Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa was an eminent Kannada actor-playwright and popularly known as Kuvempu. He was born in 1904. Kuvempu was the poet of the Navodaya (renaissance) school, fictionist, critic, editor, and also an educationist. The university at Shimoga in Karnataka was named after him.

Kuvempu contributed significantly to Kannada theatre with fourteen plays. Yamana solu in 1927 celebrated Savitri`s mythical heroism. Kuvempu was one of the first Kannada radicals to revolt against the caste system; Kuvempu delineated the social evil of untouchability perpetrated by Brahmanical values mjalagara i.e. `Scavenger` in 1928. The ominous Smasana Kurukshetra i.e. `Kurukshetra, the Cremation Ground` in 1930 symbolically depicted the tragedy of the Mahabharata war. Maharatri i.e. `Momentous Night` in 1931 dramatized Siddhartha`s life and renunciation in ten scenes. Valmikiya bhagya i.e. `Valmikian Fate` in 1931 was the well-known episode of Rama`s abandonment of Sita. The controversial Sudra tapaswi i.e. `Sudra Ascetic` in 1944 highlighted the sublimity of the Sudra saint Sambuka mentioned in the Ramayana and questioned the supposed superiority of Brahmanism. Balidana i.e. `Sacrifice` in 1947 dealt with India`s independence. Bharatasuta, the protagonist, stands for all Indians and is required to sacrifice his life for the motherland. Beralge koral i.e. `A Throat for a Thumb` in 1947 was a philosophical play on the legend of Ekalavya, the self-made man. Chandmhasa in 1963 described the life of the eponymous hero through classical diction and convention. Kanina i.e. `Virgin-born` in 1974 related the mythological encounter between Kama and Parasurama, foregrounding the contrast between the accident of birth and man`s inner worth.

Kuvempu wrote two children`s plays in 1930-31. The names can be mentioned as Nanna Gopala i.e. `My Gopala` and Modannana tamma i.e. `The Cloud`s Little Brother`. He also adapted two Shakespeare plays. Birugali i.e. `Tempest` in 1930 freely draws on the history of Keladi kingdom in Karnataka to parallel Shakespeare`s drama but makes it look like an original Kannada work. Raktakshi i.e. `Bloody-eyed Maiden` in 1945 based on Hamlet, borrows the historical events of Bidanur kingdom, and indianizes the sexual and political aspects convincingly. All of the plays by this eminent Kannada theatre personality are poetic drama, known for their mellifluous Sanskritic Kannada. Amateur groups in different parts of Karnataka have performed many of them. Kuvempu also published Nenapina doniyali i.e. `In the Boat of Memory` in 1965. This was a very detailed autobiography by him. Kuvempu died in 1994 at the age of 90.