Discovering talent

Lanka Children’s and Youth Theatre Foundation (LCYTF) or popularly known as Play House-Kotte commences its next session of “Creative Activities for Children” programme in June 2011.

The programme is conducted by Somalatha Subasinghe, the veteran playwright and theatre director and Dr. Chandana Aluthge, one of her senior theatre students and a children’s theatre director.

Somalatha Subasinghe founded Lanka Children’s and Youth Theatre Foundation in 1981 to promote theatre productions and performances specifically for children and youth, training of actors, and research on theatre studies. This organisation presently is the top most institution for children and youth theatre productions in Sri Lanka. Since 1981 the organisation has produced a repertoire of mainly musical theatre for children and youth and mainstream art theatre productions and performed them in the island as well as abroad.

This institution was incorporated in the parliament in January 2007 under the Act No. 3 of 2007.  

Children from ages four to fourteen can take part in the programme. The prime objective of the programme is to develop child’s mental and physical aspects and to enhance artistic taste, cheerfulness and playful sense of the child through aesthetic experiences.  

Therefore this programme can be considered as an extracurricular learning that supplements the formal education the child obtains in school.

The programme gives the child the opportunity to learn the basics of enjoying and appreciating music, free movement, dance and rhythmic movement, acting and language, art, singing, puppetry and handwork.

This programme is conducted on Saturdays from 9.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. at Janakala Kendraya situated near the parliament. For details send in a stamped envelop to the Coordinator, Lanka Children’s and Youth Theatre Foundation, No. 166/1, Buddhist Institute Avenue, Parliament Road, Kotte 10100. Details of the programme are also available on www.playhousekotte.org.  Details can also be obtained from the telephone number 011 2863306.        

It was also meant to fill the vacuum of the necessity of a drama institution in the country.  LCYTF recruits young men and women with high school qualifications solely on the strength of their commitment to theatre.  Some of them are basic degree holders too.  They are sent through a systematic course of training in drama and theatre arts along with training in the traditional drama and dance forms of Sri Lanka.   LCYFT is proud to be the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka, which produces mainly musical plays for children and youth, with professional actors, and it has also emerged as one of the leading sources of training centers for performing artistes particularly in children’s theatre.   The high standards set and maintained by LCYTF in their productions has opened avenues for the professional theatre group to perform and participate in many international children’s and youth theatre Festivals and conferences in many different parts of the world since 1998.

The professional theatre group of LCYTF also performs mainstream theatre with the objective of improving their skills. It has produced a number of award winning and highly acclaimed mainstream theatre productions.  LCYTF was conferred the “Bunka Award” presented by the Embassy of Japan for the Best achievement in Performing Arts in 1997.   Actors/actresses and other creative artistes who were trained at LCYTF, work on their own and for other directors.  We are proud to say that our company members have won many awards for their performances at the State Festivals in stage drama, television as well as cinema.