Excited to share the culmination of the first year of the Lab with a radio show set in 1975 during the Emergency of India.

 

The two years of Emergency destabilized the media with censorship of the press and dissemination of propaganda pieces. 

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The radio show re-examines our relationship with the truth and the media. As a former journalist, this has been a troubling concern, especially with the rise of authoritarianism. 

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Listen to the show & click here to learn more.

A fulfilling developmental year at NYTW, meeting and sharing ideas with brilliant theatre people.

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I developed and had a reading of two plays - 'Yes, Uncle' and 'Rise of the River', both directed by Kate Moore Heaney, a longtime collaborator and phenomenal artist. 

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My fellow fellows and I also saw a fox in the wild, which has now become our collective spirit animal. 

I developed and had a reading of my play 'The Djinn' at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, directed by Arpita Mukherji. Hypokrit Theatre champions South Asian writers as part of their 'Tamasha' fellowship.

 

The play is set in Kashmir and talks about the lost, the forgotten, and the obsession of hope. It also features supernatural elements, which I have found is how people can make sense of the hate of the world. 

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With the muzzling of Kashmir, I tried to stage the play when I went back home to India in December 2019, but was strongly 'cautioned' against doing so. Did someone say censorship? 

I was part of the Playlab and developed my play 'Rise of the River' which is based in Sindh, where my grandparents are from. The play has evolved into a nautanki style theatrical piece with magical realism. 

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Along with the talented Playlab fellows, we wrote an exquisite corpse piece based on the Indian folk-tale 'Vikram-Vetal', re-imagined and staged site-specific in an office space. 

Spent a week on beautiful Governors Island with director Kate Moore Heaney and actors Lipica Shah, Gulshan Mia and Imran Sheikh workshopping my play 'Yes, Uncle'. 

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The claustrophobic atmosphere and supernatural elements of the play came to life in an old colonial building on the island.

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At one very dramatic moment, the room darkened and a strange wind blew in that made everyone shiver in 90 degree weather! Some say the island is haunted...

I was commissioned by UNICEF, Hypokrit Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Greenpoint Innovations to write a play based on the UN award winning graphic novel by Sona Sridhar.

 

Sona is an impressive 16-year-old who became empowered to combat climate change. During my chat with her, we realized we had both been caught in floods in India. The play was inspired by that shared experience, as well as other young activists, who I met during UN Climate Change Week in New York.

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'Elements of Change' was directed by Arpita Mukherji, staged at UN Climate Change Week and New York City schools.

I developed my play 'Rise of the River' in the writers' group and Project Y also staged a reading of my play 'the cow swallows its tail' directed by Tasha Gordon-Solomon.

 

The play explores an inter-communal relationship in small town India and the prevalent violence. The cows are the only ones that can see the future. 

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With the new love jihad laws that are taking effect in UP and MP, the play has changed in a different direction. 

Theatre East staged a reading of my play 'For Sale', directed by Judson Jones, the artistic director, who was also my mentor director at Tisch where I developed the play. 

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The play explores scam artists in a call centre in India and the issues that have continued to feature in my work - truth/lies, deception, perception, hope, paranoia and belief.