These Start-ups Are Saving Theatre From Dying in India A start-up now gives you the chance to watch theatre at home, on your desktop or even mobile phone

In a land head over heels in love with popular cinema that sweeps masses off their feet with its glam and glitz, theatre continues to be a source of meaningful entertainment.

It, too, lived its days of glory when India saw a growing tribe of brilliant thespians who set the stage on fire and the genre evolved from strength to strength with their brilliant performances.

From then to now, theatre's popularity has been subdued by the "it" world of movies. But, the stage continues to be a favourite haunt of artists, intellectuals and like-minded people who think beyond their lives and have socialist leanings.

A thriving theatre community manages to keep the art form alive for their love of it and for the love of theater lovers. Incidentally, and for the good, start-ups, too, are waking up to the importance of this art form.

BIZ Experiences India takes a look at the various ways in which start-ups are promoting theatre.

The Netflix for Theatre

For fans of theatre, who do not have access to good plays in their cities or are not able to venture out to catch their favourite play because of some unforeseen circumstances, here's a solution. A start-up called Playmyplay now gives them the chance to watch theatre at home, on their desktops or even mobile phones. With a wide range of content on their website, from English language plays to regional theatre productions, they currently have over 300 plays listed. This also helps theatre artists gain popularity. However, it doesn't come for free. Believing in the fact that true theatre lovers wouldn't mind paying to watch, the site asks for a nominal fee, a part of which goes to production houses. This means, one can watch their favourite play anytime, anywhere.

Call for Casting

Artistes often find it difficult to get a good break, which led to the emergence of casting houses that bring these roles to actors. One such platform is Talent Next, which is a discovery and audition platform. They connect actors, musicians and theatre artistes to the right groups. One can log in to the platform and find the audition calls for plays happening in their vicinity.

Funding the Performing Arts

One of the biggest problems that theatre artistes often face is finding the funds for their production. Many good plays face a silent death because of the lack of money that can take their production to a wider audience. But here too start-ups have come up with a solution. Crowd-funding platforms like Wishberry and Ketto give creative projects a space to reach out to the common people and ask them for the funds to keep their dreams alive.

Theatre for Training

This one takes theatre to a whole new level. Corporates have various training programmes, for which they hire experienced professionals to impart knowledge to their employees. Coming up with a unique way to do so is a start-up called Reflex. They use theatre and music to train the employees of the organization.