Vision
UsPaar is a privately-owned theatre space. It has been rented by the Kalpalata Trust, which pays for monthly maintenance. The Kalpalata Trust has partnered with the Tamaasha Studio Foundation to ensure that performing arts practitioners use UsPaar.
The residency space is located on 2 acres of land in the village of Chikni, near Kashid along a scenic coastline 4 hours south of Mumbai.
UsPaar is arranged around a small lake and its centrepiece is a large, well-equipped, work and performance space. Residential accommodation for 16 people, and a common kitchen and dining space makes up the rest of the facilities.
UsPaar also engages with the local community, especially school children, to explore the joy and magic of the performing arts.
Tamaasha Studio Foundation, an initiative of Tamaasha Theatre, is headed by Sunil Shanbag, theatre director, teacher, winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and Sapan Saran, theatre director, writer, and poet.
The trustees of the Kalpalata Trust are Sudhir Sitapati, senior corporate leader, Vivek Trilokinath, advisor and mentor with early tech start-ups, Satyam Viswanathan, senior marketing professional, and Vinay Sitapati, political scientist, lawyer and journalist.
UsPaar is located on land and buildings that are privately owned and have been taken on rent by the Kalpalata Trust.
The Trust also finances the entire maintenance of Uspaar, and contributes towards the programming costs along with other donors. Kalpalata Trust is proud to partner with Tamasha Studio Foundation to ensure that performing arts practitioners use UsPaar to create and develop new work, collaborate with other artists, and expand their networks.
Over the last nine years Tamaasha Theatre has played a vital role in Mumbai’s theatre community by developing performance spaces, training young theatre practitioners, building diverse audiences, and running a curated intimate performance space in the city. Tamaasha Theatre also works as a touring theatre company and its theatre productions are seen across India. UsPaar continues Tamaasha Theatre’s engagement with the performing arts ecosystem.
Us Paar has been envisaged as a place where practitioners can work without the pressure of time or money to create new work, to articulate their vision, and to test their ideas before an empathetic audience.
The residency hopes also to serve as a vital meeting place for writers, directors, actors, dancers, musicians, dramaturgs, and academics to gather and engage with each other, for training programmes, and as a joyful performance space.