https://www.devikaranjan.com/performance daily 0.75 2024-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1634092248887-VVYDCC24EYWWIOSLHW1J/YT_600x400-FINAL+%283%29.jpg performance - Yours Truly (director, with Albany Park Theater Project) Yours Truly is an immersive theater experience through the mail. Audience members received 5 letters from a fictional pen pal over the course of 3 months, getting to intimately know the life of a Filipina teenager in Albany Park — and a secret she discovers. Chicago, USA, March - June 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078273878-CIPKC3PM6G1GJ87Y3J6E/GW_0455-1-770x512.jpg performance - GENERATION WH(Y) (deviser, performer) Generation (Wh)Y is an immersive theatrical experience of innovative multi-media performances. Using intimate live performances as well as web-based technology and social media platforms, this theatrical event will move through multiple spaces exploring real experiences from global voices and the poetry of everyday life. Click here for a video of the performance. Washington, DC, USA, April 2014 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1634700930141-0DEVG32D08NRDVLVFBQJ/IMG_7088.jpg performance - Homework (playwright, director) HOMEWORK is an immersive ethnographic performance at the Migration Museum in London, telling real and fictionalized stories of individuals who have been displaced by conflicts in Africa. This piece was commissioned by the Windle Trust. Learn more about the process of creating Homework. London, UK, July 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543077051690-36K431VKK6LOBL6W5GYT/IMG_8625.JPG performance - The Soldier’s Tale (playwright, adaptor, director) This new adaptation of THE SOLDIER'S TALE reimagines Stravinsky's classic score in the context of drone warfare. Through this immersive performance featuring the testimony of drone operators and strike survivors, the audience is asked to consider: is it worth it? How many soldiers are saved? How many civilians are killed? Click here for more about The Soldier’s Tale. London, UK, November 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078315627-IVZ9YHXZ2XU5LJFVSE4T/IMG_0945+%281%29.jpg performance - Ever After (writer, director) The Andover High School entry to the Triton Regional Play Festival in 2013, EVER AFTER is a fairy tale, boy-meets-girl parody. Riffing off of storied tropes, the full-length play features love and misadventure in a small American town. Triton, USA, February 2013 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/4f71f017-3a21-4e20-99d9-f189554c7626/Screen+Shot+2024-03-27+at+11.10.34+AM.png performance - Port of entry (director, with Albany Park Theater Project and Third Rail Projects) Port of Entry invites you to step inside the real-life stories of immigrants and refugees from all parts of the world living side by side in a single apartment building in one of the country’s most diverse immigrant communities: Chicago’s Albany Park. Each performance of Port of Entry welcomes just 28 audience members into an iconic courtyard apartment building meticulously recreated within a 1929 warehouse. With each step through this 3-story immersive world, guests will experience the struggles, joys, and triumphs of people from around the globe forging new lives alongside one another. July 2023 - ongoing! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1497928113774-AYSE8AZ6H5XCKWSW5DXK/IMG_0113+%281%29.jpg performance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078194922-BNI3JMEEHAMH6XIYM57Q/IMG_9783.JPG performance - Reach Zero (director) REACH ZERO, by Griffen Hoyle, is a piece of new writing that explores stories of individuals during the Hawaii false missile alert in January 2018. This current and timely piece offers us a funny, dark, and very relatable view of the end of the world. London, UK, October 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078346784-EMKI1WARQBHPQSA7W4EU/23551004_1753677438007411_6582707241756001072_o.jpg performance - ROOTS (writer) ROOTS, the winner of the Donn B. Murphy Playwriting Contest in spring 2017, and the play was produced at Georgetown University in the fall of 2017 as the center piece of the Donn B. Murphy One-Act Festival. It is a social satire about four women who regularly meet in a garden, envying each other and harboring secrets. Washington, DC, USA, October 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078171067-AWUSH7K1LN9DQ95OCCGW/image-asset.jpeg performance - i Pledge Allegiance (writer, deviser, with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics) I Pledge Allegiance: An Immigrant Anthology is a play that explores “American identity” from the perspective of immigrants. We seek to challenge notions of nationalism in the present global context and ask the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” by also attempting to break down how Americanness is constructed. Click here for more about I Pledge Allegiance, including a video. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1579465031823-WH0G7JVELYWE5ROW4SN9/191103ARTProcFreedomActPER-014-scaled.jpg performance - Freedom Acts (playwright, dramaturg, with American Repertory Theater) Proclamation is a program for high school students through the American Repertory Theater. The show tackles questions of what hypocrisies and contradictions exist in what we think of as American freedom, who has access to the American Dream, and where do we go from here. Photo by Gretjen Helene. Cambridge, USA, November 2019 https://www.devikaranjan.com/about daily 0.75 2025-04-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/2e455a80-b164-491e-af47-95801a1d9c67/62FB80E6-039D-4C57-8D6B-D5892C587691.JPG About Photo: Mercedes Zapata. https://www.devikaranjan.com/prose daily 0.75 2022-05-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499702313562-C4I449XHNYE6QCADUYDI/IMG_5449.jpg Prose - Citizen diplomacy: international artists speak on cultural ambassadorship Citizen Diplomacy: International Artists Speak On Cultural Ambassadorship for SixByEight Press July 2017 "As a facilitator, I am careful to check my own opinions; I know that my outsider suggestions may be culturally inappropriate or otherwise damaging to the group. After all, the theatre is not for my benefit, but for the well-being of a healthy community. I think the same respect should be allotted wherever I go, whether I am doing theatre or not. In order to open myself to the experiences of a new place, I aim to listen in order to understand local customs, attitudes, and judgments without taking up too much space in the conversation. Of course, this is particularly salient in conflict zones, but applicable in any other situation as well." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1528381841520-JY65HAPQ4AT9NQK5S1LP/IMG_4810.jpg Prose - Theatre of Witness and Resistance July 2017 For Arts and International Affairs, Institute for International Cultural Relations "In the safety of the workshop, the women acted out possible options to resist domestic violence. Sachita1 beat up the husband; Paro asked the village chief to intervene; Sneha took the husband to the hospital; Madhuri called Prime Minister Modi to ban liquor in the entire country. Their energy rose as they tested out each possibility, but none of these options seemed feasible. How can theatre hold up to such extreme and daily violence? What was the point?" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1528382937374-38MWUNY8BHB4IS38FVCE/1uad8h533hn4urgi.jpg Prose - What we can learn from student activism for the Marshall Scholarship Blog February 2018 "As staff and students have been picketing against the pension cuts for weeks, the fence is not only a pun but a thoughtful critique of current socio-economic conditions. It invites passers-by—including the thousands of tourists who visit Cambridge—to re-evaluate the Western dream of a ‘white picket fence’: a house, two cars, a marriage with kids, all protected by the ubiquitous wooden barrier." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499702008746-0Y3AXFQBHM7H3WMB5TY0/image-asset.jpeg Prose - The colored museum: a play on the struggle of cultural identity for the Berkley Center for Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs March 20, 2015 "I’ve learned that we all carry contradictions. I am Hindu, Indian, American, a woman, a Georgetown student. I eat beef. I watch trashy television. I don’t say my prayers enough—or maybe I say them too much. Every day, these contradictions challenge me. And because of daily experiences and satirical works such as The Colored Museum, I have learned to meditate on these contradictions." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1508858432803-3PW609T4SSPO20T7O4NZ/MG_0036-copy-1024x683.jpg Prose - The creative process of i pledge allegiance THE CREATIVE PROCESS FOR “I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE” for Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service October 2017 "It is said that Minerva’s owl flies highest in the night– especially in these dark times, theatre and art helps us to understand the chaos around us. Another etymology: the word for “theatre” comes from the Greek root of “seeing something from a different place.” It compels the audience member (and the performer) to travel in their understanding… to foster empathy by witnessing experience." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1497925539716-GT6TIQQJB8PBYCOW8ITM/img_3930.jpg Prose - gladly Beyond personal travel and research blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1497926244321-L9HLS40VFO7FQ3OQQ11V/image-asset.jpeg Prose - The Ethics of Storytelling for Office of Campus Ministry, Georgetown University April 25, 2017 "Despite the conference theme, Voices Across Borders, the attendees were a fairly homogenous crowd: white, Baby Boomers, career storytellers. They told true tales about crossing racial or socioeconomic lines to help—read: save—black, brown, or otherwise vulnerable communities. While I admire the work of a female Chaplain in a maximum-security prison and am grateful for the protection that wealthy Chicago Christians afforded their local mosques after 9/11, I am disappointed to hear the same, dominant narratives: white people saving their disenfranchised neighbors, speaking up for the voiceless. But it’s not that people of color cannot defend or advocate for themselves—rather, the problem is that society does not listen and dismisses the validity of their stories. Structures like these enforce a suppression of narrative." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1528383069075-XIR7ERUBFBATHPK2JDFT/1_Q60fSCKuSTMH5gT21hH6eA.jpeg Prose - artistic statement for the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics February 2018 "Within my artistic practice, I hope to do this duty for a wider community of underrepresented narratives. Stemming from my own history and work with individuals from worldwide conflict zones, I tell the story of the Other — the people who are too often essentialized, ignored, or otherwise marginalized. My focus is on refugees, migrants, and other nomadic peoples because migration, which is often made into a political issue, is actually deeply personal." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1497926199545-YKLH48ZHCGURSELV3L4S/DSC_0831.JPG Prose - I Pledge allegiance: the birth of a Performance for The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics May 17, 2017 "I came of age between 9/11 and the Trump administration, when being brown — and an immigrant — was something of suspect. I wonder who I am in this era and what it means for me, and my family, and my classmates, to be American — more than being citizens, or voting, or filing taxes, what does it mean for us to be American? How could I engage with a country that rejects me and the things that I believe in? To what do I pledge allegiance?" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/ebf181b7-a70c-43f1-b0be-bcd251b08b27/d_ranjan_migratorydramaturgy1.png+%281%29.jpg Prose - Moving Towards a Migratory Dramaturgy for Howlround February 2020 Before I called myself a theatremaker or even an artist, I knew I was Indian and American, somewhere in the middle. “Immigrant” was one of my first identities. Given my own migrations—and the contemporary focus on international border-crossing—I have long been interested in advocacy and relief for individuals displaced from their homes in search of safety. Recently, I have focused on the ways we—international migrants—perform our identities, cultures, and histories in new environments. Now, as a theatremaker and artist, I create performances with asylum seekers, refugees, and other migrants about their lives, often in their new homes. https://www.devikaranjan.com/home daily 1.0 2024-06-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1497916715412-4LUDVXJAUST6V7IQQ603/11830765_10155956749910074_1230850718_n+2.jpg Home - WRITER https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/c686a97d-e8cc-47a5-abe2-5e36e3d3ea6d/IMG_1602.jpg Home - EDUCATOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1497917196705-08N1LIOPGK8TMIGZ0FFD/image-asset.jpeg Home - THEATER MAKER https://www.devikaranjan.com/pagecv daily 0.75 2022-05-20 https://www.devikaranjan.com/teaching daily 0.75 2025-04-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701604993-5AHPVIRW245RVHTYA1HI/IMG_5927+%281%29.jpg Facilitation Workshop on Creative Resistance at Teach-in for Radical Hope, December 2016. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701630204-1JRTRQD6Q7S0WCMGVYEL/IMG_4810.jpg Facilitation "Using Theatre in Human Rights Activism," Invited Lecture at Jammu University Department of Law, June 2015. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701448318-FX8TE78NT8MMLK8FS5TS/IMG_7674.jpg Facilitation Invited speaker, "Voices Beyond Borders" at Northeast Storytelling Conference, March 2017. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701628131-M33YZ8VPFOPVGHA9I0DB/IMG_1431+%283%29.jpg Facilitation "Power through Power: Solar Panels and Suppression in the Jerusalem Periphery," at Disorderly Conducts at the Mortara Center for International Studies, May 2016. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701572366-6N2P7I23RB55LPYPIU5T/Amrika-Chalo_038-300x200.jpg Facilitation "Humanizing Politics Through Performance" at Women's National Democratic Club, May 2017. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1552819629989-YF2PIDUZHBI9KNXGP6UY/DyQIiseWoAQXvox.jpg Facilitation With HRH Meghan Markle, explaining my work with asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701334642-3MN7SS1IE2XLQKVVF5MN/IMG_5003.jpg Facilitation "Acting Out: Violence, Community, and Women’s Theatre on the India-Pakistan Border" Presented at dis/locations: experimental geographies and methods at the margins. Mortara Center for International Studies, May 2017. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1499701159900-JG7Q8Y2NZ2ZNJSMO3PLK/IMG_0086.JPG Facilitation Commencement speaker at Georgetown University, May 2017. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543362731180-R5FTCSVUG589RXA6ZMT6/IMG_3171.jpg Facilitation Facilitating a workshop for students in Bengaluru, India. 2016. https://www.devikaranjan.com/the-soldiers-tale daily 0.75 2018-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078703263-K2RJ0UVDKF6JUPTJDEYI/IMG_2786.JPG The Soldier's Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078706940-9LE57L8BFGHJYQNGFO5B/IMG_0425.JPG The Soldier's Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078708855-GYZ5T7ZUPWFZRM1T7XZE/IMG_1743.JPG The Soldier's Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078712383-C4TGJLMYKE057SMCINOF/IMG_0770.JPG The Soldier's Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078731838-KFIXAVCIKFECK8PZSK3G/IMG_3355.JPG The Soldier's Tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078733879-8763LW51ZEEG17CSAF10/IMG_5897.JPG The Soldier's Tale https://www.devikaranjan.com/current-projects daily 0.75 2018-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543079032290-VSVCO6PARBF2K4QBNYZH/IMG_1450.JPG Current Projects - The soldier’s tale https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543078850837-R9MC996NC1MFG6HQWKZ5/42301347_1102671993234337_3131582890282844160_o.jpg Current Projects - I Pledge Allegiance https://www.devikaranjan.com/i-pledge-allegiance daily 0.75 2019-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543076216243-DQ99VNGME5XLQEICWEOP/20507464_818201555014717_6619834340982236619_o.jpg I Pledge Allegiance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543076332397-VLREE1R1PSY0Y99R9P3K/42233033_1102672939900909_5443337144590401536_o.jpg I Pledge Allegiance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543076338351-38GQQXCG7P6UV34LHPVI/42247253_1102675283234008_9189620001999421440_o.jpg I Pledge Allegiance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543076345462-JDDIXK27HC5AWRG37QIW/42301347_1102671993234337_3131582890282844160_o.jpg I Pledge Allegiance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59482b3e46c3c435a71c396d/1543076347437-U1Z3TGBJ5VSSH7C1V77T/46439127_1133805196787683_8330849516026593280_o.jpg I Pledge Allegiance https://www.devikaranjan.com/creative daily 0.75 2024-03-27