Since 2008 · Guwahati, Assam
Theatre for dialogue, empathy and change
AANK_A Creative Line is a contemporary theatre collective based in Guwahati, Assam, founded in 2008 with a strong commitment to Assam’s cultural heritage and innovative performance practice. Since its first production, Xunar Xing Thoka Ghariyalor Chaku, the group has worked at the meeting point of indigenous traditions, physical theatre and contemporary dramaturgy.
Its productions, among them Imaan Imaan Paani, Bhukar Xaadhu, Irikoti Mirikoti, Etheror Irika, Eréndira’s Metamorphosis, Alice in Assam, A River’s Tale and Swings of Love, have been presented across India and at international festivals in Sri Lanka, Tunisia and South Korea.
The group founded the Bhullung-Bhuthur International Theatre Festival (BBITF) in 2023 and works with the Colombo International Theatre Festival within a parallel festival framework that supports long-term South–South theatre exchange. In 2026 it joined Bodousa Foundation to hold the first Bo-Chang International Theatre Festival in Makum. Through productions, festivals, workshops, publications and digital tools, AANK_A Creative Line uses performance as a medium for dialogue, empathy and social change.
What we work for
Assamese theatre on the world stage
Show Assamese theatre internationally and connect with theatre communities abroad.
Folk arts, kept alive
Safeguard and revive Assam’s traditional performing arts and pass them on.
Theatre education
Build creativity and confidence in young people through theatre.
A stage for everyone
Open theatre to people with disabilities and to marginalised groups.
Collaboration
Build cross-cultural collaborations, seminars and publications.
Theatre and ecology
Link performance with rivers, wetlands and environmental awareness.
Vision
To strengthen Assamese culture through the performing arts, education, inclusion and global collaboration.
Founder and Festival Director
Dr Mrinal Jyoti Goswami
Founder, Creative Director and Secretary, AANK_A Creative Line · Festival Director, BBITF
Dr Mrinal Jyoti Goswami is a theatre director, playwright, designer and scholar, born in Majuli, Assam. He studied Assamese at Gauhati University, where he took his MA and MPhil and, in 2013, his PhD with a study of contemporary Assamese theatre in the light of social realism and its performances. He is an Assistant Professor in the Discipline of Assamese at Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU) and has guided several PhD and MPhil scholars.
He began as an actor, trained in National School of Drama workshops in Assam and directed AANK_A Creative Line’s first production, Xunar Xing Thoka Ghariyalor Chaku, in 2008. His plays as writer and director range from Imaan Imaan Paani, staged at the 16th Bharat Rang Mahotsav, to A River’s Tale, Eréndira’s Metamorphosis and The Body as Border, presented at the Colombo International Theatre Festival and the International Festival of Theatre in the Sahara. He is also a light and costume designer, and was nominated for the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2012 for light design.
As Festival Director of BBITF since 2023, he has linked the festival with the Colombo International Theatre Festival, where he has served on the festival committee since 2024, and he is a founding signatory of the New World Theatre Network. His books include Aytijyar Nirjash, Bhinnaxuree Emuthi Prabandha, Aesthetics of Theatre: A Spectator’s Perspective and two new Assamese e-books on theatre in Assam. He is also the creator of AANK Digital Tools.
International network
A long association with the Colombo International Theatre Festival, and work presented and discussed in Sri Lanka, South Korea, Tunisia and China.
August 2026
Member of the festival committee. Moderated the Directors’ Forum, presented “The Contemporary Festival Organizer: NEC Approach” with M. Safeer, gave the India country report and led the workshop Yoga Body Flow. The Body as Border and The Moonlight of the Island were presented in the competition.
March 2026
Swings of Love (Premar Dolna), with Inter Act Art, Sri Lanka, performed at Samilro Changgo Theater, Seoul, on 19 March 2026, one of four international productions selected from 70 applications.
August 2025
11th Colombo International Theatre Festival, Sri Lanka
Swings of Love performed on 31 August 2025. Keynote address and moderation of the Theatre Forum; member of the festival committee.
April – May 2025
A River’s Tale at Fatnassa, 30 April – 4 May 2025.
August 2024
10th Colombo International Theatre Festival, Sri Lanka
A River’s Tale. Keynote address on the evolution of international theatre festivals in Assam; member of the festival committee.
July 2024
Yongin International Theatre Forum, South Korea
Paper: “Fostering International Theatre Interactions: Lessons from India’s Bhullung-Bhuthur International Theatre Festival”. Signed the MoU among nine countries that founded the New World Theatre Network (NWTN).
April 2024
Project Director. Artists from France, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India created the Assamese Swings of Love with Inter Act Art, Sri Lanka.
August 2023
9th Colombo International Theatre Festival, Sri Lanka
Eréndira’s Metamorphosis. A talk and practical session, “The Memory of the Senses”, in the festival workshop.
Since 2023
BBITF and CITF
BBITF, founded in Guwahati in 2023, is the parallel festival in India of the Colombo International Theatre Festival.
2019
8th Colombo International Theatre Festival, Sri Lanka
Bhukar Xaadhu – The Myth of Hunger, August 2019.
2018
7th Colombo International Theatre Festival, Sri Lanka
Etheror Irika – Ethereal Epoch. Lecture on “Bhaona: The Ritual Theatrical Heritage of Assam” at an Inter Act Art workshop, Colombo, May 2018.
2017
6th Colombo International Theatre Festival, Sri Lanka
Imaan Imaan Paani. Lecture on “Meta Theatre: from Text to Audio-Visual Text” at an Inter Act Art workshop, Colombo, April 2017.
November 2017
Shanghai Theatre Academy, China
Paper: “A Historical Study of Assamese Theatre in the Light of Theatrology”, at the International Symposium on Theatre Discipline’s Development, with the ITI–UNESCO Network.
AANK_A Creative Line · Regn. No.: RS/KAM(M)/263/S/143 of 2018–2019 · Nice N Novel Landmark, HN 26, Flat 301, Phaguna Rabha High School Path, Jatia, Guwahati 781006, Assam, India
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