About Us – Stages

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Our Artistic director, Ruwanthie de Chickera co-founded Stages almost 25 years ago as a youth theatre group with some of her family and friends.

A firm resolve to produce new and original Sri Lankan plays was established right at the beginning and continues to this day. With it came a succession of plays that were fresh, experimental, and a little unorthodox. Sri Lankan audiences were presented with our own take on how and what theatre could be. Hundreds of people and dozens of shows later the Stages’ doctrine has evolved to making the arts a realistic career choice for Sri Lankans and making theatre of high artistic value available to and appreciated by a wider audience.

We are hooked on the ensemble method and place great emphasis on the process of creating a play. We are very happy to be a bi-lingual team chasing tri-lingual or even quad-lingual status.

In addition to theatre productions, we work on strengthening the underlying subculture of arts in Sri Lanka. We have training programmes for artistes, a theatre education programme for schools and several other theatre projects. We are interested in making connections with artistes from other cultures and we enjoy the challenge of collaboration.

OUR PILLARS

EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTIONS

We believe all Sri Lankans have the right to access high quality art. And so, we pursue excellence in our creative work and strive to make it accessible to all audiences.

INVESTMENT IN ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

We know artists are integral to a healthy society. And so, we work to sustain and improve the arts industry in Sri Lanka, supporting and challenging local artists to do the same.

BUILDING UP COMMUNITY

We want Sri Lankan children to have the right to a career in the arts. And so, we are building the next generation of artists in Sri Lanka, providing them with the opportunities, networks and skills we never inherited as artists.

SOLIDARITY THROUGH ACTIVISM

We believe that artists need to be ready to respond to urgent crises, challenges and changes that take place around them. And so we respond to things that disturb the balance in the society and stand in solidarity with the afflicted.