Annappa H Ontimaalagi

Annappa H Ontimalagi is an active theatre practitioner. In his earlier IFA-supported project, Annappa led a study that explored the history and contributions of the local chieftain Shivappa Nayaka from Shivamogga district. Trained at Ninasam, he has been conducting several camps for children in the region. Working with Karnataka Nataka Academy, he has received state awards for set design of theatre productions as well. His training at the National School of Drama, Bangalore has opened new ways for him to engage in the field of Theatre-in-Education. Annappa has also taken part as a resource person in many of the training workshops for teachers held by IFA in Karnataka.

With this grant, Annappa plans to engage students across classes of the Government Higher Primary School at Aaladahalli village in Shivamogga district in a series of visual and theatrical activities. The activities will be centered on lakes in and around the district which was constructed during the time of Shivappa Nayaka. He has planned to take students on site visits to these lakes and encourage them to make visual sketches and maps that locate these lakes. He will also enable students to build stories about the lakes. These activities he hopes will develop imaginative abilities among the students while also helping them connect to the topics on environment in their textbooks. He will also engage students with local stories, songs, poems and prose describing the beauty of these lakes and the surrounding environment. In this project Annappa will invite resource people from the region to educate students about the cycles of nature and conservation of groundwater.

The outcome will be a series of performances and an exhibition by students near the lake in the presence of teachers and community members. The deliverables of the grant would include photographs and video documentation of the project.

This grant is made possible with support from Citi India.