Prasanna (theatre Director)

Prasanna (theatre Director) Biography

Prasanna is a famous playwright and theater director from Karnataka. He is one of the pioneers of modern Kannada theatre. He has directed plays for National School of Drama and has been associated with many leading theater productions of the country. He founded Samudaya, a strong leftist theatre movement in Karnataka to promote and give new direction to Kannada Theater. In 2007, he was awarded with B V Karanth award by NSD. He received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, for Direction in 1999-2000. Apart from theatre, he has also been associated with several visual projects. He is an IITian who chose theatre as his career. He also founded a movement of self-employed women called Charaka, and has been associated with women empowerment movements. He authored two books on this subject and has also delivered speeches.

He was born in Karnataka on 10 February 1951. He had no family background in theatre. He graduated from the National School of Drama. Before entering the world of theatre, he was an IIT graduate. But he felt that it’s not his medium and that theatre is his first love. He left an opportunity of doing Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Then he came into contact with B.V. Karanth and P. Lankesh. Thus he entered the world of theatre. Ek Lok Katha, Shakuntalam, Fujiyama, Dangeya Munchina Dinagalu, Kadadida Neeru, Uttar Ram Charit and Broken Arrow are his noted theatre works.

He founded Charaka, a women’s co-operative society in Bhimanakone village in Sagar taluk of Shimoga district in Karnataka. It gives a self-employment path for women where women produce naturally dyed cotton handloom garments, which are sold under the ‘Desi’ brandname across the state. At present more than 200 women work at Charaka and it has an annual turnover of about 1 crore Indian rupees. It gives the women a method to earn a decent livelihood.

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Updated: March 04, 2014