2000 – 2005

TrikonE Arts Centre was unsaturated in 1999 with the Sinhala production of Greek playwright Euripides’s “The Trojan Women”. Trojan Women has as its theme the Anti-War sentiment. The year 2000 in the ri Lankan calendar finds state terrorism being practiced in an unmitigated way, and the staging of this play obviously was not to the liking of those who perpetrated this terror. The result is the physical harassment and threats of violence & death directed against the leading actress (Anoja Weerasinghe) and the Music director (Rukantha Gunathilake) and his wife. Their property too was damaged and destroyed and continued harassment eventually forced them to leave the country temporally seeking refuge elsewhere.

It’s in this background that TrikonE was formed and commenced its battle against these terror forces by pooling the voices of sanity and making it known, recruiting both national and international help by making them aware of this state-sponsored terror. This initial task however unpalatable it is proved to be successful in that we managed to convince the two leading artists to come back from the refuge and stage the play once again in Tamil-speaking areas like Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee. This enabled us to build a lasting relationship between Tamil artists and patrons living in these areas and ourselves and by extension the discerning voices of the Sinhala Art Community.

This experience helped us to expand our work to the areas of strengthening and consolidating racial relationships and promoting peace. At a time when any activity commented with the word “peace” was interpreted with disdain and an unpatriotic our work naturally was s very offensive and thus deserving the usual contempt and violence that were accorded.

TrikonE succeeded in bringing the works of Tamil artists to Sinhala-speaking audiences. Their plays were staged in Sinhala-speaking areas and were well received. A definite dialogue has been established between the Sinhala and Tamil-speaking artists towards promoting peace and ethnic All these efforts were scorned by the organized groups but with the relentless help and assurances given by the public and interested voices of reason and sanity, we managed to overcome many difficulties. Behind all these efforts was the single idea of encouraging and promoting the reality of living together among the communities which was now fast becoming only a concept out of touch with reality.

Up to the year 2005, TrikonE had done a huge quantity of work; in the cultural field aimed at bringing about an understanding between the two communities – now fast tearing apart. In the year 2004 with the war becoming a reality again or at least in preparation TrikonE embarked on another project to add to its message. This was to make documentary films using the numerous contacts and facilities it has cultivated over the years to raise the civic conciseness of the people and about the ongoing conflict.

These Documentary films were warmly received by the majority nationally and internationally. In 2007 the films were shown to the Sri Lankan diaspora of both nationalities and a very high degree of acceptance and appreciation was evident among the intelligence here. This was evident when a team from TrikonE visited India, UK, Switzerland, and Germany and met those who had seen the films.

TrikonE has been at the forefront of organizing seminars and conferences to protest and campaign against the very impudent media censorship imposed by the government on works of art such as cinema and theatre. This has provided substantial confidence to the artists. Also, TrikonE has successfully kept many international organizations informed of the developments taking place in this regard. This has resulted in many international organizations keeping a very close eye on the media censorship in the country.

Since its inauguration in 2000 TrikonE has been aided by many organizations such as HIVOS, FLICT, UNDP, and SDC. This help has had a profound effect on the work carried out by TrikonE. In 2007 September TrikonE registered as TrikonE Cultural Foundation thus adding more weight and substance and expanding its areas of work.

The role of the Sri Lankan artist, though not significantly different from that of another in other countries, which is to keep people entertained, does have a wider role to play. This has been a feature for a long time and that is to awaken the socio-economic and democratic values in the society. Many artists who have had the adulation of the masses are already known political figures. TrikonE has made its mission to ensure that patrons do get enough justice to their aspirations and expectations by encouraging artists to do work of high quality. There is also an educational value in this work. In that, it will help towards making a cultured man in this seemingly mindless society waking with violence, hatred, division, etc.ie

The TrikonE has experience in campaigning against the war and conflict transformation. In the last four years of work, its main activities were:

Production and showing of the Sinhala translation of the world-famous Anti War Play “The Trojan Women” in Tamil & Sinhala areas. (89 shows 2000-2006) In the North & East, in areas in which the play was staged, we organized seminars in schools on the theme of “Role of the Artistes and the War”.

TrikonE organized “The Trojan Women” Sinhala Anti-War Drama on 31st March 2001- St Joseph College, Trincomalee. (Eastern Province- while the war was going on in the area.)

TrikonE organized “The Trojan Women” Sinhala Anti-War Drama on the 21st of July 2001 at (Central College Ampara – Eastern Province)

TrikonE organized “The Trojan Women” Sinhala Anti War Drama on 23rd of Sep. 2002 at (at Wembady Girls High School College Jaffna– Eastern Province)

TrikonE organized “The Trojan Women” Sinhala Anti-War Drama on the 27th of Sep. 2002 at (Gamini College Vavuniya – Eastern Province)

TrikonE organized “The Trojan Women” Sinhala Anti War Drama on 28thof Sep. 2007 at ( Devanayagam Hall,  Batticaloa– Eastern Province)

TrikonE organized “ Cine Yathra”Award Winning Sri Lankan Film Festival on 12th to 16th  of March 2003 at (Sri Krishna Cinema Hall –Trincomalee,  Eastern Province)

TrikonE organized the “ Cine Yathra” Award Winning Sri Lankan Film Festival on 26th to 30th  of March 2003 at (Kailashapathy Auditorium–University of Jaffna,  Northern Province)

TrikonE organized “The Trojan Women” Sinhala Anti-War Drama & Prof. Sarachchandra’s “Maname” on 08th, and 09th of April. 2003 at (Vivekananda College Hall, Trincomalee – Eastern Province) Organized by Cultural Wing – LTTE.

TrikonE organized the “ Cine Yathra” Award Winning Sri Lankan Film Festival from 26th to 30th  of May 2003 at (Shanthi Cinema at Kalladi, Batticaloa – Eastern Province)

The TrikonE invited eight southern Sinhala dramatists to the International Drama Conference organized in 2003 by the Eastern University, Batticaloa. 3 important lectures delivered by Southern Dramatists. 25th 26th 28th July 2003 Drama conference at Vipulananda Music and Dance College. 

TrikonE Organized the English Drama on 29th May 2004 “ The Ritual”  By  Jehan Aloysius.

TrikonE organized a Painting exhibition of 3 Tamil artists “Space, Life, Lines” on 16th to 18th July 2004 at Lionel Wendt – Colombo.

TrikonE organized Garcia Loca’s  “The Blood Wedding” Directed By Kaushalya Fernando on 23rd April 2005 at the University of Jaffna.

TrikonE and Asian Film Centre organized the “ Switzerland Film Festival” from 17th to 20th November 2004 University of Jaffna. 

TrikonE and Asian Film Centre organized the “ Switzerland Film Festival” from 03rd  to 07th November 2004 at Saraswathie Cinema at Trincomalee.

TrikonE organized the Seminar and Workshop on Tamil Traditional Dance Drama “Kooththu” on 05th December 2005 at Bishop College – Colombo. Conducted by Prof. S. Maunaguru.

TrikonE organized the Tamil Traditional Kooththu Drama “Ravaneshan” on 06th & 07th December at 2005 Bishop Colombo. Directed by Prof. S. Maunaguru.

TrikonE organized the “Cine Yathra” Award Winning Sri Lankan Film Festival from 19th to 20th  of December 2005 ( at Co-Operative Sangam Hall, Jaffna -” Northern Province)

TrikonE organized “Dharma Uddham” a Tamil Traditional Dance Drama from Jaffna. On 05th December 2005 at Bishop College – Colombo.