Ratan Thiyam appointed NSD Chairman
Source: The Sangai Express / Manipur Information Centre

New Delhi, August 19 2013: Well-known theatre personality Ratan Thiyam from Manipur was on Monday appointed as the Chairperson of the National School of Drama Society.

A press release from the Ministry of Culture said, "The President of India has appointed Shri Thiyam for a period of four years as per the relevant Rules and Regulations of the Society" .

Ratan Thiyam takes over from theatre Director, Amal Allana, who demitted office as NSD Chairperson in June this year after serving two consecutive terms.

Writer, director, designer, musician, painter and actor, Ratan Thiyam is one of the most important and influential theatre makers at work in the international performance scene.

Son of Manipuri dance masters, Ratan Thiyam studied painting before turning to writing.

He published his first six novels in 1961 at the age of 22, wrote poems and reviews.

Writing led him to theatre.

Ratan Thiyam

In 1971, he enrolled at the National School of Drama in Delhi, gaining a reputation as a powerful actor and director.

In 1976, he returned to Manipur and founded Chorus Repertory Theatre.

He was also briefly the Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1987-88.During his tenure, he developed the concept of a total Indian theatre to acquaint the students with different traditional performing arts of the country.

His plays have traveled, from Aryan Theater, GM Hall, Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy (JNMDA) in Manipur to the Shri Ram Centre for Arts, New Delhi and the group's first overseas break was their trip with Chakravyuh to Greece in 1984 .

His plays have travelled throughout the world, fascinating audiences with their grace and a spectacular style drawn from Manipuri performing arts like Thang-Ta (a Manipuri martial art) and Nata Sankirtana (a classical dance and music form) into his works, which through subversion and reversion, get assimilated into his own distinct form.

He was honored with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, the Padma Shri in 1989 and Sangeet Natak Fellow in 2013 .

His play Chakravyuh got the prestigious "Fringe Firsts Award," from Edinburgh International Theatre Festival in 1987 .

He was the second Indian recipient of John D Rockefeller Award after Kapila Vatsayan, which is presented yearly by the Trustees of the Asian Cultural Council to an individual from Asia or the United States , who has made a significant contribution to the international understanding, practice, or study of the visual or performing arts of Asia .

Assam University conferred D.Lit doctoral degree to the noted theatre director Ratan Thiyam on May 14 this year at the 13th Convocation of the Central University in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Assam Governor Janaki Ballabh Patnaik and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

It was the third time that he had been conferred the Doctor of Literature.

His first doctoral degree was awarded by Rabindra Bharati University and the second degree by Gauhati University.