From two ends of India come two theatre groups united by the same credo — if men can do it well, women can do it wonderfully well. These are Nireeksha Women’s Theatre from Kerala and the Moirang Parva from Manipur, both of which are part of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the ongoing theatre festival at the National School of Drama.

“Most theatre groups are run by men, with women often cast in stereotypical roles,” says Rajeshwari, producer of Nireeksha. “Ten years ago, we decided to reverse that trend. Nireeksha has women at the helm, and men are hired only if the production requires them.” Nireeksha staged Pravaachaka on Friday while Moirang Parva will close the theatre festival with Love Story of Khamba-Thoibi on Monday.

But at Moirang Parva, even the male roles are played by women. The only guy in the troupe is Loitongbam Dorendra of the Imphal Theatre Group, who directs the 20 actors of Moirang Parva. He says, “Moirang Parva is a traditional folk art form of Manipur that was almost dead in 1975 when a group of women decided to revive it. Since then, it has been performed only by women.” From the original cast, only his wife L Chaobadevi is part of the present troupe.

Nireeksha is arguably the only women’s theatre group in Kerala, and when Pravaachaka got an award for Best Actress at the Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi last year, Rajeshwari knew they had finally made it after years of battling ridicule and funds crunch. This is their first outing at the NSD festival. “Few people believed a women’s theatre group stood any chance,” she says. “Had it been easy going, it wouldn’t have taken us a decade to stage our first major play.” The group aims to train excellent women technicians apart from award-winning actors.