The curtain falls: LUMS Drama Fest ends amid huge applause

18 teams from schools across the country kept audience enthralled.

LAHORE:

“What started off as a small drama festival has become one of the biggest contests in the country,” said Umar Shaikh of Dramaline, the drama society of the LUMS.

He was speaking to The Express Tribune on the conclusion of the seventh LUMS Drama Fest on Sunday.

Eighteen teams from the LUMS, University of the Punjab, the Beaconhouse National University, the University College Lahore, Kinnaird College, Beaconhouse School System, the Lahore Grammar School, the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, the Institute of Business Administration, the NUST, the FAST University, Aitchison College and Iqra University performed in the three-day event.



“The audience has expanded over the years. Schools and universities from across the country participate in the festival,” Shaikh said.

He said the festival was also a competition. Best actor, best play and best director awards were announced. He said performances by the hosting school, LUMS, were not considered for the awards.

“Usually, the Dramaline society judge the performances but sometimes we invite celebrities to serve on jury,” Shaikh, a fourth-year student, said.

He said that film director Bilal Lashari had been a judge last year.

“The theatre competition has a festival-like feel to it. Students organise everything; from finding sponsors to dealing with budgets.” He said a student could watch up to seven plays by showing his identity card and paying Rs200 for a ticket.

Shaikh said nearly 1,500 students had witnessed the performances each day.

“It has been a very interesting experience for me,” said LUMS senior Aalene Mahum Aneeq who said she had been part of Dramaline at one point.

“I have been to this festival before… it has got better over the years.”

For Aneeq the best part was seeing some school teams put up better shows than teams from some universities.

On Saturday, the second day of the festival, a LUMS play directed by Scheherazade Khan was very well received.

“It was the best moment of my life,” she said. “The play just blossomed on stage.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2014.