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<b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Modern Indian Theatre: Texts and Performances<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">deadline for submissions: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">June 20, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">full name / name of organization: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Arnab Ray, Sibendu Chakraborty<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">contact email: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:arnabra1@gmail.com"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">arnabra1@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">This is a <b>call for papers</b> to be included in the proposed book as chapters. Bloomsbury has shown interest to publish the book. The lists below are indicative and not restrictive. The editors are
open to contributions in the field of ‘Modern Indian Theatre’ on playwrights, theatre practitioners, theories, and forms not included in the lists below. Scholars interested to contribute are requested to send their abstracts between 500 and 600 words, with
proposed titles, full name/s of contributor/s, and their professional affiliation/s within 20 May 2024. Contributions must be sent to both the editors on their emails.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Dr. Arnab Ray : </span><a href="mailto:arnabra1@gmail.com"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">arnabra1@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Dr. Sibendu Chakraborty: </span><a href="mailto:sibenduu@gmail.com"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">sibenduu@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">In his Introduction to the book <i>Mapping South Asia through Contemporary Theatre: Essays on the Theatres of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka</i> (2014) Ashis Sengupta writes: “‘South
Asia’ should mean today a region of immense possibilities and complexities embedded in the ‘affinities’ and ‘contradictions’ of nation, nationality, caste, creed, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, politics, and economics.” The editors of the proposed book
would like to begin from this premise, replacing “South Asia” with “India” as a distinct geo-political entity existing since 1947 till today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">What we understand as ‘Indian Theatre’ (as a product of the theatre culture of the soil of the Indian Subcontinent) dates back to the classical era of Sanskrit theatre. E.J. Westlake informs us that
theatre in India dates back to the first century CE with Sanskrit drama texts (<i>World Theatre: The Basics</i>, 2017). The authoritative theoretical work of Bharata, <i>Natyasastra</i>, was born of this theatre tradition. This tradition produced classic works
like <i>Abhijnanasakuntalam</i> (<i>The Recognition of Shakuntala</i>) and<i> Mrichchhakatika </i>(<i>The Little Clay Cart</i>). South India was the cradle of dance drama forms like <i>Kutiyattam </i>(emerging from Sanskrit drama)<i> </i>and <i>Kathakali</i>.
The latter form is one major example of the emergence of the folk theatre tradition in India. By the 14th century folk theatre became the dominant theatre in India, replacing classical Sanskrit theatre that was gasping for its last breath by that time. Some
major folk theatre forms that achieved prominence from the 14th to the 19th century were <i>Bhavai</i>, <i>Yakshagana</i>, <i>Chhau</i>, <i>Tamasha</i>, <i>Jatra</i>, <i>Raslila</i>, <i>Ramlila</i>, etc. Many more folk forms were to follow suit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Modern Indian theatre can be said to be the product of three major influences: Sanskrit (classical), folk (vernacular), and western (mostly European). The British were instrumental in developing theatre
in India (in cities like Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras), although the first European influence in Indian drama was felt with the drama productions of the Russian adventurer Gerasim Stepanovich Lebedev in Calcutta in 1765. Commercial theatre gained momentum
thereafter in the nineteenth century in the Bengali theatre in Calcutta. Parsi theatre in Bombay became highly successful commercially. Popularity of theatre attracted playwrights and theatre practitioners inclined towards the furtherance of the burgeoning
cause of nationalism of the colonised people, extending into theatre that was dedicated to socio-political issues. Indian nationalism projected Indian theatre on to historical and mythological themes and forms and gradually the various folk theatre forms were
also invoked by theatre practitioners, predominantly in the cities. Thus, several influences spread their tentacles in Indian theatre with the arrival of the twentieth century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">The proposed book intends to study the myriad trends in the modern times in India. The editors of the book intend to define ‘modern’ – for practical reasons – in a temporal sense, restricting it to
the whole of the twentieth century, extending into the present millennium. The book intends to read Indian theatre across languages, regions, and cultures. Indian theatre can be seen as simultaneously historicising and mythologising — both in the pre- and
post-independence period — as a form of nation-building. Thus, there developed a “theatre of the roots.” Indian theatre has striven in this period to ‘rediscover’ its indigeneity — classical and folk —in both form and content. Tradition has been prioritised
in the project of decolonisation. At the same time, it is rooted in the contemporary socio-political issues (like class, caste, gender, and religion) in a form that is conspicuously western-styled realistic-naturalistic. Suresh Awasthi tells us of the “two
streams in modern theatre” (<i>Performance Tradition in India</i>, 2001) to explain this Janus-like character of Indian theatre. Indian theatre has been enriched by its classical and folk roots, as well as Western theatre, and by cross-pollination between
the various regions, states, and languages.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm">
<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">In conceptualising this volume the editors propose to bring out a book that captures the complex mosaic of Indian theatre. The book will consist of three sections. The first section
will be on playwrights and their plays. The second section will be on theatre practitioners and their theatre practices. The third section will be on folk theatre forms as being practised in the ‘modern’ period. The editors prefer each chapter to be theory
based.</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">-- <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Dr. Michael R. Griffiths<br>
Senior Lecturer, English Literatures<br>
School of The Arts, English and Media<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities<br>
Room No. G31 | Building 25<br>
University of Wollongong NSW 2522<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
W: <a href="https://scholars.uow.edu.au/display/michael_griffiths"><span style="color:#0563C1">https://scholars.uow.edu.au/display/michael_griffiths</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><a href="https://brill.com/view/serial/POLI?contents=about"><span style="color:#0563C1">Series Editor,
<i>Postcolonial Lives</i> (BRILL Publishing)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
</span><i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">I acknowledge that the Country I work and live on always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land. UOW is situated on the unceded sovereign
lands of the Dharawal, Wodi Wodi, Yuin, Gundungurra and Dharug peoples.</span></i><i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span></i><i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">I
pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging. </span></i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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