When Drama and Theatre Become a Chaltā Boltā Vidyāpīth

The new semester is already underway, and my classes would begin soon. I am really looking forward to meeting students and getting some conversations started.

This semester, I will be teaching two courses at FLAME University: 'Introduction to Drama and Theatre' and 'Globalisation and Contemporary Theatre in India'.

I have always felt that drama and theatre are a kind of chaltā boltā vidyāpīth, a living university. You enter through a play, a character, a story or a performance, and before you know it, you are talking about history, politics, society, language, philosophy, psychology, design, technology, memory and much more.

That is what excites me about discussing and teaching drama/theatre in a liberal education setting.

For me, it is not necessarily about learning how to act, direct or produce a play. It is also a practice of thinking, writing, visualising and imagining. A play can become a way of asking questions. A character can offer another way of seeing the world. A performance can open up questions about a society, a history or a culture.

This is where interdisciplinarity becomes interesting. Letting a folk tradition from one region change how we think about contemporary theatre somewhere else. Letting literature meet music, design, anthropology, history or science.

My own practice has moved between writing, theatre, translation, research and teaching, often between Marathi and English. Over time, I have found that creative work and research are not really two separate activities. When I write, translate, watch a performance or work through an idea, I am also researching, asking questions and discovering things I did not know before.

I hope to bring some of this into the classroom.

And then there is 'parakaya pravesh' (परकाया प्रवेश). What happens when we step outside our own little frame and try to see the world from someone else's position? Theatre gives us a wonderful possibility of inhabiting another character, another situation, another way of seeing. Perhaps that is one of its quiet lessons in empathy and curiosity.

In a world where so much of our communication happens through screens, there is something precious about sitting in a room with other people, talking, listening, disagreeing and making things together.

So, I am looking forward to the questions, unexpected connections, disagreements, strange ideas, and all the “achha, but what if...?” moments that make teaching worthwhile.

Most of all, I am looking forward to meeting the students and beginning these new conversations.

Let's see where they take us.

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