Pratiksha Khasnis studied theatre at Lalit Kala Kendra. After her graduation, she also studied Child & Adolescent Psychology. As a Goshtarang Fellow, she enjoyed performing stories for children in villages. She decided to choose this aspect of theatre as a career path. After the fellowship, she and her colleague from Goshtarang founded ‘Tiny Tales’ to continue using theatre in the field of education. They visit various institutions and perform stories for children of different age groups. They also conduct theatre workshops for teachers. Apart from designing the performances and acting in them, Pratiksha is involved in locating and translating stories which can be performed.
Kalpesh Samel completed his graduation in theatre from Lalit Kala Kendra. After being selected for the Goshtarang Fellowship, he spent the year learning and enjoying storytelling for children. Afterwards, he also received the ‘Rang Setu’ fellowship from Maharashtra Cultural Centre. He decided to continue using theatre in the field of education and founded ‘Tiny Tales’ with his colleague from Goshtarang. For the last four years, he has performed stories through ‘Tiny Tales’ all over Maharashtra, and has also conducted theatre workshops for children and teachers. He enjoys storytelling, and likes to try out different ways of performing.
Ashwini Pande is from Risod Taluka in Washim district. She studied theatre at Lalit Kala Kendra, Pune. She was acting in TV serials and conducting/attending workshops on basics of acting for Marathi films, when she applied for the Goshtarang Fellowship. During the Fellowship, she enjoyed the process of performing stories for children. She is now interested in working with children and creating story performances with them.
Santosh Gaikwad completed his Masters in Theatre from Auragabad University. As part of his Masters, he did research on Children’s Theatre. He was writing and directing plays, and also acting in them, before joining Goshtarang. During Goshtarang, he enjoyed the process of performing stories for children. He has now joined hands with some local performers and formed ‘Touring Theatre’, a group which travels to different villages to perform stories for children and to spread the culture of reading.
Shridhar Kulkarni has completed his masrters in theatre arts from Lalit Kala Kendra Gurukul, Pune Universtiy. He is basically from a village near Pune named Talegoan Dabhade. During his masters he was introduced to the idea of Goshtarang and thus he deicded to choose this as his career. Goshtarang Fellowship came in as an opportunity for him, that enabled him as a facilitator and a performer at the same time. Apart from collaboration work he also runs an initiative in the name of NatyaKool in Pune.
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