Tamasha
In 2021, Hypokrit Live Arts’ season is Tamasha: Virtually Everywhere. Check out the season announcement.
About Tamasha
Tamasha is a Persian word, meaning "to walk together," which traveled to Maharashtra and Deccan through the Mughal dynasty. The word then evolved as the name for a popular folk theatre form, which melded dance, poetry, music, comedy and theatre, and drew from Hindu and Muslim culture. In contemporary Hindi, Tamasha means a grand show or performance, a fun-filled play, or simply entertainment. "Tamasha khara karna," they say - "make some noise."
Founded in 2016, as the only cross-discipline performing arts festival dedicated to emerging South Asian artists in North America, Tamasha is an annual celebration of the diverse perspectives, ideas, and imaginations of artists from the South Asian subcontinent and diaspora. Tamasha seeks to provide opportunities for up-and-coming artists of South Asian origin to connect and collaborate. Over the course of four years, our festival has featured over 200 artists across the disciplines of theatre, dance, music, spoken word, and comedy.
2018-2019 Festival
The year’s festival featured eight female-identifying South Asian playwrights whose work was presented in collaboration with a range of institutions in New York and the greater Tri-state area. In addition, a panel of South Asian artists as well as a night of musicals and comedy called Shabash! was produced in collaboration with Natasha Sinha at LCT3 at Lincoln Center. The panel featured Ayad Akhtar, Madhuri Shekhar, Aneesh Sheth, and Sanjit DeSilva. Shabash! was hosted by Danny Pudi and Parvesh Cheena and featured work by Deepali Gupta, Jahn Sood, and music from Monsoon Wedding musical. In addition, a celebration of the larger community of artists was held at Players Theatre, where 7/11 (an original concept developed by Desipina company) was revived as an homage to the leaders who paved the way. Seven groups of artists presented work in a variety of forms (dance, theatre, music). The second year of Tamasha created even more space for artists of South Asian descent at various stages of their career to gather and create.
“Valentine” By Deepa Purohit
February 13, 2018
New York Theatre Workshop
Suicide Seed By Riti Sachdeva
May 29, 2018
Playwrights Horizon
Nicky Park Memorial Park By Deepali Gupta
June 21, 2018
New Georges
The Dijnn By Divya Mangwani
July 10, 2018
Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre
Yasmina’s Necklace By Rohina Malik
November 8, 2018
Premiere Stages At Kean
The Art Of Gaman By Dipika Guha
December 2018
The Public Theater Shiva
Raisins not Virgins By Sharbari Ahmed
February 2019
Players Theater
Antigone: Presented By The Girls Of St. Catherine's By Madhuri Shekar
April 29, 2019
The Movement Theatre Company
Special thanks to our hosts:
2016 Festival
The inaugural year of Tamasha featured over 100 artists of South Asian descent across disciplines - dance, theatre, music, comedy. Presented at Paradise Factory, the festival spanned a week and included artists from all over the US as well as abroad. The festival also included educational workshops on film, television, movement, and intersectionality in the arts.
