Anupama Chandrasekhar is an Indian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

born and based in Chennai. She is known for her play '' The Father and the Assassin'', which earned her a nomination for the

Evening Standard Theatre Awards The ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are the oldest theatrical awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. They are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre, and are organised by the ''Evening Standa ...

for Best Play and was a finalist for the

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

Career

Chandrasekhar's plays have been staged at leading venues in India, Europe, Canada, and the US. She was the National Theatre, London's first international playwright-in-residence from 2016 to 2017. Her play ''Free Outgoing'', directed by

Indhu Rubasingham Indhu Rubasingham, (; b. 1970), is a British theatre director and the current artistic director of the National Theatre. Early life Born in Sheffield to Tamil parents from Sri Lanka in 1970, Rubasingham was educated at Nottingham Girls' H ...

premiered at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

in London in 2007. It was revived at the Royal Court's main theatre in Summer 2008 and travelled to the Traverse Theatre for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the same year. Chandrasekhar was a runner up for the

Evening Standard Theatre Award The ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are the oldest theatrical awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. They are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre, and are organised by the ''Evening Standa ...

’s Charles Wintour Prize for Most Promising Playwright in 2008. She was also shortlisted for the

John Whiting Award Between 1965 and 2010, the John Whiting Award (from 2007 renamed the Peter Wolff Trust Supports the John Whiting Award) was awarded annually to a British or Commonwealth playwright who, in the opinion of a consortium of UK theatres, showed a new ...

and the

for ''Free Outgoing''. The play has also been staged by the

Nightwood Theatre Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in Toronto. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' o ...

in Toronto. The play was staged in India by Crea-Shakti and directed by

Mahesh Dattani Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is an Indian film director, director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as ''Final Solutions'', ''Dance Like a Man'', ''Bravely Fought the Queen'', ''On a Muggy Night in Mumbai'', ''Tara: A Pla ...

in 2015 and had its American premiere, directed by Snehal Desai and produced by Boom Arts, in Portland, Oregon in 2016. Her next play, ''Disconnect'', directed by Indhu Rubasingham, also premiered at the Royal Court Theatre. ''Disconnect'' has been translated and staged in German and Czech languages and had its American and West Coast premieres in 2013 at Chicago's

Victory Gardens Theater Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Go ...

and the

San Jose Repertory Theatre The San Jose Repertory Theatre ( San Jose Rep) was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San J ...

respectively. Her play for children, ''

The Snow Queen "The Snow Queen" () is an 1844 original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection, New Fairy Tales. First Vo ...

'', an Indian adaptation of the

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

story, written under commission to the

Unicorn Theatre The Unicorn Theatre is a children's theatre in the London Borough of Southwark, in England. It is a custom-built, RIBA Award–winning building on Tooley Street, which opened in 2005. The theatre was designed by Keith Williams, built by Arup an ...

in London, opened for Christmas in December 2011. The play, directed by Rosamunde Hutt, was a tremendous box office success. A remount of the production, produced by the

Trestle Theatre Trestle Theatre Company is a professional theatre company specialising in mask and physical theatre. Currently based in a renovated chapel in the city of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The company creates its own masks, perform ...

, UK, opened the Chennai Metroplus Theatre Festival in 2012 and has toured several cities in India and the UK. Her subsequent play, ''When the Crows Visit'', inspired by

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

'' and tackling the issue of sexual violence and patriarchy in India, opened at the

Kiln Theatre The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as n ...

in Autumn 2019. Directed by

, the play was a response to India's horrific

2012 Delhi gang rape The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved the gang rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-ye ...

and other crimes against women. In June 2021, the National Theatre announced that it would stage Chandrasekher's new work '' The Father and the Assassin'' in its Olivier Theatre in May 2022, a work about the radicalised, devout follower of Gandhi who eventually became his killer. Her other plays include Acid, originally produced by QTP, Mumbai and later by the Madras Players in 2007 (which she directed), and Closer Apart, produced by Theatre Nisha – Chennai. Her screenplay adaptation of Free Outgoing was a finalist for the Sundance International Screenwriters’ Lab, Utah. She is the screenplay writer for a short film Kitchen Tales directed by Jane Moriarty and completed in 2020-21. Her short story Wings of Vedanthangal was the Asia winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2006. She won a Charles Wallace Trust of India (CWIT) fellowship to the Royal Court Theatre's International Playwrights Programme in 2000. She was the CWIT Writing Fellow at the University of Chichester in 2015.

Selected plays

#''The Father and the Assassin'' #''When the Crows Visit'' # ''The Snow Queen'' #''Disconnect'' #''Free Outgoing'' #''Acid''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, Anupama Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Indian women dramatists and playwrights Indian women journalists English-language writers from India Writers from Chennai Women writers from Tamil Nadu 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers The Hindu journalists Journalists from Tamil Nadu Dramatists and playwrights from Tamil Nadu