Hypokrit Theatre Company and Junoon Performing Arts present Indian classics re-imagined with the showcase of Devdas and Chokher Bali. The presentation of the dual performances will run from November 4th – 20th, at the Theater for the New City in New York.
Devdas – a modern day dance spectacle is set in India’s hyper-competitive and hyper-masculine reality dance competition world. It’s the story of two women who coveted both, the main prize and the man. Devdas will be portrayed from the point of the two women that loved him through a ballet set in modern India. This theatrical presentation will use original music composed by Aalap Desai, and contemporary choreography by Swarali Karulkar.
Chokher Bali is an exploration of the life of widows in 20th century Calcutta, in which our one particular widow Binodini becomes entangled and forbidden love triangle. The performance is adapted by Dr. Partha Chatterjee from Rabindranath Tagore’s novel of the same name. Hypokrit’s performance of Chokher Bali will be adapted as a Greek tragedy and showcase the world of 20th Bengal as it relates to the world now.
“We’re bringing together the brightest South Asian talent for Devdas and Chokher Bali. For those familiar with the stories, the experience will be unlike anything they have ever seen. This modern retelling will also bring new audiences to the theatre. So often, the word ‘classic’ is relegated to works from the West, Devdas and Chokher Bali continue our mission of showing that works of art from South Asia have universal themes. Anyone that comes to our show will be able to see something familiar in something foreign,” mentions Arpita Mukherjee, Festival Co-Chair of Tamasha and Co-Founder of Hypokrit Theatre Company.
Founded by Arpita Mukherjee and Shubhra Prakash, Hypokrit Theatre Company adapts classical plays from different cultures for the contemporary audience. Hypokrit Theatre Company’s mission is to encourage artistic inquiry and break down the artifice in a work to reach its emotional core. Interested in positing the question of what makes a story universal, Hypokrit Theatre Company is dedicated to adapting classics, both time-tested and brand new, from around the world for the contemporary audience. Their mission is expressed through the choice of setting and time period. Through the collision of different worlds and aesthetics, Hypokrit challenges notions of universality in a multicultural world.
Junoon Performing Arts is an Indo-contemporary company born solely out of the plight of a few dancers for aesthetic innovation and creative expression. As artists, we care about the world. Through theatre, we spread awareness through movement. Junoon Performing Arts aims to both absorb and reflect the times around us through the art of dance. Art has no language, and so we strive to blend a range of styles to present stories to the world. Transitioning from indo-contemporary to jazz to bollywood to physical theater we reach for conceptually-themed operatic performances that are as fluid as they are distinct. Join the movement. www.junoonperformingarts.com
For more information and to purchase tickets please visit: http://www.hypokritnyc.org/nov2016rep/.
