An attempt to answer a fundamental question; What is the unique quality of the struggle faced by Sri Lankan youth today?

While exploring a worsening existential crisis, the loss of faith in all social construct, and confronting new and unfamiliar trends of globalization, YAUවණේ fundamentally deals with how the current state of Political and Economic instability in Sri Lanka contributes to the complication of the mental well-being of youth.

Exploring the unique quality of the youth’s struggle in Sri Lanka today this play is written & directed by first-time writer-directors Rithmaka Karunadhara and Rivindu Samadhith Perera and produced by first-time producers Pankaja Kulatunge and Vinuja Silva. It will also debut our Set & Costume Director Sanduni De Fonseka and our Music Directors composing original music for the play Ama Jayasinghe and Sarisha Senanayake.

YAUවණේ will be staged at Namel Malini Punchi Theatre on the 13th from 6.00 PM onwards and 14th of August at 3.00 PM and 6.00 PM. Well on its way to becoming AnandaDramas’ first-ever fully sold out show in its history.

The Cast consists of,

1. Abheeth Kothalawala
2. Amandi Kulathilake
3. Dhehara Waidyasekara
4. Dinuli Mendis
5. Dulina Chandrasiri
6. Malith Kulathilake
7. Nimsara Premarathna
8. Ruchith Ranasinghe
9. Rumashi Dissanayake
10. Theruni Indrapala

AnandaDrama is a non-profit theatre company based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was established in 2013 and incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 2014. It focuses on staging public performances of plays for the general public. It also supports drama and language development activities at Ananda College, Colombo.

It is governed by a Board of Directors comprising of

• Sanjiva Senanayake
• Thilak Karunaratne
• Deva Rodrigo
• Prasantha Lal de Alwis
• Nishantha de Silva

AnandaDrama’s key creative team comprises of

• Nishantha de Silva
• Ishtartha Wellaboda
• Rajitha Hettiarachchi
• Eraj Gunewardena

Meet the team

Pankaja Kulatunge

Twenty-one-year-old Pankaja Kulatunge recently completed his studies at Ananda College and will pursue his tertiary education in Finance and Law at the Macquarie University Sydney, Australia. He recently completed his Associateship at Trinity College London in Performing Speech and Drama. Having completed exams up to grade 08 of Spoken English, Acting and Oral Communication in both Trinity College London & University of West London up with a flawless track record of ‘Distinction’ at every exam, YAUවණේ will mark Pankaja’s debut as a producer on the public stage.

Pankaja has appeared in AnandaDrama’s Guest Performance of The Tempest at the Workshop Players’ Shakespeare in the Park festival (2017). He played ‘King Claudius’ in Ananda College’s Championship entry in 2017 at the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition. He also appeared in many stage plays such as King Henry the sixth (2018), the Comedy of Errors as ‘Antipholous’ (2019) and the Tragedy of King Richard the third as ‘Buckingham’ (2020) at the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition. Pankaja was the lead role in the entry the Education Games (2018) at the Royal Drama Competition. 

For Pankaja, the Ananda College Drama Circle was the beginning of a journey that lasted more than 6 years and ended at a pinnacle as the Deputy Head Prefect of Ananda College. He is ever-so grateful for all that the Ananda College Drama Circle and the AnandaDrama has taught him on becoming a leader for the future. 

He is thankful to have met and learned from his seniors at AnandaDrama and Mrs Dulanie Dassanayake who played a huge role in his life as a thespian. Finally, Pankaja would like to extend his most heartfelt appreciation towards his parents for guiding and moulding him into the leader he is today, and for his two brothers for being trailblazers of the path that he follows in his life.

Vinuja Silva

Twenty-one-year-old Vinuja Silva recently completed his studies at Ananda College and will pursue his tertiary education in Business Administration at the Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom.    

He began his journey in the art of theatre in 2013 by joining the cast of “දඟමල්ල සහ අමුතු ඉස්කෝලේ“. He was a member of the Ananda College Drama circle since 2012. Throughout his school career, he has appeared in several productions by Ananda Drama.  Vinuja was a member of the cast of  the drama ‘DoreMiFaSoLaTi’ which won the state children’s drama festival in 2018. He represented Sri Lanka at the Kathmandu Aksharaa International Children’s Theatre Festival with the drama ‘Puberty’, a pantomime.  

Vinuja continued his journey in acting by venturing into short films along with school colleagues and won many awards at various Short Film festivals including the award for the Best Short Film’ at Remaneo Awards for the short movie ‘Real Education’ (2020). His second critically acclaimed short film, ‘Perception’ (2021) was selected to both local and international short-film festivals. Finally, he would like to extend his most sincere gratitude to his parents for their love and understanding, but more importantly giving him the freedom to pursue his passion. 

Rithmaka Karunadhara 

Twenty-one-year-old Rithmaka recently completed his studies at Ananda College and will pursue his tertiary education in Economics, Government, and Theatre on a full scholarship at Bowdoin College, USA. YAUවණේ will mark Rithmaka’s debut as a writer and director on the public stage.

Rithmaka has appeared in AnandaDrama’s Alles in Wonderland (2013), Kensukes Kingdom (2013), the Guest Performance of The Tempest at the Workshop Players’ Shakespeare in the Park festival (2017), and in Grease Yaka Returns (2018) which toured India through the 21st Bharat Rang Mahotsav international theatre festival after being titled Best Play at the State Drama Festival 2019. Rithmaka entered into film portraying Salgado in the film adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Directed by Deepa Mehta currently streaming on Netflix.

He was a part of Ananda College’s Championship entries in 2014 & 2017, won the title of Best Supporting Actor (2018), and was nominated for Best Actor (2019) at the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition. He also won the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Female Portrayal at Royal Drama Comp 2014.

AnandaDrama is an inseparable part of Rithmaka’s identity and he is grateful to his directors and mentors Nishantha De Silva, Rajitha Hettiarachchi, and Ishtartha Wellaboda for showing him the magic of theatre and for their advice, guidance, and support over the years. He hopes to continue in the vision of the company and believes YAUවණේ will be the first of many ventures to come.

Rithmaka is thankful to have met and learned from unique theatre practitioners like Jayampathi Guruge, Ruwanthie De Chikera, and Jehan Aloysius. He also considers himself to be extremely fortunate to have been born to two very understanding and accommodating parents who supported him no matter what he chose to do.

Rivindu Perera

Twenty-one-year-old Rivindu recently completed his studies at Ananda College Colombo and is currently pursuing Law at the University of London. He was the youngest to have completed the Diploma in International Relations at BCIS. YAUවණේ will mark Rivindu’s debut as a writer and director on the public stage.

Rivindu was a part of Ananda colleges’ entry at the Inter-school Shakespeare Drama Competition in 2019. Having published books and edited magazines in the school level, it was during the pandemic that Rivindu got himself into writing and directing short-films. His first short-film, ‘Real Education’ (2020), won many awards at various Short Film festivals including the award for the ‘Best Short Film’ (Remaneo Awards). His second critically acclaimed short film, ‘Perception’ (2021) was selected to both local and international short-film festivals. Rivindu hopes that ‘YAUවණේ’ will be the first of many stage plays to come. In addition to ‘YAUවණේ’, the sinhalese poetry book රිවි කවි, is his most recent work.

He is grateful for his Parents and Grandparents for their advice, guidance, and support over the years. Rivindu is also thankful to Rithmaka Karunadhara, for getting himself involved with theatre.

Head on over to the PunchiTheatre this weekend to get a chance to catch this impeccable work of art.