NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DRAMA

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The National School of Drama (NSD) - one of the foremost theatre institutions in the
world and the only one of its kind in India was set up by Sangeet Natak Akademi in
1959. Later in 1975, it became an autonomous organisation, totally financed by Department of Culture.

The objective of NSD is to train students in all aspects of
theatre, including theatre history, production, scene design, costume design, lighting,
make-up, etc. The training course at NSD is of three years duration. Each year, 20
students are admitted to the course. The eligible applicants for admission to the
course are screened through two stages. The Diploma of NSD is recognised by the
Association of Indian Universities as equivalent to M.A. Degree for appointment as
teachers in colleges/universities and for purposes of registration for Ph.D.
The School has a performing wing, a Repertory Company which was set up in
1964 with the dual purpose of establishing professional theatre on one hand and
continuing with the regular experimental work on the other. The NSD has made a
significant contribution in promoting children’s theatre. The Theatre-in-Education
Company (renamed as Sanskar Rang Toli) was founded in 1989 and has been actively
involved in production of plays for children, organising summer theatre workshops
in the schools of Delhi and also promoting children’s theatre through Saturday Club.
Since 1998, the School has organised National Theatre Festival for Children christened
‘Jashne Bachpan’ every year. The first ever National Theatre Festival christened Bharat
Rang Mahotsav was held from 18 March to 14 April 1999 to commemorate the 50th
year of India’s Independence. Encouraged by the success of the first Bharat Rang
Mahotsav, it has been made an annual feature.
To reach a vast majority of theatre artists in various states with diverse languages
and cultural backgrounds, who cannot have access to the regular training course
provided by the School, a short-term teaching and training programme titled
‘Extention Programme’ was started in 1978. Under this programme, the School
organises workshops in collaboration with the local theatre groups/ artists and
these programmes are invariably held in the local languages. The workshops
could be broadly divided under three categories, Production Oriented
Workshops, Production Oriented Children Workshops and Teaching and Training
Programme in Theatre. The School has also set up a Regional Research Centre at
Bangalore to cater to the theatrical needs of the four Southern States and
Pondicherry.
Another important activity of the School is the publication of textbooks on
theatre and arrange the translation of important books on theatre from English into
Hindi.