Nataloka Boston recently organized a program â€œDiversity of acting and expressions” by Dr. Prajna Mattihalli; who mesmerized the Boston audience with her stunning expressions that showcase the diversity of acting. Audiences were engrossed and taken into the world of imagination and mythology.

As she depicted the â€˜Navarasas’, her skill to modulate her facial expressions and voice to convey not only moments of mocking laughter, but also the feelings of deep love and devotion captivated the minds and souls alike of viewers. In this special program organized by Nataloka Boston, Dr. Mattihalli  portrayed the roles of mythological characters in different rasas and emoted the different forms of abhinayas like vaachika, aangika, aharya, saatvika; Her ability to express the varied roles of Karna's son in ‘veera rasa’, Akroora and Vidhura in adbhuta rasa, Duryodhana and Bheema in raudra rasa and bheebatsa rasa, Kamsa in bhayanaka rasa, Chandramati in karuna rasa stole the hearts of the listeners.

Dr. Prajna Mattihalli is a professor of Commerce from Dharwad is a multi-talented artist by passion. From her childhood days, she has been part of many yakshagaana programs and has performed as Seeta, Raavana, Kamsa, Karna, Ishwar, Drona, Jambava, and Balarama. She is the lead artist of a ladies troupe - "Sahyadri Mahila Yakshagana Samooha” - from Sirsi that has performed over thousand different programs all over India. In addition to an undeniable skill on stage, Dr. Mattihalli has penned a number of books on poetry, comedy articles and essays.  Her notable publications include Hudugi Nakkaga [collection of poems], Donne Deepa Salu [collection of poems], Minugele Nakshatra [comedy articles], Gandha Gali [collection of essays]. She has been awarded with the Vibha Sahitya award for her manuscript of poems in 2015, the Matoshree Ratnamma Heggade Award in 2016 and the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award for best Prabandha Sankalana of 2017.

Nataloka Boston presented this special program that captivated the spirits of theater lovers. The Boston-based Nataloka team has performed in New England, across the USA and in India. Their drama presentations include “Ghaati Muduki”, “Marali Manege”, “Anivaasi Vara”, “Harakeya Kuri”, and other memorable presentations. They were invited to present the drama “Ghaati Muduki” at the Kannada convention, Amerikannadotsava, in Bangalore.

Nataloka Boston, founded by Praveena Naduthota over 15 years ago, aim to promote cultural theater artists and to bring together like-minded, creative people to share their stage experiences and knowledge with the community. Praveena has written several stage plays, along with serving as the lead roles in many plays, and he is active in other art forms like yakshagana and leads a group, YakshaLoka, dedicated to promote Yakshagana. Praveena is known further than the Nataloka community for his dedicated participation in many cultural non-profits in the New England area.

Here is the youtube link of the program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CahQhIXBg&t=386s

|