Winners of online theatre festival announced

Lahore : The names of the winners of the first-ever online theatre festival in the country were announced at a live streamed ceremony on Saturday.

The first prize was awarded to Hamza Omar of Lahore for his theatrical presentation “Out of Time” while Chand Bawany of Karachi was given second prize for her performance titled “Freedom.” Third prize was given to Maleeha Basharat for her one-person performance “Halal Dance.”

The prizes were announced in a zoom ceremony followed by the screening of the best three performances live-streamed on Facebook and youtube.

Justice (Rtd) Nasira Javed Iqbal announced the winners in the presence of a high- powered jury which included Dr Hassan Ameer Shah, Senator Waleed Iqbak, Professor Fawzia Afzal Khan, Savera Nadeem and Zara Salman. The jury also awarded “honourable mention” to Nouman Rauf (Peshawar) and Bashir Raaj (Rawalpindi).

Special mention was also made of Sibte Hassan (Lahore), Yusra Irfan (Lahore) and Bilal Zafar Ranjha (Rawalpindi). The top three winners will be awarded cash prizes with certificates.

“Coronalogue” was the first of its kind online theatre festival on the theme of “Living and Defying Corona Lockdown” and the entries included monologues on lockdown and coronavirus as well as humorous theatrical performances and one-person acts.

The festival generated enormous excitement among the aspiring performing groups and theatre makers. They explored interesting themes and ideas in their acts and performances.

The winning actors thanked Ajoka Theatre for providing them with an exciting opportunity during the pandemic. While interacting with the jury and Ajoka teams, they shared that Coronalogue enabled them to showcase their talent to everyone. During the ceremony, three best performances of the festival were screened live.

Ajoka’s Executive Director and Coronalogue Curator Shahid Nadeem and Ajoka Institute Director Nirvaan Nadeem congratulated the winners on their brilliant ideas and efforts. Nirvaan Nadeem vowed that Ajoka will continue such initiatives to support and encourage the upcoming talent during the challenging time posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While talking about the Coronalogue, Shahid Nadeem said this festival has opened new prospects and opportunities for promotion of theatre during corona pandemic. Through this festival and ongoing online courses, Ajoka is exploring new theatrical forms coping with the new challenges.