About four & half decades back a small group of young,enthusiastic cultural activists and some students of Drama Dept. of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalay namely Dhira Mallick,Ramakanta Banerjee,Pratap Samal,Darpa Narayan Sethi, Damodar nayak,Manmohan Barik,Brundaban Barik,Sunakar Satapathy,Gokulananda Sahoo,Late Nrusingh Swain,Dillip Harpal,Late Saroj Kumar Mohapatra,Late Sarat Kumar Patri,Mrs Monidipa Mallick etc.unied in a pleasant summer eveningwith a lot of dreams in their eyes.hey had nothing but commitment and dedication for development of theatre.
That was the time when theatre in odisha was passing through a very crucial juncture,after the sunset of the era of professional groups like Annapurna,Kalashree,Odisha Theatres,Janata etc.Their determinaion won over all obstacles and Satabdira Kalakar a cultural institution made its humble debut on April 18,1976 in the temple ciy.Since then there was no looking back. During the early years they had to struggle a lot for their exisence against odds and adversities,mainly like financial constraints,apathetic attitude of public.Still their sincerity and love for theatre transcends all the barriers on their way and Satabdira Kalakar marched ahead towards zenith of success in theatrical world.The organisation was able o cross the boundaries of our state and prove its mettle at far off places like Guwahati,Kolkata,New Delhi(N.S.D),Mumbai,Lucknow,Allhabad,Shanti Niketan,Visakhapatanam,Ahmedabad,Bhopal etc.It had created artists,playwrights,directors,the talent of whose would have remained unnoticed otherwise.
By now this organisation have been able to stage more than hundred fifty nine plays besides organizing seminars,workshops on Theatre and Folk Culture,Children Drama Festivals for Twelve years and after that National Multilingual Drama Festival for Eighteen years condecuively. After 41 years of this organisation is still champaigning he cause of making improvements in stage activities,promoting ne talents,and popularzing the rich cultural heritage of Odisha.