Nisha Abdulla

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Nisha Abdulla

Preferred pronouns:

she/her
Birth year:

1983
Primarily based in or works from:

India
Skills:

theater playwright directing of a stage play mentoring performing storytelling
Topics:

human rights youth deep listening sexuality social injustice totalitarianism
Contact information:

Currently working on:

wepushthesky: currently on tour with this solo performance on friendship and faith in the time of divisive political rhetoric.

'how long is February? a fantasy in three parts': Writing and directing, grantee of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023

The Puchkoo Project: Stop motion+puppetry digital piece

Quick Facts:

Artistic Director, Qabila

Co-founder, OffStream

Explores identity and belonging in its many contradictions. Is especially interested in investigating the tensions between individual and collective, between the present and future imaginations of our world, between truth-telling and collective dreaming.

Anti-oppressive arts practice that holds space for curious presence and needs in the room - both individual and collective. Creates space for dissenting imaginations in process, form, and content.

Is also an educator working with multiple arts organisations, schools and universitites, and community spaces. Works across age groups, especially with teens and university level. Uses storytelling, writing, and performance making as pedagogical tools.

More here: https://linktr.ee/nishaabdulla

Three relevant works from the last 5 years of artistic practice:

Practicing, articulating and building an anti-oppressive practice in rehearsal rooms and teaching spaces. This is an on-going pursuit.
Faciliating learning spaces for early career artists from minority/marginalised backgrounds as a co-founder member of OffStream
Working with youth from minority/marginalised backgrounds on rights education, gender-sexuality, anti-caste practice and advocacy

Highest educational degree:

My highest formal education is of a Masters in Business Administration. I'm not institutionally trained in the arts. Instead, my training has been at formal and open programs created by veteran theatre practitioners, at workshops held by peers, and learning-on-the-job in rehearsal rooms.

Work samples:

wepushthesky - a solo performance

wepushthesky is a play about faith & friendships in the midst of divisive political rhetoric. It explores the deep listening body as a site of political resistance. The play was designed to be taken to where viewers are - in intimate audience groups at alternative venues, black boxes, educational institutions and community spaces.

Koottu - a non-verbal play that explores differences in classrooms

Orchestra on the Moon - a nonverbal play exploring the unsaids in our body

This play was a significant milestone for me as a director and dramaturg. I moved away from text and explored the body as a site of resistance. It explored questions of collective grief and community care, topics that shaped my practice in the years to come - What happens to the unsaid in us? How does it move between us? What happens to a society habituated to the unsaids in and amidst us?

Ashk Neele Hain Mere (Original English title: Blue is the colour I cry)

Anti-Oppressive Practice: A conversation about Curiosity, Care, and Community

AtmaNirbharta has Spoken, digital chronicling of the leadership crisis during Covid19

Dramaturgy for Firefly Women, a digital theatre piece

This digital performance piece is an artistic response to letters written from jail by two young women, wrongly incarcerated under a draconian law by the Indian State. Experienced as videos over a period of 5 days, these pieces take us on a journey with the women who wrote them as they make inroads into feminist solidarity, resilience and hope in dark times. Performed and Directed by Manjari Kaul
Dramaturgy by Nisha Abdulla