Event Dates – April 24 – May 03-2026 Venue – Hammer Theatre, San Jose State University Adapted by – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti and Dr. Matthew Spangler Directed by – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti Event Website Synopsis from SJSU.edu – What happens when a kingdom built on rigid rules and fragile power collides with the forces of laughter, desire, and rebellion? Originally penned in 1933 by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Kingdom of Cards is a darkly whimsical and poetic satire that challenges authoritarianism, blind conformity, and materialistic greed. In this bold new…
Songs for Many Lives
Event Dates – October 26-2025 Venue – Pear Theater, Mountain View, CA Performed by – Sruti Sarathy, Roopa Mahadevan, Erika Oba, Vishaal Sapuram, Rohan Krishnamurthy Devised and Directed by – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti Event Website “Let’s sing a tillana, let’s sing this sweet raga so that better times may flower from now, so that we can welcome justness and friendship.” Synopsis from Event website – Songs for Many Lives creates new Carnatic compositions inspired by stories of South Asian immigration to North America. These songs reflect not only the successes…
Masala Dabba
Event Dates – August 29 – September 14-2025 Venue – Lankershim Arts Center, LA Playwright – Wendy Graf Directed by – Marya Mazor Cultural Consultant – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti ICT long Beach Event Website Stage RAW Event Website Broadway World Event Website NOHA Arts District Event Website Synopsis from Event website – Secrets, lies and unresolved conflicts play out against a background of familial memories of food and cooking in Masala Dabba, a deeply felt family drama where food is love, loss and a portal into the past. Long buried…
What’s Your Story, Telling Stories of the Desi Diaspora
Event Dates – May 03-2025 Venue – Hammer Theatre, San Jose State University Devised and Directed by – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti Event Website Synopsis from SJSU.edu – What is home? Where is home? What are the stories of home? How do we carry our stories from home? What’s your story?: Telling Stories of the Desi Diaspora is a devised performance, crafted to examine the representation of the diasporic experience, particularly of the desi community, in order to document the evolution of the American landscape, bring to light stories that have…
Cowboys and East Indians
Event Dates – May 2025 Venue – Arkansas New Play Festival Adapted by – Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler Cultural Consultant – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti Event Website Broadway World Colorado Synopsis from Event Website – Artistic Statement: Cowboys and East Indians is co-adapted by Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler from Nina’s award-winning collection of short stories by the same name. It follows the Sen family – the parents immigrated from India to Wyoming, where their daughter, Lucky, is born and raised – as they grapple with expectations, belonging, and the…
The Yoga Play
Event Dates – March 21, 22, 23-2024 Venue – Hal Todd Theatre, San Jose State University Written by – Dipika Guha Directed by – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti Event Website Synopsis – Supported by the College of Humanities & the Arts’ Artistic Excellence Programming Grant, The Yoga Play follows the character of Joan as she attempts to save an athleisure company on the brink of disaster. After doing damage control when the former CEO is accused of fat-shaming women, Joan discovers that there is more fire she has to fight to…
Public Obscenities – Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2024
February 15 – April 09, 2023. Off-Broadway Production – Soho Rep, New York City Written and Directed – Shayok Misha Chowdhury. Cultural Dramaturg – Sukanya Chakrabarti. Pulitzer Prize finalist 2024 Soho Rep Event Page Public Obscenities is a bilingual play from writer-director Shayok Misha Chowdhury about the things we see, the things we miss, and the things that turn us on. Public Obscenities is produced by Soho Repertory Theatre and the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) through the NAATCO National Partnership Project. Reviews Juan A Ramirez, New York Times,…
In-Between Worlds: Performing [as] Bauls in an Age of Extremism – Book Release
Written by Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti. Published November 25, 2022 by Routledge. 248 Pages 39 B/W Illustrations Book Listing on Routledge website Book Description This book examines the performance of Bauls, ‘folk’ performers from Bengal, in the context of a rapidly globalizing Indian economy and against the backdrop of extreme nationalistic discourses. Recognizing their scope beyond the musical and cultural realm, Sukanya Chakrabarti engages in discussing the subversive and transformational potency of Bauls and their performances. In-Between Worlds argues that the Bauls through their musical, spiritual, and cultural performances offer ‘joy’…
Review of Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings
Asian Theatre Journal, Volume 39, Number 2, Fall 2022, pp. 428-432, Published by University of Hawai’i Press Dr. Chakrabarti reviews Ananda Lal’s Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings Excerpt: Ananda Lal’s Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings fills a critical lacuna in the study of Indian theatre history while offering insights into the complexities and challenges of archiving book history in an Indian postcolonial context, as Lal notes the “absence of a culture of methodical library acquisition” (p. 9) in his introduction. Contrary to what a disorganized and sparsely recorded…