Natya Shodh Sansthan boasts of creating the largest repository of archival material and documentation covering the entire history of Indian theatre in all its different languages, with special emphasis on folk and traditional forms and post-independence Indian theatre.
The archive will have original manuscripts, books, periodicals, newspaper clippings, reviews, audio recordings on gramophone discs and photographs, slides and audio cassettes, video recordings, films, stage models, production scripts, masks, costumes, stage ornaments, publicity material - e.g. folders, posters, handbills etc, and exclusive recorded interviews with theatre personalities.
Sansthan's library and archives host a giant collection of contemporary documents centered around Indian Theatre.
The library also offers a representative selection of play scripts, back issues of journals, and current issues periodicals.
Its rich collection includes the entire collection of manuscripts, correspondence, newspaper clippings, etc, held by playwrights like late Manmatha Roy and Mohan Rakesh; a large collection of sketches, drawings, design and stage plans of eminent set-designer Khaled Choudhury; materials from theatre activist Harindra Nath Datta, Girish Karnad, playwright Nitish Sen and mime maestro Jogesh Datta.
Comprehensive individual and group and institution documentation covering Girish Karnad, Vijay Tendulkar, Sombhu Mitra, Utpal Dutt, Badal Sircar, B.V. Karanth, Ebrahim Alkazi, Satyadev Dubey, Mohan Rakesh, Vijaya Metha, Manmatha Roy, Habib Tanveer, Shyamanand Jalan, B. Jayashree, Usha Ganguli, Amal Allana, Ratan Thiyam, H. Kanhai Lal. The collection is truly a treasure.
Subhamay Basu started this venture to archive and popularise Indian theatre. Theatre lovers can now listen to the audio recordings from the archive of Natya Sodh Sangathan.
This prestigious collaboration wouldn’t have happened without the enthusiasm of Madhuchanda Chatterjee, director of NSS, and Divya Jalan, trustee board member.
They felt the need to reach out to theatre lovers worldwide. The Sansthan’s dedicated effort to collect and archive deserves to reach any and every individual who is truly passionate about all aspects of theatre.
The need of the hour was a technological intervention and that is how the collaboration with TOT became the answer