NAPA International Performing Arts Festival 2019

12^th – 31^th March 2019

This festival brings together performers from a diverse group of countries and as before we have a number of collaborations between international and Pakistani artists. We are very proud of this collaborative work because this is where a true exchange of ideas takes place.

Mureed-e-shak is a Agha Hashr’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Winter Tale. It is a tale of romantic improbability. A king believes his wife to have committed adultery with his friend another king and casts off his newly born daughter in his belief that she is his friends bastard. Left in the wilderness, the girl  rows up in the house of a shepherd and falls in love with son of his father’s erstwhile friend. All’s well that ends well in the last threatically daring scene of this melodrama.

Cast:

Sikander Jaa Naveed Kamal
Humayun Samjhan Ghazi
Husun Ara & Gulnar Fajar Sheikh
Hameed Bano Safia Zahir Ali
Feroz Rahil Siddiqui
Koshish Salman Ahmed
Tufaan S.M.Muntazir
Wazeer Faizan Chawla
Husna Shumaila Taj

Arz Beni Ansar Mahar
Safeer Zohair Zubair
Darogha Asfand Yar
Pharu Singh Abdul Hafeez
Pandit Ahad Tauqeer
Rama Malik Farhan Aziz
Khursheed Saim
Barati Husnain Raza
Barati Qasim Shah

A conversation with Nayyara Noor and Arshad Mahmud about their work and their collaboration on some of the best pieces of music created in the recent past. Some notable compositions from the past ill be performed by the graduates of NAPA.

Cast:

Mehboob Ashraf
Waqas Gulaab (Tabla)
Nigel Bobby (Vocalist)
Sajar Nafees (Vocalist)
Sambrine Sabir (Choir)
Hannan Imran (Choir)
Cynthia Rose (Choir)
Angeli Sarfaraz (Choir)
Muqaddus Saleem (Choir)

Maria Ahmed (Choir)
Jennifer Arif (Choir)
Thomas Younus (Piano)
Manzoor Ahmed (Violin)
Kishwer Ali (Bass Guitar)

After the traumatic death of her mum, Anna is brought up by her father Saboor and nanny Razia. She as been emotionally vulnerable but there is something unusual about her behavior. In an out of hospitals, she is diagnosed with mental illness. Stigmatised by the Society, Mr Saboor and Razia are her only support, until one day when it all changes. Perahan is a sequal to Soch, accalaimed physical theatre production.

Cast:

Samhan Ghazi
Mr. Saboor Farhan Alam
Dr. Karim Kiran Siddiqui
Anna Shabana Hasan
Nanny Bazelah Mustafa
Saboor’s Friend Ayesha Pervaiz
Biff Sibatin
Chip Aamir Asbi
Kipper Ahad Tauqeer
Ensemble Rao M Shawaiz
Ensemble Raam Govind
Ensemble Naeem Khushid
Ensemble Ahmed Ali

Sudesh Deepak’s play is about a trial of a young, upright Indian Soldier who has shot dead his commanding officer. What emerges in the trial scene is a highly gripping drama about the circumstances that led the soldier to commit the crime. Deepak brilliantly exposes the manner in which a class-ridden society hides the truth to preserve the status quo.

Performer:

Colonel Surat Singh Mazhar Sulaiman
Salakar Judge Ubaid Iqbal
Judge 1 Ahad Tauqeer
Judge 2 Samhan Ghazi
Colonel Rawat Ghazain Abbas
Major Ajay Puri Zain ul Abedin Qureshi
Captain Bekash Roy Zohair Zubair
Captain Dr. Gupta Faizan Chawla
Captain B.D Kapoor Malik Farhan Aziz
Subadar Balwan Singh Abdul Hafeez
Ram Chandar M. Essa Khan
Guard 1 Asfand Yar
Guard 2 Ansar Mahar

nATANDA Dance Theatre of Sri Lanka’s ‘Wahala’ or Slavery depicts the suffering, pain and anguish felt by anyone who has experienced slavery of any form.

Cast:

Malith Upendra
Dakshika Bandara
Kalani Sachithra
Senarth Nanayakkarae Lasanth Harsha Kumara Nanayakkara
Narmada Nikethani
Jeewaka Randeepa
Dumidu Hashan

A story about the romantic life of women in Iran.

Cast:

Negin Hamidi
Sahel Modaresi
Mahsa Sobhani

They call it civil war but there’s nothing civil in this this. Nothing civil at all. They came from Damascus, from Halab, from Banias where the bombs fall day and night and wounded children look like sleeping angles.

Cast:

Corinne Jaber

An adaptation of the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab, from the classic 10th century Persian epic Shahnameh by Firdausi.

Performer:

Vajdaan Shah
Raheel Siddiqui
Erum Bashir
Syeda Maha Ali
Samhan Ghazi
Zain-ul-Abideen
Zarqa Naz
Abeera Pervaiz
Ejaz Khan
Zain Nazar

Aqeel Ahmed
Jahanzaib
Amir Naqvi
Maha Hassan
Najma Kifayat
Danish Abro
Ansaar
Rao Shahnawaz
Ahad

Wassay
Mahesh
Essa Khan
Usman Siddiqui
Asfand
Waleed
Hunaid
Saud
Ali Raza

Devi is Devi (Goddess) is an exploration of the Sufi saying, ‘Death before you dire. It is performedn by three artists with three very different forms of expression: experimental movement, Bharatnatyam dance and live vocals music.

Performer:

Joshinder Chagger
Jaya Karan
Parvyn Singh Bennett

Jinnay Lahore Nahin Vekhya is a story of 1947, set in Lahore, immediately after partition. An immigrant family has been allotted a Haveli abandoned by a Hindu family. After having spent many  torturous months in ‘mohajir camps’, the family now looks forward with relief to the prospect of settling down in their new home and starting a new life.

Cast:

Sheema Kermani
Mehmood Bhatti
Zainab Zaidi
Abeera
Harris Khan
Waheed Ali
Adnan Haroon

Sonu Imran Bhatti
Anwaaruddin
Madeeha
Imran Khan
Umair
Dawood
Rani

 Leela is a traditional story which dates back to the time of Jam Chanesar, one of the Soomra ruler.

Cast:

Aqsa Ahad
Fatima Rind
Sheeraz Khan
Shifa Agha
Pushmina
Najma Kawaish
Shahbaz Baloch
Anu Solangi

RAAZ-O-NIAZ: Raaz-o-Niaz explores the poetic beauty of two complete strangers finding solace in each other arms and discovering their better selves.

Cast:

Erum Bashir
Nazar ul Hasan
Mohsin Ali Shah
Kiran Siddiqui

The story begins with four men – Karthik , Satu, Himadri and Sashi- getting drunk while playing cards near a burning pyre in a crematorium. The men have just cremated an unknown woman and are waiting for the pyre to die out.

Cast:

Saad Zameer Fareedi
Mariya Saad
Syed Arsalan
Muneeb Baig
Mujtuba Zaidi