Maya Krishna Rao
A 30 Friends Colony East
New Delhi 110065, India
Blog: mayakrishnarao.blogspot.com
One person / group creations devised, performed and directed
- Loose Woman, multi media show in episodes, 2018
- Protest, various performances, 2012 onwards
- Walk in response to Delhi bus gang rape, 2012 onwards...several performances in schools, colleges, street, living rooms, shopping malls, NGOs, rallies
- The Non Stop Feel Good Show commissioned by Park Hotel for 6-city tour Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, 2011
- Small Fry created for Maximum India festival, Kennedy Centre, Washington DC, 2011
- Ravanama solo, commissioned by Ramayana festival, Adishakti, Pondicherry, India 2011
- Quality Street solo, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2010
- Lady Macbeth Revisited cross media performance, 2010
- Are You Home Lady Macbeth? performance art project for Khoj, Delhi, 2008
Hand Over Fist - perspectives on masculinities cross media performance as launch of UN programme in India, commissioned by UNDP and UNIFEM, Delhi, 2007- Heads Are Meant for Walking Into
cross media performance, 2005 - Comedy, solo, various event-specific creations, Hindi/English 1992 onwards.
A Deep Fried Jam..... A Deeper Fried Jamsocio-political cabaret, regenerated versions, 2002 onwards.- Departures, commissioned by London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT),London, 1999
- 4-Wheel-Drive-“Come-to-me- Mr.Sharma”- Body-Fat-Murdered-Show, comedy in episodes, several versions,1998 onwards
- Rainmaker, solo, inspired by Assamese short story, Delhi,1998
- The Job solo, based on a short-story by Bertolt Brecht, commissioned by Max Mueller Bhavan, Delhi,1997.
- Khol Do solo, dance-theatre, inspired by Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story, Delhi, 1993.
- Street theatre as founder-member of group,‘ Theatre Union’, scripted, directed, performed Om Swaha on dowry and Dafa no.180 on the Indian law on rape, several shows in colleges, parks, non-formal spaces, 1979-82
- Participatory programmes for children - conceived, scripted and directed around themes of history and society for National School of Drama Theatre-in Education company:
Pandita Ramabai, 2009, Sciva and Jagli, 2003, Dilli Sultanat, 1995,Igloo-Igloo, 1996, Bhagat Singh, 1986.
Drama syllabus, formulated for B.El.Ed (Bachelor in Elementary Education), Delhi University, 2008 • - Drama syllabus classes I – XII, for central govt. body NCERT (National Council for Educational Resources and Training, Delhi), Member, drafting committee, 2007.
- Co-devised, performed and toured theatre shows Story Spinners’ and Piece At Any Price as member, Perspectives Theatre Company, Nottingham, England, to different parts of England, Nottingham, England, 1984.Leeds Playhouse TIE Company, as member, devised and/or performed in
Heiretikos, Or The One Who Chooses, Leeds 1983; performed in ‘Pow-Wow’, Leeds, England, 1982.
- School Teacher Workshops:for National School of Drama and schools in Delhi 2003 onwards; for Delhi University, 2003 onwards; and other teacher training institutions all over India, 1986 onwards.
Training: in Delhi and Kerala, 1961 onwards, specialising in the male role. Several performances in India and abroad of p the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as well as Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. Krishna, Karna, Ravana, Arjuna, Hidimba, Hanuman, Bhima, Damayanti, Surpanakha, Draupadi, Desdemona
1970 onwards. Among others, played leading role in ‘Dream of Reason’, Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ and ‘Twelfth Night’ Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Dolls House’, Bertolt Brecht’s ‘The Mother’ and ‘St. Joan of the Stockyards’, Federico Garcia Lorca’s 'House of Bernada Alba’; Maxim Gorky’s ‘Viy’; Aphra Behn’s ‘The Rover’ (invited by Womens’Playhouse Trust, London); ’Desdemona’, for Theatreworks, Singapore, toured Singapore, Adelaide, Hamburg, Munich, Fukuoka. The play Directors included Amal Allana, Anamika Haksar, Anuradha Kapur, Barry John, Jules Wright, Ong Keng Sen (Japan).
New Park festival 6 city-tour of comedy, 2011
Neelan Tiruchelvan Trust Srilanka, 2012
Women's Theatre Festival Chandigarh, 2012
Ramayana Festival Cologne, Germany, 2012
Female Voices, Cologne, Germany, 2016
Dramaturgies of Cultural Translation, Amsterdam, 2016
Theatre Bonn, Bonn, 2016
Workshops Acting / Kathakali / Theatre-in-education (select)
India Foundation for the Arts, seminar and teachers workshop, Bangalore, 2010.
Theatre Professionals, Mumbai, 2011
U.S performance - cum - workshop tour - Univ. of California (Irvine, Berkeley), Smith College, NYU, Barnard College, 2013, Stanford University, 2015
Theatre Professionals, Mumbai, 2011
U.S performance - cum - workshop tour - Univ. of California (Irvine, Berkeley), Smith College, NYU, Barnard College, 2013, Stanford University, 2015
TISS, Tata Inst. of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 2014
Warwick University, Summer School, teaching, 2016
Kolkata Sonved, dance movement therapy workshop, Kolkata Jan. 29 - Feb. 4, 2017
Viy, play, based on a short story by Gogol, directed by Anamika Haksar, 1990.
Dream of Reason, based on the life of Goya, directed by Anamika Haksar, 1991.
Subhadra, co - choreographed, film, directed by Ein Lall. based on the Mahabharata, 1995
Kamasutra, film, directed by Mira Nair
Voice-over – various films.
Portrait of Maya Krishna Rao, film, Doordarshan, 1997
Maya Krishna Rao, video notes, Sparrow Women’s’ Documentation Centre, Mumbai.
Women Who Dared, ed. Ritu Menon, National Book Trust, 2002. (Maya featured as one among twenty notable living Indian women of last fifty years).
National School of Drama Theatre-in-Education Company, member, advisory committee.
Gati Summer Dance Residency, Advisor, Delhi, since 2008
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) – member, drama syllabus committee, 2006
Delhi University Academic Council, elected member, 1982
Modern School, Delhi, 1970.
Sociology, B.A. (Hons), Miranda House, Delhi University, Delhi, 1974.
Political Studies, M.A., Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, 1977.
Theatre Arts, M.A., Leeds University, Leeds, England, 1983.
- Visiting faculty, Ashoka University, 2020 -
- Professor, Shiv Nadar University, 2013 - 2017
- Associate Professor, Dept. of Acting, National School of Drama Delhi, 1985-90.
- Actor-Teacher, Perspectives Theatre Company, Nottingham, England with a brief to create and tour programmes of community interest in Nottingham, UK, 1982-83.
- Actor-Teacher, Leeds Playhouse Theatre-in-Education Company, Leeds, England, to create theatre programmes for schools, Leeds, UK,1983-84.
Lecturer, Political Science, Kamala Nehru College, Delhi University,1977-85.
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Govt. of India), for Acting, 2010.
Award returned in 2015