BOSTON–SETU, a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater group in the Boston area founded in 2003, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
In an exclusive video interview with INDIA New England News, SETU Co-Founders Subrata Das and Jayanti Bandopadhyay talk about SETU’s 20-year journey and beyond. To watch the full interview, please click here, or on the image below.
SETU means “bridge” in several Indian languages and our mission is to build bridges between Indian and Western cultures through the medium of theater. SETU selectively produces plays in English to project the ways of life in India in a global context.
SETU’s plays portrays India’s social, political and economic scenarios from the past and the present, highlighting both our rich cultural heritage and social malaise. India has intellectually deep and diverse tradition in drama beginning from ancient times by Sanskrit playwrights. Indian theater has found expressions in diverse forms from folk theater to musicals to modern drama forms.
SETU presents some of these in the contemporary context and, in the process, create a better appreciation of India’s heritage and culture. SETU has been organizing various educational activities, such as theater related workshops and discussions on social issues, under its education wing named as cafe@SETU.
SETU has raised funds for several charitable organizations in the past. SETU has been raising awareness of Indian social issues by performing small skits. SETU encourages members of the community to participate as actors, playwrights, directors, dancers, technicians, and backstage crew. Those who come onboard as actors receive comprehensive acting training.
Members of SETU regularly take part in films and stage productions outside the organization. SETU has over 200 people from our community in its active discussion forum, more than half of which are interested in taking part in dramas as actors or backstage helpers. SETU’s founding members include Subrata Das, Jayanti Bandyopadhyay, Rita Sengupta, Charubrata Ray, Debasish Raychaudhury, and late Deepak Deb. The debut production was Tendulkar’s Kamala.
