Documentary Theatre in India: Assembling Publics, Performing Politics - Paperback

by Anuja Ghosalkar (Editor), Kai Tuchmann (Editor)

This unique volume presents the undocumented practices and histories of Documentary Theatre in India. Set against India's contested political landscape, where legal documents determine one's life, the contributors highlight the relevance of Documentary Theatre, challenging dominant concepts and offering new frameworks for understanding its cultural significance. Essays, conversations, and creative contributions from renowned scholars and artists from India and beyond are complemented with practical theatre exercises - making this volume a vital resource for academics and anyone interested in the potential of theatre. With contributions from YS Alone, Rustom Bharucha, Zuleikha Chaudhari, and others.

Author Biography

Anuja Ghosalkar (Edited by)
Anuja Ghosalkar is a theatre practitioner and founder of Drama Queen, a documentary theatre company in India since 2015. Her multi-disciplinary practice combines performance, visual arts, and critical inquiry, focusing on little histories, archival lapses, counter-narratives, and questions around gender and transnational collaborations. Based in Bangalore, her work has been showcased globally from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the Meta Lab at Harvard, to the Frascati theatre in Amsterdam and various theatres in Berlin. She has collaborated with award winning theatre companies like Gob Squad Collective and Flinnworks.

Kai Tuchmann (Edited by)
Kai Tuchmann graduated in directing from Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin. He works as a dramaturge, director, and academic. His internationally showcased documentary theatre explores themes like the afterlife of China's Cultural Revolution, urbanization's impact on migrant workers, and the body's role in digital contexts. His works have been featured at renowned festivals and venues such as Zürcher Theaterspektakel, Kunstfest Weimar, Festival d'Automne Paris, and documenta institute. He has served as a visiting professor at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, where he co-developed the BA Dramaturgy program. A Fulbright Scholar, he researched dramaturgy at CUNY's Graduate Center and worked as a curator for the Ludics Seminar at Harvard University.