Theatre troupes in Karnataka’s Shivamogga urge DC to reduce rent for rehearsal hall

Kalavidaru, a federation of theatre troupes in Shivamogga, has appealed to the Hassan district administration to provide the drama rehearsal hall on Kuvempu Kalamandira premises in the city to theatre groups at a low rental charge.

A delegation of the office-bearers of the federation on Wednesday met Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegade in Shivamogga and appealed to him to reduce the rent of the rehearsal hall to ₹50 per five-hour session, on par with the rehearsal hall on Ravindra Kalakshetra premises in Bengaluru.

The artists stated that they had submitted an appeal regarding the same in July this year, when the rent for the hall was ₹500 per session. “A troupe would require the hall for at least one month for the production of a play. The rental charges end up becoming very high for the teams. On request, the administration brought it down to ₹250 per session. However, the revised rent was also high compared to the rates prevailing in the capital,” a statement from the artists said.

The theatre groups demanded that the rent be reduced to ₹50 per session. The Deputy Commissioner assured them that he would consider it and discuss the issue with the Assistant Director of the Department of Kannada and Culture.

Kanthesh Kadaramandalagi, president of the federation, Honnali Chandrashekhar, general secretary, and R.S. Halaswamy, vice-president, were part of the delegation.