Prithvi Theatre enters into its twenty-third year this November. Built in 1978, by Jennifer and Shashi Kapoor, the theatre provides a professional theatre space for directors and actors primarily of Hindi drama. Many of the initial years were extremely hard and the theatre went through long periods where the paucity of funds questioned the very survival of the theatre. Convincing sponsors and soliciting patronage was difficult and disheartening, and the audience thin. But the spirit remained unflagging and every success was a hard fought victory.

Interestingly, it was during this time, Prithvi gradually came to be known as a Mecca for budding dramatists and aspiring professionals primarily due to the unique atmosphere, the Cafe, and a world class theatre space and professional theatre services. Simultaneously, theatre groups were managing to draw in the suburban audience for their daily performances. These performances did not break the box - office, but it ensured a collection of support that held the hope and promise of better days to come.

These same groups have become recognized stalwarts of the dramatic arts in the city and many of them have successfully earned a good living from the theatre! Over the years, Prithvi too has grown and progressed, enriching its participation in the cultural milieu of the city by being involved in many activities.

The Prithvi and its ancillary activities:-

• It is home to the annual Prithvi Theatre Festivals. This year's "Prithvi Theatre Festival 2000 - Setting the Stage" sets the mood of collaboration, interaction and exchange between theatre companies from different countries and cultures. The festival will include workshops, film screenings on theatre, seminars, lecture demonstrations and platform performances. And will be held in Pune simultaneously.



• For over two years now, "Theatre Positive" at the Prithvi has held regular readings of original Indian Plays, on the first Monday evening of every month.



• Workshops for actors are a weekly feature at the Prithvi now, conducted by Satyadev Dubey.



• Prithvi's bi-monthly newsletter on theatre - "PT Notes" has been regularly and freely available for the last 3 years.



• Successfully showcasing new and interesting Indian artists, the Prithvi Gallery is now approaching its sixth anniversary this November.



• The annual 'Summertime at Prithvi', theatre and related workshops for children are the highlight of the year's activities, now in it's 11th year.



• In May of this year, Little Prithvi Players celebrated their 100th show of THE BOY WHO STOPPED SMILING. The play was Prithvi Theatre's first original full-length play for children.



• 'Saturday Evening at Horniman Circle Garden' for the past two years presents one performance a month on the first Saturday of the month. A huge success with encouraging responses, this is part of our attempt to build alternate performing spaces in and around the city and to cultivate a wider audience base.



• Association with Keli, the annual classical theatre festival, begun in December 1998, was initiated with a classical women's theatre festival of Nagiar Koothu.