis. Apart from doing productions, it also organises its own Festival in the summers, where past and new productions are introduced and staged. The National School of Drama Repertory Company is housed at 1, Bahawalpur House, Bhagwandas Road, New Delhi-110001. The Company organizes its own festivals every summer. During this festival old and new productions are selected and staged. It also performs extensively on tours in India and abroad.

Theatre-in-Education - The second performing wing, Theatre-in-Education was established in October 16, 1989, with the objective of promoting theatre amongst children in the age group of 8 to 16 years. Later renamed The Sanskaar Rang Toli. It has completed more than 600 performances across the country. Theatre In Education company is one of the important educational resource centres in the country. TIE Company consists of a group of actor-teachers working with and performing for children. The major focus of TIE Company is to perform creative, curriculum based and participatory plays in schools specially designed and prepared for children of different age groups. The major thrust of the plays is to create an atmosphere to encourage children, to raise questions, make decisions and choices with an awareness of themselves within larger society. TIE Company has done more than 800 performances of 26 plays in Delhi and other parts of the country. More than 5.5 lakh children, apart from college students, teachers, parents and theatre lovers, have witnessed these plays.

Facilities

Extension Program - Extension Programmes, under which NSD faculty and alumni conduct workshops in various parts of the country, were launched in 1978 and since then has conducted workshops and programs for adults and children across the country including some in Nepal, Sikkim, Ladhakh and Bhutan as well. The Traditional Theatre Project initiated in 1980 has facilitated creative interaction between traditional and contemporary theatre artists on a regular basis. Along with an introduction to theatre, these workshops also seek to develop personality and expand the emotional horizons of the participants. As the National School of Drama is able to admit only twenty students per year from across India, the School also runs an Extension Program, which works as an outreach program seeking to reach out to theatre enthusiasts across regions and languages by conducting theatre workshops of various kinds. This outreach program conducts short-term teaching and training workshops that deal with a whole range of subjects related to and with theatre. Subjects such as acting, movement, light, make-up, theatre history and literature among others, have been taught at such workshops. With about 55 events per year, they have led to a major revival of theatre activity in the regions. Over the last few months various workshops have been held under the auspices of the Extension Program of the National School of Drama.

Workshops - In recent years, NSD under its Extension Programme organized a series of theatre workshops in the North Eastern States. The workshops proceeded on the basis of a 3-step programme - the first was to arouse interest amongst all participants about the intricacies of the theatre experience - performance and transference; the second was to impart training in the area and the third was to help and guide them to prepare productions on the basis of the received training. The first Poorvottar Natya Samaroh was organized in Guwahati in 2007 and the second at Gangtok, Sikkim in 2008.

Regional Resource Centres - With a view to take the theatre movement to the grass root level and to make it more accessible to theatre workers, it was decided to decentralize the Extension Programme and set up Regional Resource Centres in various zones of the country. The first such centre, covering the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry, was set up in Bangalore in 1994. The Centre has been very active and has organized quite a large number of workshops in collaboration with State agencies and local theatre groups.

Training - Training in the School is unique in several ways. It is based on a thorough, comprehensive and carefully-planned syllabus that covers every aspect of theatre from theory to practice, the results of which  are put to test before a wide audience. The syllabus takes into account the methods of great theatre personalities who have shaped contemporary theatre in all its forms and expressions. Training includes broad-based training in classical Indian and western dramatic traditions, Indian traditional and folk theatre, modern theatre trends in India and abroad, introduction of theatre trends of the world, and specialized training in Indian theatre traditions.

Reservation for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC categories - Out of 20 seats, 4 seats are reserved for SC/ST/OBC candidates, preferably those from families traditionally belonging to the performing arts.

Provision of admission for foreign students - Foreign students, preferably from the neighbouring countries, may be admitted to the course. However, because of the limited number of seats, it is not feasible to accommodate more than 1-2 foreign students in one session. Such students have to submit their applications through the Indian Embassy/High Commission, who will forward these to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The School will then consider the applications recommended by the I.C.C.R.

Recognition of the course - The Diploma in Dramatics awarded by the School has been recognized by the Government of India (erstwhile Ministry of Education and Culture) for the purpose of recruitment to superior posts and services under the Central Government, where specialization is required in the field of Dramatics. The Diploma is equal to an M.A. Degree in Dramatics envisaged by the Association of Indian Universities for appointments of teachers in colleges and universities and for the registration for Ph.D.

Publication Program - The Publication Unit of the National School of Drama is responsible for publishing text books on theatre, arranging for the translation of important books on theatre from english into hindi and bringing out other important books on theatre. The units first major publication titled 'Rang Yatra' which chronicled 25 years history of the NSD Repertory Company from 1964 onwards, came out in 1990. From 1997-2000, the publication unit has brought out 27 publications on drama and related subjects, besides its regular publications.

Scholarship - The School awards a scholarship of Rs. 3000/- (Rupees three thousand only) per month to selected candidates.

A student who is awarded such a scholarship by the School will be required:

• To execute a bond of Rs. 108,000/- to the effect that if he/she decides to discontinue training before the end of three years, or is made to discontinue on disciplinary grounds he/she will then have to return all the money paid to him/her before such discontinuance.
• To furnish a surety of Rs. 108,000/- duly attested by a District Magistrate/ Collector/Deputy Commissioner (Revenue Authorities).
• The Selected Candidates are covered by Risk Cover Insurance Policy and are required to pay the premium amount, which may work out to be Rs. 150/- to Rs. 200/- annually. The School does not take any other responsibility beyond this insurance cover.

Study Material - The School will supply free of charge, a mount board, drawing paper and wood for classroom purposes only. The students will have to purchase any material other than that. Each student will be allotted a locker for his/her material and personal belongings. On admission, students will have to buy the required notebooks and make-up kit, the total cost of which is Rs. 3000/- approximately.

Library - The school’s library is one of the country’s most specialized libraries in the field of theatre and drama. By the end of June 2006 the library owned an enormous collection of 29,450 books covering areas ranging from the technical to the general, text books and scripts, about 4000 volumes of periodicals, 1064 gramophone records, 616 slides, 889 photographs and about 200 journals related to theatre and the Allied and Performing Arts.

Facilities available in the library include:

• On-Line enquiry, OPAC - On-line Public Access Catalogue informs about the availability of any book required by the students, faculty, staff, etc. The complete collection has been fed into the machine in readable format. This includes information about current journals as well. Each piece of material has a unique Identity Number (Id. No.) to facilitate the process of issue and return of books etc.

• Documentation services to students and faculty - These include the ‘Current Contents’ of the Journals and Book Reviews received in the library (reviews of latest books on theatre, drama related aspects on the subject appearing in the journals). The above mentioned articles are well indexed and provided on demand and for information and reference purposes. Photocopies of important articles from books/journals are supplied to students/ users on demand.

• Internet facilities - These have also been introduced in the Library to increase accessibility in various fields.

• Video / Audio Library - The National School of Drama has a audio-video library in which more than 3000 videos and 700 CDs have been archived. This documentation includes all the performing wings of NSD i.e. NSD Repertory company, TIE company, school productions etc. Apart from this it has all the documentation of plays produced in all the festivals since 1999 (i.e. Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Jashn-e-Bachpan, Bal Sangam etc). It also has video documentation of plays, which are performed by NSD with or without collaboration in abroad, including seminars, workshops etc. The documentation available is to be used purely for the academic purposes of the School and is not for any commercial use.

Performing spaces - National School of Drama has four performing spaces available on campus for the staging of its productions. These performing spaces are not commercial but function in the interest of academic activities and programmes run by the school.

These are:

Abhimanch Auditorium - Seating arrangement for 350 persons

Sammukh Auditorium - Seating arrangement for 150 persons

Bahumukh Auditorium - Seating arrangement depends upon the set approximately 75-100 persons

Hostel and Mess - There are separate hostels for girls and boys. Accommodation provided to the students may be on a room sharing or dormitory basis. It is compulsory for all students to join the hostel. Hostel rent per seat is Rs. 110.00 per month. Electricity & water charges (adjustable): Rs. 40.00 per month.

Shruti - The school has a literary forum named 'Shruti'.

Achievements

Awards won by NSD Alumni:

• Padma Bhushan - Naseeruddin Shah, Sai Paranjpye
• Padma Shri - B.V. Karanth, Naseeruddin Shah, Ratan Thiyam, Om Puri, Ram Gopal Bajaj.
• Kalidas Samman - B.V. Karanth, Devendra Raj Ankur.
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award - B.V. Karanth, V. Ramamurthy etc.
• National Film Awards - Best actor won Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri. Best actress won by Seema Biswas. Best supporting actress won by Surekha Sikri (1988 & 1995). Best lyrics won by Swanand Kirkire. Best costume design won by - Dolly Ahluwalia: Bandit Queen (1996).
• Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema - Award for best actress/actor - Tannishtha Chatterjee: Bibar, Subroto Dutta: Bibar.