Aarohan was founded in 1982 by a group of theatre workers. In Nepali, Aarohan means to climb. It also means performing space. We work to create a Nepali theatre movement. We perform proscenium theatre by Nepali playwrights and adapt foreign plays to the Nepali context. We have given training throughout the country, helping communities create their own theatre groups. We also perform Forum Theatre and train marginalised and oppressed people to use theatre as a weapon to improve their lives. In 2002, we founded Gurukul, Nepal’s first school of theatre. We believe that an indigenous theatre movement is both an alternative to a globalized consumer-oriented mass-media and a tool for empowering communities and individuals rendered marginal in modern Nepal.

Nepal is a theatre of colors, rituals, and folklore. A theatre that evolved among the lived experience of peoples who cultivated fields in the lush plains in the south, tilled terraced valleys in the hills, and kept herds in the high mountains. Buddhist, Hindu, and indigenous rituals constantly provided energy for the the stage.

For the past two decades, the Aarohan Theatre Group has celebrated this cultural dynamism. Our guiding principle has been that every voice has a place in this diverse country. This is reflected on our stage and in our audience. We have created highly artistic theatre for the proscenium and socially committed theatre for the streets and villages of our country. Our theatre is committed to creating a healthy, beautiful, honest and fearless society. With this vision Aarohan has established itself as one of the country’s most dynamic and respected cultural institutions.