Tiatr Script Writing Workshop

What is the Tiatr Script Writing Workshop?

Tiatr Script Writing Workshop is a cultural scheme of Kala Academy Goa, the autonomous body of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa. Kala Academy states two objectives for the scheme: to enrich and promote the writing skill of tiatr playwrights, and to hold a healthy and constructive discussion on the various aspects of tiatr script writing among tiatr writers, participating institutions and artistes.

Tiatr is the Konkani musical theatre form that has been performed in Goa since the late nineteenth century, a play built in six or seven acts, called podd'dde, with songs called kantaram or cantos set between them, and a comedy track running alongside the main plot. The script is the part of tiatr that carries the most weight and that gets the least formal training, because most tiatr writers learn on the stage rather than in a classroom. This scheme exists to close that gap.

The scheme is deliberately conversational in design. It is not a graded course with an examination at the end and it does not issue a diploma. It is a day of structured discussion, led by experts chosen by the Kala Academy Advisory Committee, among the people who actually write and stage tiatr in Goa. Kala Academy runs a parallel set of tiatr schemes. The tiatr competition, the tiatr cantaram singing competition, the khell tiatr festival and Tiatr Day celebration on 17 April, and this workshop sits alongside them as the writing-side intervention.

Readers should note that a separate body, the Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG), also runs its own tiatr schemes including a Tiatr Script Writing Competition and orientation courses in dramatics. The Tiatr Script Writing Workshop described on this page is the Kala Academy scheme, and applications for it go to the Kala Academy office at Campal, not to TAG.

What does a participant actually get?

Kala Academy publishes the assistance under this scheme in three parts.

• A hall with infrastructural facilities, free of charge. The venue, seating, sound and the rest of the arrangements are provided and paid for by Kala Academy. Where an institution is hosting, this removes the largest single cost of running such a session.
• Lunch and refreshments for all participants, arranged by Kala Academy.
• Honorarium and travelling expenses for the experts, paid as per the norms of Kala Academy or as decided by the Academy.

There is no scholarship, stipend or cash prize for participants. The value of the scheme to a tiatr writer is access, a full day with recognised experts and with other working playwrights, at no cost beyond getting to the venue.

Who can and cannot take part in the workshop?

You can take part if:

• You are a Goan tiatr playwright. This is the core audience of the scheme.
• You are a tiatr artiste — an actor, singer, director or backstage worker in Konkani tiatr.
• You are a representative of an institution active in the tiatr field. Kala Academy specifically invites institution representatives, which is why the application may be made on an institution letterhead.
• You are an expert invited by Kala Academy to conduct or contribute to the session.

You cannot take part, or will only be admitted as audience, if:

• You are a member of the general public with no connection to tiatr. The scheme document records entry for the public as "open only as audience", so you may sit and listen but you are not a participant and do not receive the participant facilities.
• You did not apply within the date declared by Kala Academy in its press communique. Selection is described as covering "all participants those who have applied in response to press communique", so an application made after the closing date has no basis on which to be admitted.
• You are looking for a cash benefit. Participants are not eligible for any payment under this scheme; only the invited experts are paid.

The scheme does not fix an age limit, an educational qualification or a minimum number of scripts written. In practice the constraint is the capacity of the hall and the closing date, not a competitive test.

How to apply for the Tiatr Script Writing Workshop

1. Watch for the press announcement. Kala Academy Goa invites applications by releasing press notes in the local dailies. It additionally sends letters directly to the tiatr groups that participate in Kala Academy's own competitions, so a competing group usually gets a written invitation as well.
2. Write your application on plain paper or on your institution's letterhead. There is no printed form for this scheme. An institution should use its letterhead; an individual playwright or artiste can write on plain paper.
3. Give the relevant particulars. State your name or the institution's name, full postal address, contact number and email, your standing in the tiatr field; scripts written, tiatrs staged, years active, and, if you are applying as an institution, the name of the representative who will attend.
4. Address the application to the Member Secretary, Kala Academy Goa, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001. The Member Secretary is the named authority to receive applications under this scheme.
5. Submit it within the stipulated date declared by Kala Academy. The date is printed in the press communique and is declared afresh each year.
6. Wait for the intimation of date and venue. Kala Academy fixes the venue and informs applicants; the experts for the session are decided by the Advisory Committee of Kala Academy.
7. Attend the full session. The workshop is built around discussion among writers, institutions and artistes, so the value comes from staying through the sessions rather than attending one talk.

What happens at the workshop?

Kala Academy structures the workshop around the aspects of tiatr script writing that working writers actually contend with. The scheme's stated purpose is a "healthy and constructive discussion", and it explicitly names three groups who must be at the table together: the tiatr writers, the participating institutions and the artistes. That mix is intentional, a script problem that looks like a writing problem to a playwright often looks like a staging or a casting problem to a director, and the workshop is designed to surface exactly that difference.

The experts who lead the sessions are decided by the Kala Academy Advisory Committee rather than by the applicants, and they are paid an honorarium and travel by the Academy. Kala Academy has not published a fixed syllabus for the workshop, so the content changes with the experts appointed for that edition.

What are the common reasons an application is not taken up?

• Applying after the declared date. The single date printed in the press communique governs the whole intake.
• A vague application. The scheme asks for "relevant particular details". An application that gives only a name and a phone number leaves Kala Academy with nothing to place you against.
• No connection to the tiatr field. The eligibility line is specific, Goan tiatr playwrights, artistes and institution representatives. A general interest in theatre does not qualify you as a participant, though you may attend as audience.
• Sending the application to the wrong academy. The Tiatr Academy of Goa at Campal Trade Centre and Kala Academy Goa at Campal are different bodies with different schemes. This workshop belongs to Kala Academy.
• Assuming the workshop runs every year on a fixed date. Kala Academy declares the date afresh each year and the announcement is the only reliable trigger.

Where do I raise a grievance about this scheme?

The Kala Academy schemes document names the Member Secretary, Kala Academy as the authority to receive applications, and the Member Secretary or the Chairman, Kala Academy Goa as the authority for redressal of grievances. Write to Kala Academy Goa, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001, phone 0832-2420450 to 2420454, or email kalaacademygoa@yahoo.co.in.

For matters concerning the parent department rather than the Academy, the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa, at Shrama Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, publishes its citizen charter and grievance route at artandculture.goa.gov.in.

Key facts to remember

• Tiatr Script Writing Workshop is run by Kala Academy Goa, not by the Tiatr Academy of Goa.
• The workshop is free for participants; Kala Academy provides the hall, infrastructure, lunch and refreshments.
• Only the invited experts receive an honorarium and travel expenses.
• Eligible participants are Goan tiatr playwrights, tiatr artistes and institution representatives.
• The public may attend as audience only.
• Applications go on plain paper or letterhead to the Member Secretary, Kala Academy Goa, Campal, Panaji.
• The last date is declared each year in a press communique in the local dailies.

How to check your application status

There is no online portal, tracking number or SMS system for this scheme. Kala Academy Goa handles the whole intake on paper, so checking status means following up directly with the Academy rather than logging into a dashboard.

• Confirm your application was received. After posting or hand-delivering your plain-paper or letterhead application to the Member Secretary, Kala Academy Goa, call the Academy office on 0832-2420450 to 2420454 and ask the administration section to confirm your letter has been logged against the current workshop intake. Keep a photocopy of what you sent and, if you deliver it by hand, ask for an acknowledgement stamp or receipt on your copy.
• Wait for the intimation. Kala Academy does not run a rolling approval process. It collects applications until the date in its press communique, then fixes the date, venue and list of experts, and informs applicants directly, usually by letter or phone call to the contact number given in the application. If you have not heard anything as the announced workshop date approaches, that is the point to call rather than wait further.
• Follow the local dailies for the next press note. Kala Academy publishes both the call for applications and, closer to the event, details of the confirmed session in the same local newspapers. If you missed a call back, a fresh press note is often the fastest way to see whether the workshop has been scheduled.
• Email as a written follow-up. Writing to kalaacademygoa@yahoo.co.in with your name, the date you applied and your contact details creates a paper trail if a phone call does not get through, and is useful if you need to re-send any particulars that went missing.
• For institution applications, the representative named in the application is the one Kala Academy will contact, so make sure that person, not just the institution's general office, is reachable on the number and email given.

Because participation carries no cash benefit and no certificate, there is no separate "payment status" or "disbursal status" to track. The only outcome to confirm is whether you have been intimated of the date and venue for the current edition of the workshop.