Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) 2022 is pleased to present individual submissions created under the digital initiative…
A Howlround for India
by The Segal Center
Country: United States, India | Language: English | Year Of Inception: 2021
About A Howlround for India
Fifteen prominent American writer/directors were part of a worldwide roster of over 100 global theater artists lending their voices July 20, 2021 to “HowlRound for India,” a 24-hour online marathon of live readings and talks honoring the Indian theater community for its efforts in facing Covid-19. The event will call loudly and urgently for India and the rest of the world to find better political solutions to prevent such disasters.
This free virtual event, carried live on HowlRound Theatre Commons, is organized by Frank Hentschker, Director of CUNY’s Segal Theatre Center; Abhishek Majumdar, a playwright/director from Bangalore, India; and Mumbai-based director/producer Tanvi Shah.
The aim is to help mobilize a worldwide outpouring that can reach the ears of government and business leaders in India, where responses to the pandemic were initially successful but later foundered horribly.
“A HowlRound for India” is not a fundraiser: India had and has enough resources to prevent and solve this crisis. Still, while in the western world in some places over 70 % of the population has been vaccinated, the situation in India remains apocalyptic as India prepares for the third wave. During the second wave in April, May, and June, India had bodies piling up. Morgues were overloaded and bodies needed to be burned on the streets. Life-saving oxygen was unavailable, while lynchings and extrajudicial killings remained commonplace. Covid patients in rural areas had and continue to have inadequate access to the Internet to request a bed in a hospital. Multitudes of nurses, doctors and healthcare workers have died. Amidst this, since the beginning of the pandemic, Indian theater artists like Abhishek Majumdar and his team have volunteered night after night to help their fellow citizens.
Bangalore, Majumdar’s home base, was the epicenter of India’s Covid outbreak. Teams of artists there haveorganized food and ad hoc resources for the afflicted. Their undertakings included food drives, locating parts for oxygen machines and repairing them, and staying up nights to call and connect with the sick–monitoring their oxygen levels and arranging hospital admissions for them. Teams of artists were and remain similarly active in other cities and localities around the country.
The marathon was moderated by the Segal Center’s Frank Hentschker and hosted on HowlRound (https://howlround.com), a US based non-profit digital platform for theater and performance. Goals are:
to highlight the devastating COVID-19 situation in India
to honor the memory of theater artists who died during the time of Corona
to celebrate the inspiring contribution by global theatre artists during the COVID Crisis (especially in India)
to provide a short update from countries around the world and a comment on the social and political situation
Organized by Frank Hentschker, Abhishek Majumdar, and Tanvi Shah
Musical Theme by Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy and Vasu Dixit
Lead Creative: Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Tech Support Team: Kaushikee Gupta, Jeshron Tao, Krutarth Kanjarkar, Rachit Khetan, and Thea Rodgers
Lead Graphic Designer: Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Social Media Management: Cactus Juice
A Howlround for India hourly schedule:
9:00 am New York
Abhishek Majumdar & Tanvi Shah (India)
Thea Rodgers (HowlRound) + Surprise guest
10:00 am New York
Moloyashree Hashmi & Komita Dhanda (New Delhi)
Hope Azeda (Rwanda)
Carol Martin (US)
11:00 am New York
Ajithlal Sivalal (Kerala) & Vivek Vijayakumaran (Karnataka)
Elisabeth Hayes (France)
Pamela Villoresi (Italy)
12:00 pm New York
Sreeja (Kerala)
Basil Jones (South Africa)
Manuel Moran, Paulette Richards (US)
1:00 pm New York
M D Pallavi (Karnataka) & Mumal Tanwar (Rajasthan)
Liwaa Yazji (Syria)
Richard Schechner (US)
2:00 pm New York
Anurupa Roy (New Delhi)
Adelheid Roosen (Netherlands)
Aina Tur (Spain)
3:00 pm New York
Sapan Saran (Maharashtra)
Penda Diouf & Marine Bachelot Nguyen (France)
Anne Bogart (US)
4:00 pm New York
Rupali Bhave & Pradeep Vaiddya (Maharashtra)
Eva Mann (Switzerland) & Washington Obwanda (Kenya)
Anne Cattaneo (US)
5:00 pm New York
Dakxinkumar Bajrange & Atish Indrekar (Gujarat)
Dr. GoraParasit (Lithuania)
Carl Hancock Rux (US)
6:00 pm New York
Dhammarakshit Randive (Maharashtra) & Kaustubh Naik (Goa)
Andrea Tompa & Laszlo Upor (Hungary)
Maude Mitchell (US)
7:00 pm New York
Titas Dutta & Sajal Mondal (West Bengal)
Daniel Wetzel/Rimini Protokoll (Germany)
Madhusree Mukherjee (India)
Daniely Francisque (Martinique)
8:00 pm New York
Hanne M. de Bruin & Perrungattur P. Rajagopal (Tamil Nadu)
Mok Chiu Yu (Hong Kong)
Tom Walker (US)
9:00 pm New York
Puja Sarup (Maharashtra) & Nuhar Bansal (Karnataka)
Hanchen Feng (China)
James Scruggs & Tamilla Woodard (US)
10:00 pm New York
Sunil Shanbag (Maharashtra)
Guillermo Calderón (Chile)
Sasapin Siriwanij (Thailand)
11:00 pm New York
Onaiza Drabu (Kashmir)
Joned Suryatmoko (Indonesia) & Rachel Cooper (US)
Chou Tung-Yen & Wu-Kang Chen (Taiwan)
12:00 am New York
Nisha Abdulla & Diya Naidu (Karnataka)
Sahar Assaf (Lebanon) & Tanvi Shah (India)
Govin Ruben & Terence Conrad (Malaysia)
1:00 am New York
Gunduraju (Karnataka), live translated by Anurupa Roy (New Delhi)
Toshiki Okada (Japan)
Carey Perloff (US)
2:00 am New York
Sambhaji Bhagat (Maharashtra), live translated by Kaustubh Naik (Goa)
Patricia Cornelius (Australia)
Mihaela Drăgan & Mihaela Michailov (Romania)
3:00 am New York
Surjit Nongmeikapam (Manipur) & Nicky Chandam (New Delhi)
Jeton Neziraj (Kosovo) & Gianina Carbunariu (Romaina)
Pina Bausch Company/Bettina Wagner-Bergelt (Germany) & Héléna Pikon (France)
4:00 am New York
Manzoor Mir (Kashmir), live translated by Abhishek Majumdar (Karnataka)
Marco Martinelli & Ermanna Montanari (Italy)
Papermoon Puppet Theater/ Maria Tri Sulistyani (Indonesia)
5:00 am New York
Shakuntala Nagarkar, live translated by Savitri Medhatul (Maharashtra)
Peter Schumann (US)
Iman Aoun (Palestine) & Dalia Basiouny (Egypt)
6:00 am New York
P Pavana & N. Venugopal (Telangana)
Frédérique Aït-Touati (France)
Thomas Oberender (Germany)
7:00 am New York
A. Mangai with Ponni Arasu, Krishna J. Nair, & Sadhashi Baskar (Tamil Nadu)
Ruth Kanner (Israel)
Avra Sidiropoulou (Greece)
8:00 am New York
Abhishek Majumdar & Tanvi Shah (India)
+ Surprise guest
About The Segal Center
Originally founded in 1979 as the Center for Advanced Studies in Theatre Arts (CASTA), The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center was renamed in March of 1999 to recognize Martin E. Segal, one of New York City’s outstanding leaders of the arts. The Segal Center curates over thirty events throughout the Spring and Fall academic seasons, all free and open to the public. Dedicated to bridging the gap between the professional and academic theatre communities, the Segal Center presents readings, performance, lectures, and artists and academics in conversation. In addition, the Segal Center presents three annual festivals (PRELUDE, PEN World Voices: International Pay Festival, and The Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance) and publishes and maintains three open access online journals (Arab Stages, European Stages, and The Journal of American Drama and Theatre). The Segal Center also publishes many volumes of plays in translation and is the leading publisher of plays from the Arab world. The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (MESTC) is a vital component of the Theatre Program’s academic culture and creating in close collaboration a research nexus, focusing on dramaturgy, new media, and global theatre. The Segal Center provides an intimate platform where both artists and theatre professionals can actively participate with audiences to advance awareness and appreciation. www.TheSegalCenter.org
About The Festival
The Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) is an annual event showcasing films drawn from the world of theatre and performance. The festival presents experimental, emerging, and established theatre artists and filmmakers from around the world to audiences and industry professionals. The 7th annual festival will focus on work for the screen created by theatre artists during the Time of Corona. The festival will be held digitally from March 1st – 15th 2022.
Explore projects created under A Howlround for India from March 1st to March 15th 2022 on the Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) website.
Support this project by The Segal Center by making a direct donation to them at the following details:
Read more about The Segal Center and A Howlround for India at (https://howlround.com/happenings/livestreaming-marathon-howlround-india) or get in touch at mestc@gc.cuny.edu, majumdar.abhishek@gmail.com and tanvishah893@gmail.com / Instagram @howlroundforindia/ Facebook @howlroundforindia / Twitter: @howlround4india
