Beyond Bhasha

Shradha Raj is an actor, theatre maker and theatre facilitator from Bangalore. She is a graduate of Theatre studies, English literature and Psychology. She has worked with several theatre institutions such as Bengaluru’s Ranga Shankara, Outside the March- Canada, Thespo India and others to name a few. Most of her previous work is centered around Caste, Gender and Sex. She believes that the world runs on Stories and Collaboration.

Psychologist by day. Poet by twilight. Asleep by midnight.

Shweta Bhat has been many things in her short life – software professional, workplace trainer, writer, counsellor, theatre artist and poet. She prefers to be a Jill of some trades and a Mistress of some. Above all, she believes in doing everything out of love.

Shweta works with the NGO SASHA as a consultant and advisor for workplaces in the area of sexual harassment prevention. She also performs playback theatre with Bangalore-based group ‘citylamps’ and is an improviser and teacher with No Pressure Improv. She can be found online @shwetabhatpoetry.

Rashmi is a theatre director and facilitator. The intersection of Kannada and English theatre as well as that of playback and proscenium theatre is an area that she loves working with. She also has a background in psychology, which she often uses as a tool in playmaking. She is artistic director of jijji productions, one of the co-founders of citylamps playback theatre and works as a corporate facilitator at Navgati.

She has directed two plays for the Rangashankara youth festival and was awarded the gender bender grant by Sandbox Collective and Max Muller Bhavan in 2020. She has also performed in over 75 playback and improvisation performances. She is drawn to Gender, Mental health and Absurdism in performance

Padmavati Rao is an actor, writer, director, translator and poet. As an actor she has worked in Kannada, Hindi, English, Marathi and recently even in Malayalam and Tamil cinema. Her most recent release is a film titled Miniaturist of Junagadh which won critical acclaim at international film festivals and in India. Her solo theatre show Kitchen Poems was shown at the prestigious Theatre Olympics in 2018. Padmavati is also a filmmaker, storyteller, puppet maker and puppeteer. She has authored text books on Life Skills Through Theatre and trains teachers to use theatre in the classroom. She has worked with teachers of private and government schools from around the country in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Lakshadweep and in communities in the Himalayas. She hopes to make theatre more accessible across age groups and geographies. In the last eight years her focus is on villages just outside Bangalore for a start where she endeavours to do and promote natural farming, arts and crafts.

Originally from Kundapura, Shodhan trained at NINASAM Theatre Institute, Heggodu in 2012-13. He toured with NINASAM’s traveling troupe across Karnataka for two years while working with various theatre companies simultaneously. He has also appeared in films and television series and is presently associated with Jangama Collective, Bangalore.

Sathwik is an actor, writer and theatre-maker. His work lies in the intersection of theatre, community engagement and education. He has written, translated, directed and produced plays in Kannada and English. Recipient of Inlaks Scholarship 2018, he has an MA in Writing for Performance and Dramaturgy from Goldsmiths, University of London. He is currently working as the Director of Buguri Children’s Program, a community library project by Hasiru Dala.

M K Abhilash is a writer and poet from Bangalore. He is convinced that his ideas come from staring at the ceiling fan of his room for long hours.

Bharath is a second year B.A. student at Government First Grade College in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru. He spends his time reading, writing poems, and making charcoal pencil art.

Prabuddha Anupama has a Master’s Degree in Commerce. She began writing poems in the 5th grade as a hobby, and has been doing it actively since 2019. She is deeply influenced by B. R. Ambedkar, which comes through in her writing. 

Divyashree is a first generation student from Adarante, a small village in Sagara Taluk. She is pursuing her Master’s Degree in English at St. Joseph’s University. She is a voracious reader and writes in Kannada.

Devaraj Chikanalli is an engineering graduate. He juggles many roles, including making films, writing poetry and freelancing as a language specialist.

Naveen Tejaswi is a filmmaker from Hosabale, Shivamogga. He is a writer, filmmaker, lyricist, photographer and editor. He has written and directed the short films Habba Haridina Suggi Shivarathri, Bidugade and Vadyana. His award-winning films have been screened at international festivals in India, Russia and USA.