During the lockdown Chai-Wai & Rangmanch has oragnised a series of live sessions by theatre practitioners.

Coconut Theatre embarked on this ambitious and challenging project during the current World-wide lockdown. It has developed an Intellectual Property titled - “Chai-Wai & Rangmanch - 2020” in association with Ticketninja.in, which comprises of one daily Online Session with a reputed Theatre Expert from India and various countries all over the world including the USA, UK, Australia, South Africa and UK. The sessions are live on the official Coconut Theatre Facebook Page at 6PM Indian Standard Time. Veteran Actors, Award Winning Playwrights & Directors, Make-up Specialists, Music Composers, Designers, Choreographers and Technicians shared their memorable experiences, as also their life changing inspirational moments. This collectors’ item is an invaluable tool for any aspiring Theatre Student, Amateur Theatre Artist[e]s, Writers, Directors, Music Composers, Choreographers, Make-up Artists, Designers, Technicians and Theatre Groups and everyone connected with the theatre fraternity.

Managing Director of Coconut Media Box LLP, Rashmin Majithia shared that Chai-Wai & Rangmanch is the biggest activity for theatre practitioners, speakers from various cultures, age groups and despite not being conversant with the online process, willingly consented. A few senior Theatre experts who are 80+ years old too, enthusiastically joined the fray.

A few respected names such as, Padma Shri & Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner Rita Ganguly, M.S.Sathyu, Bansi Kaul, Balwant Thakur, Manoj Joshi, Neelam Mansingh, Satish Alekar, Dadi Pudumjee and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner Dolly Ahluwalia, Prof. Ashok Bhagat, Prasanna, Suresh Sharma (Director – National School of Drama), Amod Bhatt, Anjana Puri, Neena Tiwana, Sanjay Upadhyay, Rohini Hattangady, Nadira Babbar, Himani Shivpuri have done their sessions.

Stalwart participants include Chandradasan, Rajat Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Rajpal Yadav, Makarand Deshpande, Atul Satya Koushik, Arvind Gaur, Mahesh Dattani, K.K. Raina, Lillete Dubey, Rakesh Bedi, Sonali Kulkarni, Raghubir Yadav, Lubna Salim, Darshan Jariwala, Siddharth Randeria, C. Basavalingaiah, Ila Arun, Aanjjan Srivastava, Alok Chatterjee, Salim Arif, Saif Hyder Hasan, Asif Ali Beg, Ranjit Kapoor, Tiku Talsania, Sachin Khedekar, Sandip Soparrkar, Vijay Kenkre, Nina Kulkarni, Jayati Bhatia, Suchitra Pillai, Vipul Mehta, Jimit Trivedi, Rajoo Barot, Ramesh Talwar, Kuldeep Singh, Chandrkant Kulkarni, Kewal Dhaliwal, Pallavi MD, Sumeet Raghavan, T. S. Nagabharana, Apara Mehta many other senior Theatre experts have done their sessions..

Global Theatre Experts have been added to Coconut Theatre’s repertoire, seeing Artistic Director Bruce Guthrie from UK (Head of Theatre & Film at National Centre for the Performing Arts – Mumbai), Artistic Director Jonathan Hollander from NYC, USA, Actor & Director Mark Wakeling from UK, Theatre Director Amr Kabeel Egypt, Choreographer Ingri Fiksdal from Norway, Writer-Director David Woods from Australia, International Production Designer Neil Patel from USA (Production Designer of Mughal-E-Azam The Musical), Megan Furniss – Playwright from South Africa, Actor-Director Glenn Hayden from Australia, Writer, Actor, Director Jessica Litwak from Californina, USA, Writer-Director Ana Cândida Carneiro from the USA, Three Times Tony Award Winner Scott Pask from USA, Actor & Director Motshabi Tyelele from South Africa and World Renowned Writer-Director Jeff Baron from the USA have done their sessions.

Rashmin Majithia is a Renowned Industrialist and also A Producer of Coconut Theatre, is going to do the last session (108th) of the first season of “Chai-Wai & Rangmanch - 2020”. He will share his views as a Theatre Producer considering the current situation and his thoughts for starting the online theatre activity which shows his passion about performing arts. He will also take this opportunity to Thank all the Indian and International Guest Speakers who have given their precious time for this initiative.

Unfortunately the Indian Theatre Industry has minimal support from the audience, corporates and other bodies compared to Bollywood, Sports, Music and other Digital Entertainment Platforms but this rising IP has made a promising start by showcasing the best names during this pandemic. The response too is very encouraging, Both Indian and International Theatre Fraternity appreciated the initiative of these sessions.