Announcing a Kattaikkuttu Diploma Course starting in October 2025. Please fill-out the SURVEY to show your interest in the program or forward to an interested friend or colleague. Thank you!
Vanakkam. Greetings from Kattaikkuttu Sangam!
Are you passionate about the performing arts? Are you an actor, musician, dancer, or someone curious about exploring the roots of theatre? This is your chance to train in Kattaikkuttu, also known as Therukoothu, one of India’s vibrant traditional theatre forms.
From October 2025 onward, the Kattaikkuttu Sangam plans to offer a first-of-its-kind residential diploma course in Kattaikkuttu that will cover all aspects of this complex theater tradition over the course of 10 months. This foundational training in Kattaikkuttu will allow you to become a performer in a professional Kattaikkuttu theater company and/or further your career as a contemporary theater performer, film actor, or (theater) director.
The Course
The Diploma Course in Kattaikkuttu is a 10-month-long immersive residential program where you will be trained in all aspects of Kattaikkuttu (Perungattur style) under the guidance of Guru P. Rajagopal and his talented team of acting and music teachers. In addition to learning to sing, speak, and act, you will have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with one of Kattaikkuttu’s musical instruments: harmonium, mridangam/dholak, and mukavinai (a small oboe-like wind instrument).
The principal medium of instruction for the course is Tamil, but some of your teachers speak English too. When you are not fluent in Tamil or do not know Tamil at all, we still encourage you to apply. However, you will need to improve your fluency during the course or focus on the non-language aspects of the tradition, such as Kattaikkuttu’s high-energy movement vocabulary, its makeup and costumes, or its music.
The course will culminate in two all-night (i.e., 8-hour-long) productions from the traditional Kattaikkuttu repertoire. The course will also focus on using Kattaikkuttu in a contemporary theatre setting, resulting in the production of an existing short play or new work. Additionally, there is scope for people from an academic background to discover more about the social, economic, and ritual aspects of Kattaikkuttu, in combination with getting to know Kattaikkuttu practice and the theatre’s tacit knowledge system. You will receive a certificate upon completion of your 10 months of training.
https://www.kattaikkuttu.org/survey-diploma-course
