the town hall is closed for renovation ravin dra kalakshetra will close soon for the same reason with just a handful of spaces left to stage plays theatre groups in the city feel more than ever before the need for more per forming spaces no doubt there is chowdiah memorial hall ranga shanka ra kh kalasoudha and ada rangamandira but theatre groups have some problem or the other with them while ranga shankara in jp nagar has all the fa cilities its in one end of the city and rather far from areas like rajajinagar malleswaram or sadashivna gar theatre buffs from these areas would think twice before brav ing the long and tough commute to jp nagar chowdiah memorial hall is beyond the reach of amateur groups due to the high costthough kh kalasoudha is good for experimental theatre many say todays ambitious productions require better spaces with good lighting acoustics and sound system theatre activist and director ts nagabharana says bengaluru lacks cultural spaces for theatre where do you have the space to stage plays in rajajinagar or malleswaram we need scaleddown versions of ravindra kalakshetra in all localities we cannot expect people to go to ravindra kalakshetra or ranga shankara all the time so badavane rangamandira theatre in extensions is the best optionhe says according to him the government consulted late writer u r ananthamurthy on forming the badavane rangamandira its an excellent idea but i dont know what happened to it saad khan founder of centrestage says theatre is thriving in bengaluru but wheres the space to stage plays as a theatre director about 67 years ago i was constrained to put up plays in the central areasmany directors face this problem even nowwe have beautiful auditoriums such as chowdiah hall and ranga shankara but theyre not in the city centre for smaller audiences there are spaces such as alliance francaise but people in south bengaluru find it too far b suresha theatre practitioner and filmmaker says the city has over two centuries of history in theatre but the spaces for it have not increased whatever we have except for ranga shankara and ravindra kalakshetra arent performancefriendly most spaces built by the pwd have neither proper wing space nor acoustics government bodies should have theatre practitioners and specialists on the panel to make all performance spaces in bengaluru theatrefriendly they should make it mandatory for all malls to have a stateoftheart theatre this will offer more options for local theatre lovers sridhar ramanathan president of bangalore little theatre agrees theatre groups need more space in the central business district we have ranga shankara which is an excellent place but the problem is travelling to jp nagar from the other end of bengaluru we cannot afford chowdiah hall so we need more theatre spaces in the cbd with basic facilities for the audience actor venkatesha prasad says with over 30 groups active in bangalore we need more spaces like ravindra kalakshetra in the heart of