Hansraj College

1. Theatre: World Drama Twentieth Century onwards; practitioner, theorist and researcher. Theatre and Performance

2. Literary Theory: Marxism and Post-modernism

3. European Literature, Nineteenth Century onwards. 

• Ph.D , 2014 , SAA, JNU, Delhi
• M.Phil , 1987 , Dept of English, University of Delhi

Teaching: Department of English, Hansraj College since September 1984 (taught for a month at ST. Stephens' College just before)

Theatre: Founding President, pandies' theatre, Delhi since September 1993. Playwright, Chief facilitator, Director. Over 40 proscenium productions and countless otherwise.

1. English Literature

2. Performance - praxis and theory

Diverse. Recent

1. Convenor Workload Committee 2015 - 17

2. Convenor Time Table Committee 2017 - 19

3. TIC 2019 - 20

Memeber IQAC

Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. (Theatre and Performance Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics) Title of thesis: Activist Theatre: Acting against the Status Quo, 2014. (PaR: Practice as Research)

Select few.

Ghosts Major  NACO, NORAD Theatre to spread HIV  awareness

SHE's Mad Major  Fore Foundation, Shaktishalini Theatre to question the  Mental Health Act

Mannequins Minor  NACO,DutchEmbassy TheatreforHIVand  Prostitution

Veils Major  HRD Ministry Theatre and Rape 

Say No! Major  Delhi Government Theatre for environment 

Mannequins 2 Minor  WSDC, University of Theatre against  Delhi Trafficking of Women

Child Rights Major  British Council Theatre to spread Child Rights over North India

Togetherness Major  British Council, Delhi Theatre - Child rights in tourism kashmir

Curse Conquered Minor  MERCK (CSR) Theatre for Cervical  Cancer

Theatre as a tool to Rape law Reform Major 

Theatre for Children rescued from platforms Major 

Theatre in Nithari Major 

Platform children policy document International 

Rape policy document National 

Nithari policy document National 

Many more since.
























 

1. Ourstory  Co-Author/Editor Academic Foundation, Delhi 

Articles

2. Modern European Chapter/s In Drama Review Book,  Pencraft International, New Delhi Swati Pal 

3. Creative Writing Chapter/s In Univ of Delhi Neira Dev, Marwah, Pal

4. Halfway House Chapter/s In  Worldview, Delhi Basu  Book

5. Balcony Chapter/s In Worldview, Delhi, Mangalam

Relevant Publications:

1. “A Child’s Act,” Surviving on the Edge, ISBN 978-93-532-8314-8. ed. Sonpar and Kanwar, SAGE-Yoda Press, Chandigarh, India, 2019.
2. “Performing on the Platform,” TDR: The Drama Review 57:4 (T220) Winter 2013. ©2013, New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. “Can failed theatre enable consciousness?” Consciousness, Theatre, Literature and the Arts, 2013, ISBN (10): 1-4438-3458-0. ed. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, 2013.
4. “Dramatising an Evolving Consciousness: Theatre with Nithari’s Children,” Consciousness, theatre, Literature and the Arts 2011, ed. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, 2012.
5. “The Good Person of Szechwan: Political, Dramaturgical and Pedagogic Concerns,” Modern European Drama: Ibsen to Beckett, ed. Swati Pal, Pencraft International, New Delhi, India, 2012.

6. “pandies’ theatre,” The Drama Review (Fall, 2004), Volume 48 Number 3, NYU, New York, USA. MIT Press, Five Cambridge Centre, Cambridge.

Select List

1. Up From conflict Theatre and Nationalism Kosovo National Theatre and University of Manchester, 2010 International

2. Living on the Platform Performing the World: Can Performance Change the World? All Stars Project and The East Side Institute, New  York, USA,  2011, International

3. Dramatising an Evolving Consciousness, Consciousness, Theatre, Literature and the Arts - University of Lincoln, UK  2011, International

4. Can Failed Theatre Enable Consciousness? Consciousness, Theatre, Literature and the Arts - University of Lincoln, UK  2013 International

5. Performing with India's Platform Young, The Viewing of Politics and the Politics of Viewing, University of Thessaloniki, Greece 2014 International 

6.Trauma Theatre with youth, Perspectives on Modern Theatre, Jammu and Kashmir Kashmir University of Jammu 2015 National 

7. Theatre in Kashmir Child Saathi, Bangalore 2011 National 

8. Putting it on the Platform Saving the runaway child International residency Rockefeller Institute 2011 International 

Invited Lecturers or Presentations at National/ International Conferencs/ Symposia

1. Communalism and Drama Contact Theatre, Manchester, UK International 20-07-2002 

2. Theatre workshop: Creating William Paterson University, New Jersey, International 05-10-2010  USA

3. Training of facilitators for theatre Contact Theatre, Manchester, 2011 UK Internationalwith drug abusers m

4. Where I am stood. WYP, Leeds, UK International 09-02-2011 

5. Training of facilitators for theatre WYP, Leeds, UK International 10-02-2011 

6. Theatre with India's platform Youth,  School of Philosophy, Frank and Marshall, New Jersey, USA International 11-10-2011 

7. Theatre workshop: creating scripts Theatre and Performance School, Frank  and Marshall, New Jersey, USA International 13-10-2011

8. Trans(per)forming Castillo theatre New York International 05-06-2012  

9. Creating Theatre Under the Willows, Hamilton, Canada International 21-06-2012

10. Theatre on the theme of loss Axis Ballyumin, Dublin, Ireland International 13-05-2013 

11. Article 377 Jindal law School, Sonepat, Haryana National 15-09-2010 

12. Rape Law Reform Jindal law School, Sonepat, Haryana National 21-03-2012 

12. Rape Law Reform NLS, Delhi National 24-02-2012 

13. Women in the Margins TISS, Mumbai National 15-12-2010 

14. 377 and LGBT TISS, Mumbai National 15-02-2012 

15. Caste and Gender ALF (Alternate Law Forum), Bangalore National 20-10-2010 

16. Rape sensitisation YWCA, Bangalore State 13-10-2010 

17. Creating Theatre Maraa, Bangalore National 15-10-2010 180 

18. JJ Act LIC, Delhi University 02-11-2012 120 

19. Theatre with the Young -Platform SRCC, University of Delhi International 07-01-2013 

20. Theatre with the Young - Nithari SRCC, University of Delhi International 23-07-2013 

21. Protest Theatre Jamia, Delhi State 22-11-2012 

22. Creating theatre with the Margins East Side Institute of Group and Short International 09-02-2012 180 10 term Thearpy, New York, USA minutes

Combined list with conferences          

 Lectured at Harvard University Activism and Workshop Theatre November 2017 as part of Dan Friedman’s course on Performance Activism.

          Invited for a Plenary at a conference in Thessaloniki, Greece September 2018.

Workshops Overseas

• • Presentation on platform children in Rockefeller Centre, Bellagio, Italy (Sept 2010)
  • Presentation on platform children in Performing The World 2010, All Stars, New York (Oct 2010)
  • “Performing with Marginalized People and a Methodology,” William Patterson University, New Jersey (Oct 2010)
  • 3 Workshops - training of trainers working with young, traumatized people in their communities in Contact Theatre, Manchester and Western Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds (UK), May and June 2011
  • Workshop in New York October 2011 on working with trauma of the young with East Side Institute of Psychotherapy (New York)
  • Workshop in Hamilton, Canada June 2012 with trainers, psychologists and performers on the use of performance to deal with those in suffering.
  • Workshop with Castillo theatre, Broadway, New York in June 2012 on Trans(per)forming - Creating theatre from Conflict.
  • Workshop on the theme of Loss at the Axis Ballyumin Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, June 2013.
  • Workshop/lecture on Creating Theatre from Stories of the Margins: The Case of Nithari. The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, Wales, UK. June 2017: Special Invited Lecture For Students from the School of Acting and Performance Studies  
  • Workshop and talk in Thessaloniki, Greece, November 2017 for the PPLG
  • Lecture on Performance Activism at Harvard, November 2017
  • Lecture on theatre in Kashmir at University of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA December 2017
  • Invited to lead a workshop with Syrian refugees in a refugee camp Pikpo, Lesbos, Greece, September 2018.

•  

  With young impoverished people living in the margins of society

• India’s platform boys - series of workshops from 2007 onwards with boys aged 9 to 20 years picked from platforms by the police or by NGO officials and lodged in camps or reformatories. Pioneer work by the group.
• Nithari village - series of workshops with young people from this village in Delhi - NCR with a population of about 10000, where children were cannibalised by perverts since 2006. Also discussion sessions with elders of the village.
• School dropouts in villages of Rajasthan - apart from getting them back into education, workshops of gender, caste and religion with people of the age group 14 to 30 years.
• Workshops with women residents of Shaktishalini shelter in Nehru Nagar. Restarted in 2019 after a gap of nearly one decade, Theatre of sharing centred at studio 81 has seen 6 workshop plays already.
• Underage girls, rescued from brothels and housed in shelter homes in Delhi.
• I have been working in Delhi’s slums with youth and creating workshop theatre for over 20 years. This includes many major and minor projects for diverse organisations including the HRD Ministry, The Delhi government and many NGOs.

Honours/Positions

1. International Residency: Rockefeller Centre, Bellagio, Italy (One month from 26th August to 24th Sept 2010) - Pursuit of work on runaway/abandoned children into sex-work; presentations and interaction with an international group of developmentalists and artists.
2. Alum of the prestigious, US Government’s IVLP (International Visitors Leadership Program). One month visit to the USA and interaction with leading exponents in theatre and other Arts across major cities in the US, under the rubric “Social Change through Arts.” 2011.
3. Recipient of Delhi University's (Vice Chancellor's) Distinguished Teacher Award in 2009.
4. Member International Organising Committee PTW (Performing the World, New York) 2016 and 2018 (and cancelled event for 2020).
5. International Associate of ESI (East Side Institute of Short and Long Term Therapy, New York, A world leader in Social Psychology)

6. Lectured at Harvard University Activism and Workshop Theatre November 2017 as part of Dan Friedman’s course on Performance Activism.
7. Invited for a Plenary at a conference in Thessaloniki, Greece September 2018.
8. Special invitee to an international panel of practitioners: PTW2021, Creative Responses to Political Repression October 2021
9. Member International Organising Committee PTW (Performing the World, New York) 2021

   Performance Activism with pandies' theatre

   I have directed and produced about forty full-length plays.

    

    

   Adaptations

   Macbeth, 1993

   Womanscape, 1993-4 (inspired by short stories of Doris Lessing):

   Brecht – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 1994

   Ibsen – Ghosts, 1994-96. The first play on HIV/AIDS in India, Major project with many shows across country, funded by NACO, Government of India and the NORAD

   Simone de Beauvoir – Les Belle Images, 1995-96.

   Small project for the Royal Embassy of Netherlands

    

   Visitations, 1999

   Odet – Waiting For Lefty, 2004

   Genet - The Balcony, 2014, Collaborative with Alliance Francaise, Delhi

   Brecht – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 2018. Presented at Studio 81 and at JNU and Janki Devi Memorial College

   The Spectres of Shakespeare (reweaves the magic of Tempest, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth) - Studio 81 and Housefull shows in collaboration with IHC at the Stein Auditorium, 2017, 18.

   Brecht - The Goodperson Setzuan - Studio 81 and Housefull shows in collaboration with IHC at the Stein Auditorium, February 2020.

    

   Presentation of original scripts

   The Story of Meera – 1995

   Call her a Witch - 1996

   Mannequins – 1997. Major project, picked by UNIFEM and NACO for sensitisation against trafficking of teenage women.

   She’s MAD – 1997. Minor project, with Shaktishalini and FORE Foundation on Women’s Mental Health and its abuse in cases of marital violence

   Veils – 1998 - 2001 Major project. Commissioned by HRD Ministry (total funding over 8 lakhs, more than 300 shows and workshops). Intervention on laws against rape and their faulty implementation

   (K)nots – 2000

   Cleansing – 2002, presented in January at the CTW - Manchester, 2002

   Not Inside Us – 2004

   Margins – 2006

   Danger Zones – 2007

   The Curse Conquered – 2008

   Jab We Elect – February 2009

   Wed-Lock – June 2009

   Sarkari Feminism - 2010.

   Offtrack - 2012

   Seven - 2015, Readings of the internationally acclaimed play Seven in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jammu and Delhi as part of a major gender sensitisation campaign by the American Centre and the American Embassy

   Crooked Kala(a)m - 2016

   Ismat’s Love Stories - 2017 Collaborative shows with India Habitat Centre and India International Centre. Presented at Studio 81

   SAADAT HASAN MANTO: PAGALEYAN DA SARDAR remarkable reception in Delhi, including a houseful show at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre on the 12th of January 2019. Premiered Studio 81, September 2018

    

   Cyber theatre

   Odet. Till the Day I Die July 2020

   Sophie Treadwell Machinal September 2020