For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Productions that will enable the creation of a theatrical production centred around the actor and the epic character Shoorpanakha. Imagined as a process that will unfurl the actor-character dichotomy, this work seeks to move beyond conventional frameworks in dance, drama and storytelling to find a new language of performance that will offer a fresh paradigm to artistically engage with a complex, elusive and subversive character such as Shoorpanakha. The outcome of the project will be the performance. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be photographs and video documentation of the training sessions, rehearsals and the final performance. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, hire of equipment, costumes, hire of venue, materials and documentation.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will involve traveling through the West Coast of India, to explore imperial fort debris, lagoon ecosystems, and people’s narratives of resistance movements in these places against the onslaught of aggressive development, towards the making of a lecture performance. The outcome of the project will be the lecture performance. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs and audio-visual documentation of the travels and the lecture performance. Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees, and materials.
For research into the history and evolution of public transport in Kerala and the creation of a performance that will be staged on a bus. Engaging with local contexts, histories, literature and the everyday lives of people, the project will employ the bus as a travelling performance space that aims to explore new frameworks for performance and cultivate new audiences.
For research leading to a monograph on the comic strip Cheriya Manushyarum, Valiya Lokavum (Small Men and the Big World) created by G.Aravindan, the internationally acclaimed film maker, which appeared in a Malayalam literary weekly from 1961 to 1973. Video interviews with cartoonists, scholars, family members, historians and readers and a bibliography of critical texts, essays and books on comics and graphic novels will be archived on the website of the Centre for Performance Research and Cultural Studies in South Asia.