For the creation of a theatrical production that explores the position of women, roles of women characters and streevesha (female impersonation) within the male-dominated practice of Yakshagana. Drawing from research and personal experience, the performance imagines a reversal of roles in the popular Yakshagana plot of Draupadi Vastrapaharana, thereby exploring the conflicts around tradition, gender, power and morality inherent in the form. The performance is scheduled to premiere in Udupi in November 2015.
For a series of workshop processes conducted by a theatre group to explore and create a methodology of physical alphabets for theatre. The workshops will experiment with nonverbal explorations of textual themes and integrate them in the process of theatre-making. The outcome will be a detailed documentation of the processes that includes everyday rehearsal notes, photographs and audio-visual material.
For working with students at the Kuvempu Centenary Government Higher Primary School in Chikkaballapur District to create a local integrated workbook on language and mathematics drawing from the children’s everyday life experiences.
For a graphic novel, an exhibition and an animation film, each conceived from a different perspective, developed on the concept of a futuristic city that embodies a perfect marriage between religion, politics and big business serving the consumerist dream. Instead of panels, the graphic novel will have single-page illustrations with no text.
For an inter-disciplinary collaborative work towards creating a musical cartography of Mumbai. Tracing the emergence of a distinct pedagogy and public engagement with music, the project seeks to understand the trajectory of Hindustani music in Mumbai through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially through a study of the city’s built spaces and neighbourhoods. The outcome will include a workshop, an exhibition and a few performances.
For facilitating a group of eighth and ninth standard pupils of the Government High School, Kundapur, Dakshina Kannada district, to explore all elements of poetry. The projects aims to draw up a selection of poems from within and outside the curriculum, to be read, de-constructed, analysed and understood. Experts from the field will be invited to help explore the possibility of translating the poems to performance pieces. The production will be showcased in the school for its extended community.
For a series of arts-based interventions to encourage children to heighten their creative writing skills while developing visual sensibilities, leading to the production of a book by the pupils of the Government Higher Primary School, Kannamangala, Chikkaballapur district.
For facilitating a series of workshops on Doddata, a folk performance form of north Karnataka, for the children of the Government High School, Jakanapalli, Gulbarga. They will be conducted by local troupes who will be invited to the school for performances, presentations and discussion on a regular basis to train the children in all aspects of the form such as recitals, acting, costume and property design and stage craft among others. This will lead to a performance and an exhibition by the children for the local community.
For a performance piece based on research into the life of the Malayalam poet Kadamanitta Ramakrishnan Nair, and into the ritual performance form of Kerala called Padayani. Essentially a musical, the performance will also combine elements of theatre and visual arts in creating a multidimensional artistic experience.
For a series of short animation films based on the life and music of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. The project explores early sound recording technology and the artist's life within that techno-social moment in history. The project will result in animation works and installations that combine archival material with pieces of obsolete technology such as old cameras and gramophone players.
