Ratan Thiyam: Writer, director, designer, musician, painter and actor, Ratan
Thiyam is best recognized today as one of the most important theater makers on the international scene. The son of Manipuri dance masters, for a time Thiyam studied painting
before turning to writing. He has written short stories, novels, poetry and plays.
Writing led him to theatre. “I started reading plays, besides writing reviews; I felt the need for professional training.” he says. In 1971 he enrolled at the National School
of Drama in Delhi and gained a reputation as a powerful director and actor. In 1976 he returned to Manipur and founded the Chorus Repertory Theatre.
Except for a two-year stint as Director of India’s National School of Drama from 1986–88, Manipur has remained both the physical and aesthetic foundation of his work. Ratan
Thiyam’s theater typically reflects a quest for enlightenment, reconciliation and peace by examining the human condition through explorations of war and power. He has
directed more than 50 plays, original scripts as well as adaptations. His original Chakravyuha (The Wheel of War), catapulted him onto the world stage in 1984, was awarded
the Fringe Firsts Award of the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival in 1987, the Diploma of Cervantino International Theatre Festival (1990, Mexico) and has since been
performed more than 100 times around the globe. Uttar Priyadarshi (The Final Beatitude), toured the USA in 2000. Blind Age, Ritusamharam, and Hey Nungshibi Prithvi (My
Earth, My Love) are more recently acclaimed works.
Ratan Thiyam’s many awards include the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1987; Nandikar in 1992; La Grande Medaille (Paris) 1997; International Man of the Year, 1998–99 in the field
of Theatre and Humanism, conferred by the International Biographical Center, Cambridge; B.M. Shah Award 2000; Ganakrishti Award 2002; and the B.V. Karanth Smriti Puraskar
2004. In 2006 he received the One India One People award and Madhya Pradesh government's Rashtriya Kalidas Samman award, one of India’s most prestigious cultural prizes. He
received Padma Shri in 1989, one of the India’s highest civilian honors but returned it in 2001 in protest of the government’s policies.
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