How to Discover and Monetize stage arts?

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Undoubtedly, Contemporary drama is the most quivering art form. A blend of artistic disciplines is visible in dramas. In this art, the action is precisely mixed with the plan to execute the coherent and sense of contemporary drama.

The Indian theatre prepares the narrative form with a distinctive story based on acting, singing, dancing and reciting were and will be an integral part of Indian theatres.

Furthermore, to represent the perfect NATYA or Drama the Indian theatre artists mingles literature, music, mime, dance, movement, sculpture, paintings and architect that mixed into the bowl of representation.

From the earliest time, the hindu theorists declared two major forms: NatyaDharmi and LokaDharmi. The Natyadharmi reflects the style and symbol, while Lokadharmi represents the replication of human that is men and women.  

Indian theatre was reborn by the English culture because of India already got rich background in theatre or drama.

https://www.indianculture.gov.in/clarifications-lokadharmi-and-natyadharmi

As compared to cinema, stage theatre is natural art without any cut, edit or enhancement. There is no retake in stage theatre. In stage it comes all naturally. Do you prefer an aroma of rose or rose essence? Natural fragrances don’t sustain too loudly, but essences do.

Essence will diminish with a wash but natural showers its fragrance even flower dries. That’s what Contemporary theatre is about.

The challenges that a stage faces are Identity, livelihood, remunerative performing art platform and the emergence of others. Starting with the identity, theatrical forms consist of multiple languages and a theatre artist who is in search of its true identity.

What artist has to say about Theatre industry

Theatre personality KN Panikkar writes: “We see that the performing arts of our country even while maintaining their own specialties and the differences in the details of structuring related to the form, operational style and other aspects, evince at the same time a semblance, interdependence and interconnection. The unity of a well-defined goal has never been affected by the multiplicity of regional traditions.

Actor Sumona Chakravarti, who features in Kapil Sharma’s comedy show Chakravarti says, “Theatre doesn’t pay the bills. That’s a fact everyone is aware of. I had to look at my career and see if everything was all right financially. Today, I am in a position where the money is great and [my career in] television is going well.

Honestly, I wasn’t looking to do a play; this just fell into my lap. It was an amazing script and I just couldn’t say no to it. Finally, I had the time and didn’t need to bother about money. The whole reason I became an actor was to get back to the stage.”

Chakravarti feels theatre is the “most challenging of them all” but it’s close to her heart. She adds, “All three mediums are so starkly different. In theatre, you have to deliver the same line and every single time you have to make it look like it’s your first. If there’s monotony, the audience notices it. Also, there are no retakes. So, one has to have a presence of mind and things have to be bang on.”

Livelihood of an artist

Livelihood in India for a theatre artist has never met the criteria of professional in a true sense. This means all the theatre artists never get paid as they expected but “the spark in them keeps them motivated”.

Now the trend is changing where an artist joins the theatre get engaged with the stage activity in provoking their time and energy for a skilled level. The issue of payment must not be compromised and should be turned in a professional way rather than nukkard natak or street shows.

The issue of payment is also because people don’t want to pay they pursue as normal behavior of entertainment. Only marketing and strong promotion can change audience perception.

Challenges and Comeback

Contemporary theatre is facing and wining challenges to survive. There is, however, a sign of change for the better. The situation is turning slowly again in recent times. The audience started appraising theatres again to experience the superb sense of pleasure as unlike in film or television, theatre connects directly with the audience.

Society appears to be ready and willing to fund theatre. The Indian State appears to be helping theatre without imposing its agenda. The government is bringing art back from the mud.

Indian government shows their interest in NSD and other similar platforms.  Indian theatre may just survive the turmoil and continue to enthrall the audience. As it lasted for past 5000 it will sustain in future also.

My point to you is that theatre is superfine art while cinema has many flaws in it. But the concept is totally based on the perception of the audience. It’s the audience who shows their interest in the art.

We need to understand the interest of people towards the stage theatre. What do they prefer to watch or Are they influenced by Contemporary dramas?. Noticing the small section will definitely improve and help to monetize these art forms.

Well in some metro political cities this trend is in demand whereas in some spots it fails. Before investing any amount we must understand the demand and interest rate of an audience of a particular city or town.

Though these days several comedy shows are happening in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and other respective places. Subsequently, they are not happening in an immersed area that is far or not connected to urban life.

Conclusion

From my perspective, before investing any amount, the investor must take a chance and understand the flow of the audience towards theatre. Feedback is crucial, a question to an audience like how much you like the play, will you watch again, would you recommend it to your friend, what type of genre you like to perform us on our next show. A similar question like these will generate feedback and will liberate the truth out of the box.