“Onnyo Theater, Columbus, Inc.,” a non-profit organization, is a Bengali drama troupe founded by a few artistically motivated Bengali residents of Columbus, Ohio in 2006. The group hit their debut on June 4th, 2006 with dramatic aplomb and musical bravura. With the buzz over their phenomenal success on this aesthetically challenging performance, they have continued to offer more such cultural delights for the past 10 years to a whole spectrum of Bengali audiences in Columbus and other cities across the United States. As an ensemble, the group endeavors to explore the dynamics of drama as an art form and educate the present repertoire of passionate actors, original musicians, enterprising costume and backdrop designers, and choreographers. In their pursuit of art for art sake, they have welcomed more committed enthusiasts to join and enrich their melting pot.

As the name of the group signifies (Onnyo = other or outside of the norm), Onnyo Theater intends to explore the potential of drama as an art form. While providing a creative dimension to the color, rhythm, bustle, poignancy, humor, and all possible vibes of life, the members intend to learn the powerful flow and connectivity between art and life. The group’s aim is to broaden the scope of the autotelic aesthetic medium of drama through enactments of a wide gamut of motifs and issues—emotional, social, political, philosophical, and conceptual. Over the past decade, the group has chosen from classical and modern drama including translated and adapted plays from languages other than their own vernacular (Bengali), and even self-written plays, as evidenced by the list provided below. Through drama workshops and extending invitations to profession artists of international recognition,the group hopes to retain and further improve both their individual and collective potentials as performing artists.