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Debshankar Halder is one of India’s most acknowledged Bengali theater and film actors. He has worked for a long time in different renowned Bengali theatre groups like Nandikar, Rangapat, Sudrak, Gandhar and many others. An actor par excellence, known for his versatility, he played the role of Debabrata Biswas in ‘Bratyajon’'s production ‘Ruddha Sangeet’ (The Blocked Songs). He has performed to critical acclaim in films, television, and on national and state venues in India and abroad. Over the years he has been keenly involved with every aspect of theatre. One of the leading force of the group and closely associated with Nandikar's Children's Ensemble he has written and directed over 40 children's plays including the much acclaimed "Bhalo Manush Noigo Mora”. His first directorial venture outside Nandikar  is Story Teller's Topi (The Hat of a Story Teller). In April 2010, Rangapat, a leading theater group in India, held a theatre festival to showcase the works of actor Debshankar Haldar. a feat which no other stage actor from Bengal has achieved. He has won numerous awards and recognition for his performaces including:

• Scholarship from Dept. of Culture, Govt. of India (1992-1994)

• Junior Fellowship from Dept. of Culture, Govt. of India (1997-1999)

• Senior Fellowship from Dept. of Culture, Govt. of India (2006-2007)

• 2013 - ABP Ananda Sera Bangali Award for Best Actor

• 2015 - Sangeet Natak Academy Award

Over the last forty-five years he has contributed significantly to the Bengali theater through his roles in numerous productions including Ajker Spartacas, Lambokarno Pala, Kornik, Jharer Kheya, Bisharjan, Dragon Bodher Pala, Buchner, Ghar, Khele Bhangar Khela, Parul Bone Robi, Meghe Dhaka Tara, and Agnijatak.  He has collaborated with noted theater personalities including Jochhon Dastidar, Debkumar Bhattacharjee, Sunil Das, Shyamal Ghosh, Suranjana Dasgupta, Ishita Mukhopadhyay and Bratya Basu. His has worked in theater groups including Nakshatra, Charbak, Sanbarta, Antarmukh, Binodan, Nirbak Academy, Naihati Bratyajan and Ushneek. He is the founder and current President of Ushneek. In addition to theater, he has acted in more than 200 films since his debut film Chhoto Bokul Purer Jatri, by Purnendu Patri in 1981. He has worked with numerous directors including Tapan Sinha, Purnendu Patri, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Utpalendu Chakraborty, Sandip Ray, Raja Sen, Prabhat Roy, Swapan Saha, Aparna Sen, Kamaleshwar Mukhopadhyay, Bappaditya Bandhopadhyay, Suman Mukhopadhyay, and Anjan Dutta.  In particular, his performance in n ‘Shilpantar’ (Dir. Bappaditya Bandhopadhyay), and ‘Herbert’ (Dir. Suman Mukhopadhyay) has won critical acclaim from critics and audiences. He has won numerous awards including BFJA (Twice), Uttam Kumar Award, Promotesh Barua Award (Thrice), Dishari Award, All India Critics’ Awards, Utpal Dutta Samman, and Zee Television Award.

Ishita Mukhopadhyay, with a comparative lit degree from JU, directed her first play ‘Ghar’, an adaptation of Jean Paul Sartre’s ‘The Room,' when she was just 20. In 1984 Ishita founded the theatre group Ushneek and has been the in-house director for Ushneek for almost 40 years. Ushneek has grown under the tutelage of Ishita to a well acclaimed cultural group having won several prestigious accolades and has taken part in prestigious festivals like Nandikar National Theatre Festival, Narir Mancho Theatre festival, Cuttack International Festival, Sangeet Nataka Academy Festival, 8th theatre Olympics to name a few.   She also performed as an actor under the direction of Salil Bandhopadyay, Sunil Das, Manoj Mitra, Aloke Ranjan Dasgupta, Wolfram Mehering and others. Ishita received several accolades of which a few remarkable are, ‘Uttam Kumar Award’, ‘Pramathesh Barua Award’, ‘All India Critics Award’, ‘All India Women Association Award’, ‘Kalaratan Award’ in consecutive years as best director plays like ‘KAMALKAMINI’ and, ‘GAWAHARJAAN’. She received a Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture in the year 2019. Ishita worked as a journalist in various reputed print media. She had been associated with ‘Desh’, a biweekly magazine as a theatre critic for 3 years.

Ishita has scripted and directed tele-serials like ‘Arabya Rajani’, ‘Ron Ruby Runa’ etc for channel Zee (Hindi). She has scripted and directed numerous documentary films including:

• A research based documentary on ‘Alkaap’- a famous form of Folk Theatre of Murshidabad and Malda district, West Bengal with the aid of Paschimbanga Nattya Academy.

• ‘Kathokatar Kato Katha’ – on five existing oral traditions of West Bengal which has an archival importance for Doordarshan Kendra.

• ‘Tibet Tibet’ on Tantrik Buddhist Art of Tibet in hill areas of North Bengal which strained across from Tibet after the Chinese invasion for Gorkha National Hill Council.

• ‘Darjeeling  Zoo’- on the breeding of white tigers and red pandas in captivity for Darjeeling Zoo Authority which was shown in Discovery Channel.

• ‘Tarpan’- a Hindu ritual to be performed on Mahalaya for the French channel- Channel Seven