Curtain Call

As Thespo 13 drew to a close on Sunday,it was a time to celebrate the best talent in theatre. The Thespo 13 Awards Nite — that marked an end to the six-day festival — was held at the NCPA Experimental Theatre. The evening started with Alyque Padamsee presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award to Arundhati and Jagdish Raja from Bangalore. The award acknowledged the Rajas’ undying passion for theatre and the fact that they had opened up the world of theatre to generations of young Bangaloreans — be it through their banner Artistes Repertory Theatre or the recent 200-seater Jagriti Theatre.

The night also saw four Marathi productions sweep the awards in various categories. Patient from the BMCC College,Pune,led the way as it won the awards for Best Outstanding Play,Production Design and Director (Suraj Parasnis). Cock by Mumbai-based theatre groups ClustalZ Mumbai and AllMyTea Productions,walked away with the acting awards for Lead Actor and Actress,won by Manish Gandhi and Asmita Bakshi,respectively. The award for New Writing went to Sunil Tambat and Aniket Patil of Ek Don Adhich,even as Janhit Mein Jaari’s Ashish Nasalapure tied with Patient’s Sidharth Mahashabde for the Thespo for Male Actor in a Supporting Role. These productions were judged by a panel comprising of theatre personalities Sheeba Chaddha,Meher Marfatia,Hanif Patni and Shashank Shende.