On Saturday, June 27, a unique theatre workshop titled Directors’ Workshop was held at the home of Abhijit Niyogi in New Jersey under the guidance of renowned West Bengal film and theatre director Suman Mukhopadhyay.
The event was conceived and organized by acclaimed playwright, theatre director, and actor Sudipta Bhowmik. Centered on the theme “Script to Stage,” the workshop explored the creative journey of transforming a written script into a theatrical production.
Speaking about the director’s role, Suman Mukhopadhyay said:
“A play begins with a written text or script, but a stage production is built through a series of artistic decisions. At the centre of this process stands the director, who transforms words into images, ideas into action, and artists’ individual contributions into a unified theatrical experience. A director works simultaneously with actors, set design, lighting, costumes, sound, rhythm, and space, shaping the audience’s journey through the performance.”
Suman Mukhopadhyay is the son of the legendary theatre personality Arun Mukhopadhyay. It is worth mentioning that I was deeply moved after watching Jagannath, Arun Mukhopadhyay’s acclaimed stage adaptation of a story by Lu Xun. Three years ago, I had the privilege of meeting this revered theatre icon in Kolkata, an experience I continue to cherish.
Reflecting on his own career, Suman Mukhopadhyay said:
“Over the past thirty-five years, my journey as a theatre director has taken me from my early days in Bengali theatre to directing works by Shakespeare, Brecht, Chekhov, and Rabindranath Tagore. From large ensemble productions to solo performances, from theatre to filmmaking and back to the stage, my work has been shaped by artistic questions, discoveries, failures, and collaborative efforts. These are the experiences I hope to share.”
During the workshop, Mukhopadhyay presented video excerpts from several of his productions, including Mephisto, Teesta Parer Brittanta, King Lear (featuring Soumitra Chatterjee in the title role), Agunmukho, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Bhanu, adapted from Uncle Vanya, and Bechara Bibi.
Watching these productions offered valuable insight into the director’s creative process. It felt as though a director was standing before a vast canvas, painting a masterpiece with imagination, precision, and artistic vision. The clips demonstrated how a written script is transformed into a compelling stage production through thoughtful interpretation and meticulous planning. Every detail of the stage design carried meaning and contributed to the language of the performance.
As Satyajit Ray once observed, “What cannot be expressed through dialogue can often be conveyed through props.”
The workshop also featured an analytical session based on Sudipta Bhowmik’s psychological drama Nude in Magenta. Discussions focused on the relationship between seeing and showing—what a production intends to communicate, how audiences perceive it, and ultimately whether they embrace or reject that interpretation.
A theatre director is at once a visionary, a coordinator, and a craftsman. Experience, intellectual depth, and creative imagination ultimately define a director’s artistic signature.
The workshop brought together a dedicated group of theatre practitioners from New Jersey, including Shubhashish, Indranil, Soumendu, Debjani, Tufani, Puja, Seema Sahni, Toby Bose, Vidula, Srijita, and others.
The event, organized by Sudipta Bhowmik—an accomplished playwright whose work has earned recognition in both Kolkata and North America—offered participants an opportunity to look beyond conventional boundaries and discover new possibilities in theatrical direction. It was an inspiring experience that opened doors to fresh artistic perspectives.
