A district-level inter-school drama festival is currently ongoing at the Biratnagar-based Aarohan Gurukul Theatre. The fest features plays by student-artists from 90 schools in the district.

According to Suvalmani Sapkota, chairperson of the organisers Sumeru Kala Sarobar Lalitpur, the fest has already seen the staging of 29 plays by Monday, the fourth day of the festival, which is slated to continue till Sunday.

An adjudication panel comprising Lokmani Sapkota, Dipesh Bhandari and Mukesh Karna will judge the staged plays. Sapkota said that a total of ten plays will be awarded on their merits whereas ten actors—five male actors and five females—five directors and five playwrights will be offered scholarships.

The fest so far has seen a considerable amount of footfall. Speaking to the Post, Ramprasad Regmi, one of the viewers present at the fest venue, said that he was touched by the performances.

“The shows put together by these budding actors, I think, are no less than those any professional actor. There’s no doubt that the fest will help the student-actors hone their craft further and they will go on to make the country’s theatre scene more vibrant,” Regmi added.

Prior to the festival, 216 aspiring actors from 108 of Morang’s schools engaged in a three-day long workshop. The students were then selected for the festival on the basis of their merit.

Neha Nidhi, one of the students who partook in the workshop and is featured in the fest as well, said that the workshop helped boost her morale and that getting to act in a play that she read once to pass the exams has been a humbling experience. “I got to dramatise the text, direct and also act in a play, which needless to say was an exciting experience,” Nidhi shared.

The festival will be on till Sunday, May 27.