Meet the Playwright!

Hello Readers! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Mine felt extra special this year, as I spent part of it with the Chitra family. Almost a year and a half in the making, the play is finally coming alive on stage. We had a first full run of the play, and it was pure joy.

Today, l’d like to introduce you to our playwright, Avantika Shankar.

Avantika Shankar is a writer based in Mumbai, India. She comes from a family that is dedicated to the arts, and grew up knowing she wanted to be a writer. She pursued her passion for the performing arts and writing with a degree in Dramatic Writing at NYU. Her Indian heritage, coupled with her exposure to American theatre arts practices has allowed her the unique opportunity to showcase Indian stories to Western audiences. Indeed, one of her first assignments after graduating was a collaboration with Anita Menon in 2014: “Murder on the Ganges." Avantika scripted "Chitra: The Girl Prince" at a writer's workshop in Goa, India led by one of India’s premier playwrights, Mahesh Dattani, where she gained the insight she needed to adapt Rabindranath Tagore's rather formidable "Chitrangada". Besides plays, Avantika writes about lifestyle, culture and travel for various publications. She is a regular contributor to Architectural Digest India.

Her words and her vision of Chitra is truly exceptional. I loved her interpretation of Tagore’s Chitrangada, and I am sure, you will too. Read on for a special interview with our playwright!

Q: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Maybe a fun fact or something we don't already know about you!

Avantika: This is kind of tough, I have to admit—I don’t know if I know myself well enough yet to be qualified to answer this! Just kidding! Well one thing that isn’t in my bio, because it isn’t relevant to my professional career, but which is a very important part of my life, is that I love sports—all kinds. I swim and run, play tennis, I recently took up golf for a second, and do some lifting at the gym—being active is definitely a priority for me. Fun fact: I didn’t know how to ride a cycle until about two years ago. But now I try to ride every chance I get (which isn’t often, because the city I live in is your typical traffic-infested metropolis, but when I am on holiday I make it a point to cycle every once in a while).

Q: Can you describe your experience working with NWCT, especially with Anita and Sarah? How did you come to collaborate? How was the collaborative experience? How different was it from other projects that you have undertaken?

A: I was in Portland for about four months in 2014. I was living with my lovely aunt and uncle, Kay and Ketan (to whom I owe more than I can express!), and they were the ones who introduced me to Anita (Anita’s husband and my uncle had worked together once, if I am not mistaken). Anita happened to be developing Murder on the Ganges at the time, and we met for coffee and sort of brainstormed ideas for the play—and she was kind enough to give me a chance at writing the script! I suppose I did a decent job, because a couple years later, Anita introduced me to Sarah Jane and they brought me on board for Chitra.

I consider Anita and Sarah Jane my mentors. They gave me my first ever chance to be a playwright, and are still sort of holding my hand as I navigate this new terrain. Working with NWCT was absolutely great, everyone is super warm and kind and welcoming and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be allowed to be a small part of this community.

Q: What was your first experience of Tagore's version of Chitrangada? Did you consider the context of Tagore’s work or focus more on the context you are writing it today?

A: This is a slightly tricky question—because the truth is (I strongly believe this, I don’t know whether that makes it qualify as “the truth” but let’s roll with it)—the context in which you read a text, any text, whether it’s the Iliad or whether it’s the latest airport paperback spy thriller, IS the context of the text. It’s sort of impossible to read Tagore’s original outside of the context of today—at a time when gender identity, gender expression and traditional gender roles are finally being talked about, explored, questioned, and laid claim to. The conversations are constantly in the air, they’re in my head, so it’s impossible to ignore that when you read the play, or when you adapt it for the modern-day audience.

That being said, I think Tagore was far ahead of his time. There is something so deeply poignant about his writing, he lets the audience experience their own interpretation of who Chitra really is—what her dilemma really signifies. It is more than just a conflict of gender identity—it has to do with desire and duty. I think, for me, Chitra’s problem of identity—the fact that she has to choose between one future and another, based on who she chooses to be, as a person—was very real, as it probably is for everybody at some point in their lives. I think people can really relate to that.

Q: How was your experience work-shopping this play with one of India's premier playwrights Mahesh Dattani? How did his insight and guidance help you?

A: I spent four days work-shopping the script at a writer’s residency in a lovely bungalow in Goa, along with nine other very talented writers, under Mahesh’s guidance. Mahesh is probably one of the finest teachers I’ve had the fortune to work with. He was able to blend Western theatre theory with Eastern and Indian theatre philosophies so seamlessly—which was sort of perfect for the play that I was working on, and the audience I was working for. Structure is so, so, so important and so, so, so easy to get wrong—but Mahesh really pushed us to get to the crux of our story and mold it so that it was being told in the best possible way. What’s more, he encouraged open dialogue and feedback, and the other writers at the residency really helped me hone the script as well. I think I got more real work done in those four days than at any other point in my writing process!

Q: Anita said she really enjoyed meeting with Mahesh and you and listening to Mahesh talk about Rasa Theory as codified in the Natya Shastra (the ancient Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts). Could you give us a brief background on some of the similarities and differences between Eastern and Western Theatrical practices and how "Chitra" combines a bit of both?

A: Well, I am not an expert on this, and for fear of saying something that isn’t necessarily accurate, I am going to stick to what my experience of Western and Eastern theatrical practices has been, rather than what the similarities and differences are—I think over the past several hundred years (possibly more!) they’ve probably influenced each other a fair bit anyway.

So the Natya Shastra was a Sanskrit text written by Bharata Muni in some 200 BCE or so, and has a number of (sometimes contradictory) interpretations by various scholars, but the basic principle is that of “rasa”, which means essence. And so a lot of my work with Indian theatre practices has to do with the essence, or core, of the story, of the emotion that propels it. The work is very personal, very internal. Western practices are all about structure and form—a character is motivated by choices and a writer presents the character with the right—or rather, most provocative—choices at the right time, to tell the story in the most effective way.

To look specifically at Chitra: There is anger in Chitra, and fear and sadness—that is her internal conflict, that is the conflict I have written into her. It expresses itself as rage—it motivates her to fight, sometimes too much, sometimes with the wrong people (poor Raje!) But then there’s Arjun—he’s the guy, the catalyst, if you will, that she can’t fight, that forces her to confront that rage and fear and sadness for what it is. And really, you can’t have an emotion that isn’t expressed through an active, physical, perceivable choice—this play can’t just be a series of heartfelt monologues—but those choices need to come from somewhere. They’re not floating, empty choices. They’re propelled by an underlying emotion. And they’re not evident emotions, but they’re there. The audience may not see them, they may not be able to verbalize them or identify them. But they’ll recognize those choices, those patterns of choices, for what they are, and that’s when the character becomes familiar, closer to home.

Q: Can you give me some insight on your creative process? What is your vision of the project? Ultimate goal? Is there a message you like to convey while writing a play?

A: Creative process is a heavy term—I wish I had something as structured as a process that I followed as a rule, but I really don’t. It depends, really on the manner of story I am trying to tell, and on where my roadblocks are, which are unique to every project I work on. First, of course, I read the original play. And then Mahesh’s workshop really helped get me on track in terms of identifying the core elements of my story—what the story was about, so to speak—and establishing a basic structure. I think getting the structure, the bones of the play, is really important—you’re basically giving yourself a guideline, or, if you’re prone to wandering off on tangents like me, you’re putting yourself in a leash so you don’t stray too far away from the essence of your story. And there is character work—who is this? What do they want here? Why are they going about it like this, rather than that? As I write dialogue I sort of put on a voice and say the words out loud—sometimes even an accent helps! You can’t really do that in a coffee shop or library, though, or you may be politely asked to leave. Again, vision and goal are heavy terms—my motivation, the thing that pushes me to put one foot in front of the other, type one word after another, is that there’s a story I want to tell, and I’m looking for the best possible way to tell it. At the end of the day, the message is whatever the audience wants it to be. The story is simply a vehicle for the audience to do that work—to live those experiences, to conquer those dilemmas—for themselves.

Q: Adapting an epic story for modern day audiences is no easy task - what were some of the guiding principles that helped you along the way?

A: It is indeed tough to adapt an epic story for a modern audience—more so because I am adapting it for an audience that isn’t from the culture of the original story. In India, the Mahabharata and Arjun are part of the cultural consciousness, they need no introduction. Now I’ve got to introduce Arjun—to create that cultural baggage that surrounds him, in a story that isn’t even about him. And then of course the play deals with a lot of very mature themes—I could spend a lifetime adapting the play for different audiences, different communities, it’s so rich, it has so much nuance and complexity within it, it’s amazing. So I had to pick and choose what was relevant to the story I wanted to tell—and for that I of course needed to identify what it was that my play, my Chitra, was going to be about. And stories are universal, they defy culture and context. As long as you work backwards, bones first, you’re going in the right direction.

Q: In talking with Anita & Sarah, they both think that you are uniquely qualified to write this play. Chitra: The Girl Prince is an Indian play by an Indian author but written not for Indian audiences but for NWCT's mainstream audiences comprising of children of all ages. What were some of the techniques you used to bridge time and culture?

A: When a story is good enough, universal enough, it is in and of itself the bridge between time and culture—so you do justice to the story, and the rest sort of follows. I’ve lived in the States enough to know what is and isn’t instinctive cultural knowledge, so I know when to step back and explain something and I also know when to give the audience credit and say, “Maybe they’ll get that this is what this means, so let’s leave this here with zero explanation”. And readings, and regular feedback help as well!

Q: Both Anita & Sarah are so excited that you will be here for the opening of the show. How are you feeling about seeing your words on paper come to life?

A: Nervous, thrilled, excited, terrified!

Q: Are there any other thoughts that you have that you would like to share?

A: Not really—these questions were great! Thanks

It was truly wonderful getting to know Avantika and listen to her talk about Chitra. Can’t wait to meet her in person. She will be here for the opening weekend, and I am sure, you will love her too!

How amazing is Avantika?! We can't wait for Chitra to open open on February 3rd! I have already got my tickets, do you? They are available online at nwcts.org or by calling the box office at 503-222-2190. Until next time!