KARACHI: The recent announcement made by the board of directors of the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) that the founder-president of the academy, Zia Mohyeddin, has been elevated to the post of president emeritus from Sept 1 doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Perhaps Mr Mohyeddin, who has put his heart and soul into turning Napa from an organisation — which some looked at with a degree of uncertainty about its success at the time of its inception — into a formidable institution, wants to take a step back, relax and have less load on his shoulders.

But it does warrant elucidation of a couple of things that the announcement carried as the body of the press release issued to the media on Wednesday.

The third paragraph of the statement reads: “To address challenges emerging from rapidly-changing conditions, the board also decided to initiate a process of organisational restructuring to increase clarity of responsibilities on departmental and individual levels.”

This does imply that there was or is not “clarity of responsibilities” there. Also, does the phrase “organisational restructuring” suggest an overhaul of the academy?

Does the phrase ‘organisational restructuring’ suggest an overhaul of the academy?

Responding to Dawn’s queries on Thursday, chairman of the board Syed Jawaid Iqbal said: “As for the clarity bit, everyone at Napa was also doing jobs other than theirs (har aadmi buhat se kaam ker raha tha). There’s nothing negative about it. All we want now is to stress on specifying work. Also, Zia sahib is a legend. Everyone admires him. We pray he remains hale and hearty. We want him to impart training to students as much as possible.”

On the second question, he replied: “We are looking for a chief executive whose job is not to teach (jis ka kaam parhana na ho).”

It may prove useful here to remind lovers of art that Napa is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2005. In those days, Gen Pervez Musharraf was at the helm of the country, and he must be commended for giving the go-ahead to an academy which has gone on to produce a number of top-notch theatre practitioners. To boot, to entertain and educate the audiences, the quality of plays that it has put up on stage as part of students’ thesis assignments or repertory projects has been very high.

One still remembers watching, perhaps in 2013, a production of Peter Shaffer’s 1973 play Equus brilliantly directed by Napa alumnus Sunil Shanker with a great deal of awe. It was right out of the top drawer and made many realise that Pakistan, too, has tremendous talent in this particular form of artistic expression. Add to it the fact that establishments such as the academy help project a soft image of the country to the rest of the world, and one feels nothing but pride.

Of course, the biggest chunk of credit for the success of Napa goes to the inimitable Zia Mohyeddin. His rich experience gained while working in theatre and films in the West, his profound interest in artistic pursuits and his own matchless credentials as an artist came in handy in training and inspiring the students. As a result, today his idara has enriched the Pakistan entertainment industry with artists such as Saad Zameer, Fawad Khan, Kulsoom Aftab, Meesam Naqvi, Nazrul Hasan, Shabana Hasan, Farhan Alam (acting and directing) and Nigel Bobby and Nadir Abbas (music) to name a few.

It remains to be seen whether the restructured Napa retains one of its special features for which it’s praised no end: discovering and grooming talent no matter what stratum of society — low-income groups, middle class, upper middle class or upper class — it comes from.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2021