The National School of Drama, one of the foremost theatre training institutions in the world and the only one of its kind in India, was set up in April 1959 ad an autonomous organization under the aegis of the erstwhile Ministry of Education and Culture. Over the years, the School has made advances on various fronts including a rapid expansion of its activities in all parts of the country. It has produced talented actors, directors, script-writers, de-signers, technicians and educationists who work in theatre, films, and television and have been recipients of several awards at the national and international levels.

Training in the School is based on a thorough, comprehensive, carefully planned syllabus which covers every aspect of theatre, in which theory is related to practice, and in which all work is ultimately put to test before a wide public audience. The syllabus takes into account the methods of great theatre personalities who have shaped contemporary theatre in all its variety of expressional forms. The systematic study and practical performing experience of Sanskrit drama, Modern Indian drama, traditional Indian theatre forms, Asian drama, and Western drama give the students a solid grounding and wide perspective in the art of theatre.

The School has two performing wings, namely the Repertory Company and the Theatre-in-Education Company renamed Sanskaar Rang Toli. NSDa��s outreach programme, which is named the Extension Programme, Seeks to extend and spared its activities across all regions of the country. A programme for research, documentation and publication is a recent addition to strengthen the academic activities of the School. The Schoola��s publications include anthologies of plays in different Indian languages translated into English, reference works, and theatre studies in Hindi.

The School is housed in Bahawalpur House which is located in the cultural hub of the capital known as the Mandi House area . The administrative block, training-cum-teaching centre, Repertory Company, Abhimanch, Sammukh, and Bahumukh Auditoriums, and girla��s hostel are housed at Bahawalpur House, 1, Bhagwandas Road, New Delhi-110001. The boya��s Hostel is situated at Hailey Road which is in close proximity to Rabindra Bhawan.

As part of NSDa��s programme to set up Regional Drama Schools, the Regional Resource Centre, Bengaluru has been upgraded to a full-fledged Regional Drama School pending the construction of an independent building in the university campus. Presently, it organizes theatre workshops for the benefit of theatre workers in the southern states (Karnataka, Seemandhra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the union territories of Pondicherry and the Lakshadweep islands).

To address the growing need to have drama schools Outside of Delhi, NSD has previously established the NSD Regional Resources Centre (RRC) in Bengaluru as the first step. The step in the dream of taking theatre education across the nation comes in the form of the establishment of the NSD Bengaluru Chapter, with the Ministry of Kannada and Culture granting three acres of land in Kalagrama in the Bangalore. University campus. With the aid of both the Centre and State, NSD with its state of-the-art facilities has now opened its doors to students from Karnataka , Seemandhra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, and the Lakshadweep islands towards newer theatre experiments and activities.

The aim of the course is to train modern Indian actor using traditional skills from classical, folk & tribal performance, music, dance, martial arts, playing various instruments among other skills. This is a pioneering programme to create a versatile actor for Indian scenario. Along with modern and Contemporary Western training we have planned an immersion in traditional pedagogic system. I hope that this course will help in shaping the future of Indian theatre of the world at large. Indian culture is very often described as unity in diversitya��.

This also applies to Indian theatre. Being a land with theatre traditions of diverse languages and cultures, each tradition has its own uniqueness. Sanskrit theatre and Western theatre have influenced theatre of all languages. This aspect is very visible if one takes a look at any of the plays performed in any of the theatre festivals in contemporary India.

Modern context has a prerogative to take values from the stories of olden days and question according to the logic and judgement of the contemporary needs of the society. Arun Mahopadhyayaa��as drama written in 1970a��s a�?Marichana Bandugalua�? (Karnataka translation: Bindiganavile Narayanaswamy) tries to test the value judgement of the story from Ramayana comparing with the contemporary stories. Two modern parallels of the story from Ramayana depict the changed scenario and the changed values. It speaks that modern derivations may not give out the same values.

An NSD alumnus Prof.Suresh BharadwajA� joined the Schoola��s newly founded Extension Department on a one-year fellowship in 1980. Former technical director Rangamandal, Bharath Bhavan, bhopal and a founder member of Sambhav, a theatre group of Delhi, he moved to television and cinema in 1985.

National School of Drama New Delhi expanded its activities when it set up Regional Resource Centre in Bengaluru. The Bengaluru Centre has since evolved in to a full-fledged by completing its second edition of a�?One year Intensive Course in actinga��.