Crowdfunded theatre in Kolkata

Funding woes cramping your act? Try crowdfunding, which helped a city-based scientist couple finance their theatre production to keep their passion alive.

Anindita Bhadra and Ayan Banerjee's group 'Mukhosh' (Mask) recently managed to put up six shows of their first act "Brishti, finally" in Kolkata, thanks to the online campaign that raised Rs 200,000.

"We used to do theatre in Bengaluru and when we moved to Kolkata we wanted to continue with it. But we needed the money to do it," Bhadra, a behavioural biologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISER), told IANS on Wednesday.

"I heard about crowdfunding from a cousin and researched about it and came to know about the funding platform named www.wishberry.in," Bhadra said.

They soon uploaded their proposal and the budget (Rs 200,000) and were asked to come up with a pitch video.

By sharing video on social network we managed to raise the amount from 62 contributors in India and US, Bhadra said.

The money was sufficient to produce first two shows -- at Kala Mandir in December 2014 and one at Gyan Manch in January this year.

"The later shows were funded by ticket sales, family, friends and we also pitched in," she said, adding if funds become a limiting factor then they would again turn to crowdfunding.

The next show is scheduled for October-end at Tapan Theatre.