At the 12th annual conference of the Department of Performing Arts of Bangalore University, theatre personalities encouraged students of the art form to develop Indian theories rather than accept Western theories.

The three-day conference titled  ‘Theatricality in Theatre and other Mimetic Forms’ is being held on the Jnanabharathi campus of Bangalore University.

Speaking at the inauguration,  Kannada playwright and critic Prof H S Shivaprakash said: “The import of knowledge has been creating a problem for us in various fields and more so in theatre. There is a big gap between what is being done in theatre and what is being thought in theatre.”

He said that the divide between practice and theory is because theatre schools in India have borrowed heavily from these Western schools and have moved away from the native culture. The event was inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Dr M Muniraju. More than 100 participants from different parts of the country such as Delhi, Puducherry, Andhra Pra­desh, Goa and Maharashtra will be presenting papers in the academic gathering.