News updates for Awards ↓

We are so pleased to celebrate the victory of Ajith Perera, a human rights activist who for many years, has been fighting for the equal rights and accessibility of persons living with disability in Sri Lanka. 

After fighting this matter in court, Mr. Perera has secured a decision from the Supreme Court stating that all public buildings in Sri Lanka should provide access and facilities for people with challenges regarding their mobility.

We take this opportunity to congratulate Ajith Perera on achieving this for persons living with disability and we take the liberty of humbly comending the Supreme Court for its decision.

Click here to view Sunethra Bandaranaike’s interview on this achievement.

Hail the conquering heroes! Sunera Foundation recently participated in the Biennale of Theatre and Psychiatry in Padua, Italy, where we staged a brand new performance titled The Last Two Minutes. However, even our wildest dreams were outmatched by the thunderous enthusiasm the Italian people showed for our work, which culminated in us receiving a very special award.

We already felt proud of our performance and were thrilled by the audience response, which led to no less than three encore bows by the cast of six tsunami-affected TTOP participants and one member of our Butterflies Theatre Company. However, we were just amazed when it was our name that the announcer called out on Awards Night!

Our Award titled “Premio Speciale della Giuria” which means Special Award from the Jury, was in special recognition of The Last Two Minutes’ ability to increase understanding of socially-related mental traumas and our ability to highlight such issues through the medium of Sri Lankan religion and culture. This is a significant achievement as we received one of only four of the awards issued at the Biennale.

Our Creative Director Rohana Deva received the award on behalf of Sunera. On the same stage, merely a week beforehand, he had terrified and titillated the audience in his majestic performance as the Maaria, or as the Italians know him – Il Morte! Assistant Creative Director Ramani Damayanthi also deserves special recognition for choreographing the many dance pieces that made The Last Two Minutes so memorable.

The Last Two Minutes is the story of a man reviewing his life, from the innocence of childhood to the horrors of war and beyond.

Sunera’s work received some official recognition this month when our Creative Director Rohana Deva was honoured with a Presidential Award for his services to the differently-abled.

The award, the Kala Suri, recognised not only Rohana’s theatrical work over the last 30 years but also his pioneering efforts to use dance and drama as a therapeutic means to work with differently-abled youth.
“Although this award is in my name, this honour would never have happened without all the people at Sunera being with me,” Rohana said, “From the trainers in the field to the parents of our participants to the people in the office, we all have something unique to give to keep our work going.”

Rohana was presented the award at a ceremony on November 14 by then President Chandrika Kumaratunga, as part of the first Presidential Awards in six years. He was later honoured with a kiribath reception at Sunera’s Colombo office.

Wolfgang Stange, one of the original founders of Sunera, was also recognised with a presidential award - the Sri Lanka Ranjana.