About
Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research is a contemporary theatre research and repertory company near Puducherry, founded in 1989 by the theatre pioneer Veenapani Chawla. It creates original performances and engages in deep performance research to develop its own theatrical language, disseminating its findings through residential workshops, residencies and retreats.
Registered in 1989 as the Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research (ALTAR), so it could work on an all-India basis, Adishakti evolved under Veenapani Chawla into an alternative methodology of performance, drawing on the rhythmic and breath-based principles of traditional forms such as Koodiyattam. In 2008 it launched its now-renowned ten-day training workshops. After Chawla's death in 2014, her leading researcher and performer Vinay Kumar became Artistic Director, sustaining the company's productions, its annual Remembering Veenapani festival, and its pursuit of the self-sustainability she had championed.
Founding & Leadership
Grant and project funded (including India Foundation for the Arts support), earned income from workshops and residencies, and donations; working toward self-sustainability as the founder intended.
Leadership & Trustees
Cultural Funding
Recognition
[{"name": "Recognised as one of the pioneering contemporary theatre research centres in India", "year": "", "note": ""}]
Adishakti is among the most influential centres of contemporary theatre research in India, having created a distinctive performance methodology rooted in traditional forms and trained a generation of theatre-makers, extending the vocabulary of Indian theatre nationally and internationally.
[Atlas Perspective] Adishakti is a cultural operator, not a funder: it makes theatre, researches performance and trains artists, while itself relying on grants and earned income. It exemplifies the kind of deep, research-driven institution that sustains India's contemporary performing arts and is well positioned to anchor training and residency partnerships. [Data Not Publicly Available] on detailed finances.