Thursday, May 12, 2005

Untitled Solo by Lushin Dubey , Dir. by Arvind Gaur, Director's note

PLAY...UNTITLED SOLO
SOLO BY LUSHIN DUBEY
MUSIC BY Dr. SANGEETA GAUR

SCRIPT,DESIGN AND DIRECTION BY ARVIND GAUR

(SCRIPT BASED ON VIJAYA DAN DETHA's SHORT STORY &
DARIO FO'S PLAY MEDEA )

on 13 MAY at INDIA HABITAT CENTRE, LOGHI ROAD,7.30PM



ABOUT ACTOR .......LUSHIN DUBEY


Lushin Dubey did her Masters in Science in Childhood
and Special Education in the US (after a Masters in
History from Delhi, India) and was then deeply
involved in teaching mentally challenged kids. In 1986
she set up Kids world with her cousin Bubbles
Sabharwal… a pioneer of youth theatre in India.

In 1999 she produced 'Othello' and played the role of
'Desdemona' in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This
production won the Fringe First. With Theatre World
'The Life of Gautama Buddha' travelled to Bodhgaya,
Singapore and the US, "Untitled" solo directed by
Arvind gaur , to the US and Edinburgh, and now this
production is stated to travel again to the US this
year. 'Untitled' makes its third trip to the U.S. in
(October , 2004, along with 'Bitter Chocolate directed
& scripted by Arvind Gaur'). 'Untitled' has already
completed 171 shows. 10 in Scotland. In the U.S. some
of the cities have been Boston, Chicago, Rochester,
New York, Dallas, Houston, Washington D.C., and Palo
Alto San Francisco. It has also been staged at the
Smithsonian Institute and at Harvard. Lushin has acted
in several serials, latest being 'Kashmeer' on STAR
PLUS and has completed acting in 4 films yet to be
released. Her first one being 'Perfect Husband' which
debuts this year (2004) at the Cannes Festival. Her
latest film is 'Child Play' directed by Avijit Dutt
and produced by Ayesha Shroff of Quest films.

Lushin is married with two daughters, Ilina and Tara.
Her husband, Dr. Pradeep Dubey, Leading Professor in
Applied Mathematics at Stonybrook and Adjunct
Professor at Yale, has always supported her creative
endeavours. She divides her time between the US and
India and looks forward to being involved in cultural
interaction between the two countries, especially via
the medium of theatre.

"Work is defined by age. The older you get, the more
you question. I find myself asking questions I would
newer have asked ten years ago. This quest has led me
into plays like `The Life of Gautama Buddha`,
'Untitled Solo 'and most recently, 'Bitter Chocolate'
( both directed by Arvind Gaur). It has been a
self-perpetuating process, as one play has given birth
to the other. I hope this play on child sexual abuse
in India will help to generate awareness and thereby
prevention, which is so much better than cure."



ABOUT THE DIRECTOR ...ARVIND GAUR

Arvind Gaur who heads the Delhi ,India based Theatre
group ASMITA is committed to innovative and socially
relevant theatre. Starting off as a journalist and
working for sometime for the electronic media, he set
up ASMITA and earned a reputation in theatre circle in
Delhi and outside.

In the past 12 years, he has directed 48 major plays
which include Girish Karnad’s Tuglaq and Rakt Kalyan,
Dharamveer Bharti’s Andha Yug, Swadesh deepak’s Court
Martial, G P Deshpande’s Antim Divas, Albert Camus’
Caligula, Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions and Tara,
Eugene O’neill ‘s Desire Under the Elms, Dario Fo’s An
Accidental death of an Anarchist, Bertolt Brecht’s
Good Woman of Setzuan and Caucasian chalk circle,
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, John Octanasek’s
Romeo Juliet and the darkness, Neil Simon’s The Good
Doctor.
also Vijay tendulakr’s Ghairam Kotwal, Munshi
Premchand’s Moteram ka Satyagrah, Ashok Lal’s Ek
Mamooli aadmi, Rajesh Kumar’s Me Gandhi Bolto ,
Doodnath Singh's Yama Gatha,

Women in Black ( written & acted by Bubbles Sabharwal)
,Untitled Solo by Lushin dubey, Uday Prakash’s Waren
Hastings ka Saand, Pinki Virani’s Bitter Chocolate (
solo by lushin Dubey)
Bhishma Sahani's Madhavi & Manjula Padmanbhan' Hidden
Fires ( both solo by actress Rashi Bunny),Walking
Through the Rainbow ( joint production with PCVC, solo
by rashi bunny)

Arvind Gaur has been invited to perform in theater
festivals organized by National School of Drama,
(Bharat Rang Mahotsava), Sangeet Natak Akademi,
Sahitya Kala Parisad,Nandikar and Vivachana Theatre
Festival, Old World Theatre Festival,National School
of Drama week end theatre, Muktibodh Natya
Samaroh,World Social Forum and Nehru Centre Festival
Mumbai.

Arvind Gaur has conducted many theatre workshops and
directed productions in different colleges in Delhi.
Such as L.S.R., I.P., Gargi, Jawahar Lal Nehru
University, Hindu college,I.I.T.(Delhi), Aditi college
and School of Planning and Arhitecture. Workshops for
children in schools and slums as well as Street
Theatre performances on different socio-political
issues organized and conducted by Arvind Gaur are many
in number.

He has also conducted theatre workshops for Actors and
Directors at Houston, USA and India Habitat centre,
New Delhi. He also performed various plays in
collobration with culture organizations like Theatre
World, British Council ( channai) ,Paridhi, bahroop,
Banjara Theatre group (IIT , Khargpur ),Rainbow
Cavaliers ,3m dot band (Jaipur) , Vivchana
(Jabalpur),Prithvi Theatre Festival ( platform theatre
IHC ,2004) and NGOs like Mobile Crèches, Action Aid ,
Haq, PCVC, Deepalaya , Heinrich Boll Foundation ,Asian
Social Forum and world social forum.

he also design lights for NAYA theatre under the
Direction of Shri Habib Tanvir.

Director Arvind Gaur has also collaborated with
various Theatre artists and Groups specially in
exploring a new language for Solo performances. His
latest ventures include ‘Women in Black’ by Bubbles
Sabharwal and “Untitled Solo” by Lushin Dubey in
collaboration with THEATRE WORLD. Not only have these
plays received great audience response from important
metropolis of India, “Women in black” was invited to
perform in Dubai and “Untitled Solo” was performed in
Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Boston, Rochester ,
San francisco, Ohio, Harvard university & Stratford in
USA and at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival last year .

"Bitter Chocolate " a new solo by Lushin was also
performed at Harvard (USA) and recently at Nehru
Centre, London.

With Rashi Bunny, young actress trained in Theatre
design at University of Alabama at Birmingham and
Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. Arvind Gaur Has
directed two solos .Bhishma sahani's" Madhavi "and
Manjula Padmanabhan's "Hidden fires ".

Madhavi & Hidden fires has received rave reviews all
over and have been invited to perform for Mahindra's
OLD WORLD THEATRE FESTIVAL, Vivachana National Theatre
Festival Jabalpur, Muktibodh Natyaotsav raipur, 5th
national Theatre Festival Balaghat ,World Social forum
Mumbai and National School Of Drama (N.S.D.),Theatre
Club J.N.U., PCVC chennai and Queen's Award Project
(UK) for Communal Harmony.

Bishma Sahani's MADHAVI ,Solo by Rashi Bunny &
directed by Arvind Gaur,received special award for
best play in experimentaion with tradition at
International Solo Theatre Festival Armenia.



DIRECTORS NOTE

Untitled SOLO is basically a "fusion" experimental
venture.This fusion is incorporated in each element of
the design from language of performance, set and
music to acting with puppets.

My attempt was to make a journey to discover a new
language for solo performance.As a director,the
challenge to maintain the socio -political relevence
of the theme while exploring new presention style has
been an ever stimulating process for me.

the script is pendulous swing between the two stories
(one Indian & one westren ) and touches upon
pertinent aspects, giving voice to the woman's case !
Should a woman hit back ? And why not ?What does it
appear? Is it justified ?
The production is a combination of English and Hindi
,and Lushin's co-actors are puppets, herself playing
different roles to project different characters.
lushin not only plays characters physically but at
the same time delves under the skin to look at their
psyche ,using her voice, gait, body movements
,masks,puppets,diferrent scarves and music etc.The
result is a true to life characterisation of a
lecherous king(husband),his wife,maid sweeper, a young
girl in her teens, media & her old maid and many more.

arvind gaur,director
untitled solo by Lushin Dubey.


CONTACTS..9810-370722 (lushin dubey)
9312233561(arvind gaur)

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