Life Stories

What a terrific evening of Bengali and English language theatre. The Kushilob theatre company in Delaware, I know from past experience, doesn’t shy away from Realist plays that address topical dilemmas and social issues, but their performance in Wilmington on on 6/19/22, part of an evening of 3 short plays in collaboration with Epic Actors’ Workshop (NJ) and Ebong TheatriX (DC) entitled “Theater in Life,” was a bold endeavor.

When I go to sleep haunted by the show I’ve seen, still turning it over in my mind, I know I’ve experienced a night of great theatre with a purpose to challenge our assumptions, not reassure us. We have Hollywood and Broadway for that. As has been said by others more elegantly over the years, I know something has truth in it if it troubles me, and all of these shows had that impact.

Evoking for me everything from Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls… and

The Indian Farmers’ Strike in 90 Seconds

Photo via Al Jazeera

My US Bengali friends’ theatre company Kushilob put together a series of online theatrical shorts reacting to, and explaining, the massive farmers strike currently happening in India. You probably saw protest footage and tear gas on CNN or glimpsed it in the New York Times but perhaps aren’t exactly sure what the fuss is about.  The full Kushilob video is here on YouTube. Most of the pieces are in Bengali so for my other friends here’s what the Indian farmers strike is about in 90 seconds.  “Salt of the Earth” features Bedatanu Banerjee and me:

Feel free to share either of these vids with anyone anywhere. Thanks.

UPDATE: 10 MONTHS LATER…

November 19, 2021:

WOO HOO!