The Artist Repertory Theatre (ART), an Indian theatre group in
English, was founded by Arundathi and Jagdish Raja in
1982. Veterans in the Bangalore theatre arena, ART's contribution to theatre
cannot be exaggerated. A group that started with the successful production
of One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, ART has held many
other critically acclaimed productions. Some of them include, Neil
Simon's - The Sunshine Boys, The Odd Couple (female
version) and Abe Burrows' Cactus Flower, Albee's
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Brecht's - The Resistible
Rise of Arturo Ui, The Glass Menagerie, Death & The Maiden and
Agnes of God. ART's adaptations of literary works include John
Keats on His Bicentennial, Shakespeare Alive! and An Evening With
Eliot.
 In
1994, ART successfully launched The Artists Repertory Theatre - Youth
with Gautam Raja and Minakshi Menon's - Restless
the Spirit of Youth. Alice!, the remix in 1998 featuring over
30 young talents in a tribute to Lewis Carrol in his death
centenary was an ART - Youth production. Other noticeable works
of playwright Gautam Raja include Shards, Pecking Orders,
Wood and Pub Crawl.
The cultural heritage of India and the traditional forms of Indian music
and dance have been an integral part of many of ART's productions. Tara
Kini, a trained Hindustani Classical singer has composed the music
for several of ART's productions like the Animal Farm,  Bhagavadhajjukam
(the Yogi and the Courtesan), Pecking Orders and many of the ART
- Youth productions such as Restless - the Spirit of Youth
and The Insect Play.
In March 1998, ART became the first ever
Indian theatre company to be invited to perform in English at the Questors
Theatre in Ealing, London. ART has held performances
all over India and earned adulation from discerning audiences. With over
40 productions to its credit, today, ART is one of the most prolific
theatre groups in India.
For more information, contact:
Artistes' Repertory Theatre
Jagriti Farm, R.G.Halli, Whitefield Post, Bangalore - 560 066
Phone: 080 - 2847 5373
Fax: 080 - 2847 5374
E-mail: contact@theatrebangalore.com
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4:03:35 AM 
Bangalore
was witness to the first ever public performance of Playback Theatre
at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore from October 5-7, 2000, a unique,
enthralling show that had the audience spell-bound.
Few
of the Playback forms include Scenes, Fluid Sculptures, Pairs, Tableaux
and Stories. The structure of a performance is flexible. It could
start, as in the case of the performance at Alliance, with the tableau,
then enacting the stories followed by the fluid sculptures and pairs.
Playback theatre is a very interactive form of theatre where the
audience pitches in the performance as well. And they do it by
providing stories and themes for the tableaux, fluid sculptures and pairs.
The cast most often consists of a core group of five actors plus two or
more supporting actors. Besides the cast, there is also a conductor on
stage to conduct the performance. He almost acts as a compeer. The layout
of the hall is also important. Often there isn't a clear demarcation between
the stage and the gallery. Owing to the interactive nature of the performance,
the audience is also limited, often not more than 50 people at
a time. 
