On Sunday, nine transwomen, part of the Aravani art project, will take the stage at Rangbhoomi Spaces, Gachibowli with a play Nava. First staged in 2019, Nava tells the stories of nine urban transwomen through nine rasas (Navarasa).
The play was the result of a workshop to explore what ‘performance’ means to a community of transwomen artistes who have never performed on stage before. Nava grew out of a collaboration between director Sharanya Ramprakash and the nine transwomen from Aravani Art Project, over a six-month workshop . Nava is a fluid performance, growing with its performers, as they experience the stage, the stories get deeper and more intimate, finding new ground and performance language.
Sharanya says, “They faced many challenges to get to the stage. First it was finding a space that would allow transwomen to come for rehearsals every day; it also had to be well connected by public transport. Then it was tough for them to show up there at a designated time, as most of them either beg or are sex workers. It was a six-months process and we had to make sure it was meaningful. The only thing that didn’t need any effort is convincing them to be on stage for a play.”
