Maya Rao and Indian Feminist Theatre

Description

Maya Rao, performer, performance maker and feminist, has not only contributed to Indian feminist theatre, but is a trailblazer, who set new standards in solo performances, mapped an alternate career trajectory for women in theatre and, in the face of right-wing state repression in India, has engaged significantly in performance activism. This Element looks back at her early career in the 1980s when she was creating agit prop theatre for the feminist movement and forward to her performance activism in the twenty-first century, with detailed attention to Rao's acclaimed protest Walk, and her participation in the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The study also encompasses her parallel work in the theatre, from early collaborations with feminist directors to her solo projects. The author traces her creative-political journey towards an egalitarian feminist future. Cover Title page Copyright page Maya Rao and Indian Feminist Theatre Contents 1 Introduction 2 Women on the Streets: The Feminist Movement and Agitprop Theatre 2.1 Women’s Movement, Public Campaigns, and Agitprop: Om Swaha 2.2 Reception, Mobilization, and the Public Campaign 2.3 Critique of the Women’s Movement and Continuing Violence 2.4 Campaign against Sexual Violence and Dafa 180 3 Walk and Its Multiple Trajectories 3.1 Walk, a Performance Strategy 3.2 The LGBTQ Movement and a New Version of Walk: 377 Ways to Love 3.3 Back in JNU: Walk out Sedition 4 Performing Dissent As Citizens of Democracy 4.1 Performance Activism and Communal Violence 4.2 Citizenship, Protests, and Shaheen Bagh 4.3 Maya Rao in Solidarity 5 Feminist Theatre Practice and Maya Rao’s Solo Performances 5.1 Locating and Identifying Feminist Theatre 5.2 Narrating Stories from History and the Epics 5.3 Solo Shows and the Performer 5.4 To Start Feeling Good Is to Feel Bad 6 Conclusion 6.1 Pandemic Postscript References Acknowledgements