The practice of modern theater has continued to flourish and reach beyond Kathmandu with the establishment of the republic and federalism. By modern theater, I mean the professional theatrical work that began in Kathmandu with the establishment of Gurukul in 2059 and flourished throughout the country over a period of about two decades. Looking at the situation over the past decade, the history of Nepali theater cannot be written without separating the theater activities that took place outside the federal capital.

Whether it is street plays performed to raise awareness and awareness in the community or plays based on school curriculum topics, by giving temporary structures to commercial buildings as modern theaters, or by building organized theaters at their own expense, gathering audiences/performing/reading plays, and organizing festivals, theater workers from all seven provinces have built a gigantic body of Nepali theater, the head of which seems to be the illusion or belief that the theater in Kathmandu is the one to carry.

‘Arohan Gurukul’ also did the work of taking the professional leap taken by theater in the Kathmandu Valley outside the valley. By establishing theaters in Kathmandu in 2059 and Biratnagar in 2066 and organizing activities such as regular theater performances and festivals there, Arohan tried to bring Nepali theater, which was blowing the trumpet of revolution on the streets (sometimes even found in the festivals of Pragya Pratishthan), to organized modern theaters. Over time, the Arohan Gurukul in Kathmandu became dormant. 

Initially, Arohan had announced that he would continue to lead this revolution from the Gurukul in Biratnagar. But due to some 'arguments', Gurukul Biratnagar could not show the expected activity. However, it can be clearly seen that it taught distant theater artists to dream, taught them to fight for their dreams, and elevated drama from a 'social work genre done in leisure' to a 'professional genre with social responsibility'. 

The eastern province of Nepal is the place where the most (perhaps more than Kathmandu) theater activities take place outside Kathmandu. A group of local art lovers is working to make the Gurukul in Biratnagar active under the leadership of former player Bhairav ​​Chhetri and under the creative management of Dipesh Bhandari, while Bharat Guragain, Prayag Neupane and others started the work of building a theater in Jhorahat and practicing theater professionally in the beginning of the last decade. Although, by the end of the decade, this practice was not concentrated in drama but was scattered in art and literature, but the effort to revive theatrical culture by creating a theater in the village has given the theater promising actors. 

The efforts of Biratnagar Gurukul, Bharat Karki, Bikash Parajuli, Uddhav Sapkota, Sangeeta Yadav and the practice of Jhorahat have provided Nepali theater with young generation of talented actors like Sudip Jung Karki, Diksha Chaudhary, Suraj Majhi, Sanjay Mudiyari. ‘Parivartan Theater’, which took its first steps in the commercial theater by converting a dilapidated building into a theater in the border market of Kakadbhitta in the Far East, has been staging plays in the community more than in the theater. Under the leadership of Kabita Nepal, local artists like Ganesh Bahadur Basnet, Lomas Poudel, Anish Basnet are still seen performing plays in rural areas of Jhapa with various court drama projects. The ‘Kshitij Natya Pratishthan’, which is trying to promote art and culture by building a multi-ethnic cultural museum in Birtamod, Jhapa, is inviting plays from Kathmandu to Jhorahat and teaching the audience the culture of watching plays.

The foundation, which is being run under the leadership of experienced theater artists like Gajendra Khatiwada under the vision of Madhav Kalpit, has recently launched the ‘One Brick’ campaign to complete the Jhapa Theater. Similarly, Kadam Theater, which is building the Seupakha Theater in Damak Municipality of Jhapa, is conducting regular theater classes in addition to producing and performing plays. Kadam Theater, which has been operating under the chairmanship of veteran actor Hemant Budhathoki and the direction of young theater artist Sizan Dahal, has young and energetic artists like Prakash Sharma Adhikari, Suman Lingden, Manik Shankar, Deepak Kharel, Navin Urja, Rashmi Upreti, Sujan Bhandari, and Roshan Murmu, are performing day and night.

The couple of Jeevan Baral and Suman Kuinkel, who left the professional art in Kathmandu and came to Morang to do village theater, cannot be forgotten. Because even though they run a theater organization in Pathari under the name ‘Shabd Theater’, most of the time this couple is running around for collaboration.

Chulachuli Theater of Ilam is organizing a drama festival in the forest every year to explain the relationship between environment and theater. Chulachuli Theater, which has been practicing theater under the leadership of seasoned artists like Chetan Angthupo, Anil Subba, Manhang Lawati, Sanjay Bishwakarma, Ramita Rai, has recently started practicing to bring plays to Kathmandu and give the audience a taste of the homeland.

‘Chetana Theater’ of Ilam is one of the organizations that has been continuously performing theater in the past. The leaders of Chetna, Suresh Portel and Anvesh Thulung, are not only young theatre artists but also cultural activists who understand society and politics. The participants of the program that Itahari's 'Kalalaya' started a decade ago with the concept of school theater are today working as acting instructors in national television programs.

Under the leadership of Sonu Jayanti and Prajwal Parajuli, the Kalalaya, which has been organizing theater festivals every year, has taken its plays to West Bengal, India. Bikram Shree, who once established 'Kavyavatika' in Itahari and created a place for meditation and art practice, is now busy establishing 'Itahari Matrix' as a cultural center and is trying to make theater an integral part of art. Dharan, which made itself a separate center of Nepali theater after the arrival of the multi-party system in 2046, has been active lately, although it has been inactive for a while. Under the leadership of Bishnu Moktan, this organization, which has been conducting theater activities through the 'Rangbhoomi Academy', has gathered the equipment needed for a modern theater.

According to Bikash Budhathoki, who has established a 'Srijanaghar' in Belbari, Morang and is coordinating the theater activities of the East, the theater of the East is 'vibrant' than that of Kathmandu. Although it may seem weak from a commercial point of view, he believes that theater outside Kathmandu has created its own craft, style and identity based on decentralization and community involvement. Nepali theater activities travel from east to west until they reach Kathmandu, entering 'Madhesh' and searching for the cultural identity of Mithila. They stop in Hetauda and Chitwan and fill the youth with enthusiasm in the old relics left by the Tarang Cultural Council and the Narayani Kala Mandir.

The history of Mithila Natya Kala Parishad (MINAP) and Yuva Natya Kala Parishad, established in Janakpurdham in the 1940s, is as old as the history of these organizations in promoting Nepali theater, and their activism is equally vigorous and contemporary. Ramesh Ranjan Jha, a founding member of both of them, is busy with drama, writing, directing, and staging. Despite the lack of a theater in Janakpur, which has been raising the issue of cultural identity through street and stage plays for a long time, regular drama productions and theater festivals are being held.

In this context, MINAP has recently inaugurated its ‘Yogendra-Mahendra Theater’, and the committee has been reorganized under the leadership of Sunil Malik and work is underway to formulate a regular work plan for the theater. In Hetauda, ​​veteran theater artist Ujjwal Sharma tried to run the old building of JCs as a theater through Tarang Cultural Council, but it could not succeed due to the lack of skilled artists and skilled manpower. However, it can be seen that the campaign has produced many theater artists and increased theater literacy in a center on the East-West Highway. Although the Narayani Kala Mandir itself does not produce regular plays, it has been providing a platform to interested organizations and youth such as Karmi Chautari, Tarang Natya Group. Chitwan's theater activities are flourishing due to the activities of youths like Mukunda Khalpatra, Pradeep Anjan, and Dev Kumar Shrestha, the latest example of which is the organization of the International Theater Festival in Chitwan.

Pokhara is an area that is considered to be excellent in theater performances and currently has a lot of commercial potential. Senior theater artist Anup Baral, who has created a 'legend' image in Kathmandu, has returned to Pokhara with the idea of ​​'Hansadhwani Theater'. Baral plans to bring the Hansadhwani Theater, which has been under construction for about two years, into operation from next Baisakh. 

Pokhara Theater, established eight years ago in Pokhara, is moving forward with awareness, education, and culture as its main slogans. This group, which has moved forward by establishing ‘Gandharva Natakghar’ under the leadership of Parivartan Karki and Panch Subba Gurung, is employing 16 full-time artists and managers on regular salaries.

It is about to start a program of this concept in two schools in Nawalparasi, Gandaki. To increase the attraction of youth towards theater, it organizes a school drama festival every year and an international drama festival every two years. Kedarnath Poudel, who runs the ‘Indreni Natya Group’ in Pokhara, is building a theater center named Kavyabatika on his ancestral land, which he hopes to make a meeting place for national and international artists in the future.

Although there is a hall of ‘Bageshwari Sangeetalaya’ in Butwal, Lumbini, regular plays have not been staged due to the lack of active theater organizations performing plays and the apathy of the management. In Kapilvastu, Lumbini, young artists like Dheeraj Chauhan, Premchand Pandey, and Arvind Maurya used to stage street plays under the name of Buddha Theater. But after realizing the lack of quality in their work, three active members of the group went to Kathmandu and India to learn/read drama. 

According to Dheeraj Chauhan, who is studying drama at the University of Baroda in India, they want to work in their own place after completing their studies. Ganesh Prasad Poudel of Lumbini Arghakhanchi has planned to go to the village soon to implement the proposal of ‘Aangan Rangmanch’, which he created after winning the Innovative Idea Award at last year’s Nepal International Drama Festival. His project is expected to provide the opportunity for the audience in rural areas to watch quality and technologically advanced plays in the courtyard. Although there are drama activities in districts like Dang, Banke, and Bardiya in Lumbini, there is no situation to form a group and work professionally, but rather, Bardiya artist Khagendra Nepal says that they are facilitating teams coming from Kathmandu to perform plays.

‘Karnali Natya Group’, which has been active in Mugu, Karnali since the time of Gurukul, has arrived in the provincial capital Surkhet with the aim of expanding its scope. Led by Hirabijuli Nepali and Bishnumaya Pariyar, this group has been staging plays for awareness across the province and has also been running weekly drama training programs since coming to Surkhet. It has been a long time since the ‘Bagina Group’ was established in Surkhet.

The group, which works with instruments, songs and dance as its main genres, felt that it was a separate organization for drama, according to its founding chairman Ganeshbhakta Gautam. Recently, Arang, which has been trying to attract youth to drama by conducting workshops under the training of Vishal KC, who graduated from Mandala Drama School, would be appreciable if it collaborated with the Karnali Drama Group from Mugu.

Despite being culturally rich, drama activities are less in the Far West Province. Local artists say that although the Supa Kala Pratishthan organizes activities like street plays with the involvement of artists like Rajkumar Joshi and Gunakar Paneru, there is no situation to produce plays for commercial staging. The stage program organized at the only cinema in the province during last year's Gaijatra was a notable theatrical activity of recent times, says Dr. TN Joshi, Vice Chancellor of Sudurpaschim Pragya Pratishthan.