Zoukak Sidewalks 2018 - The Festival presents :
Theatre in the Heart of Kerala, India
Public Conversation
Sankar Venkateswaran with Maya Zbib (Zoukak)
Thursday 8 November 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at Zoukak Studio, Beirut
Free Entry
Tickets available through ihjoz.com and at the door
Sankar will discuss his views on social exclusion in India and beyond, as presented in his performance “Criminal Tribes Act”, and will reflect on the ways in which theatre can mend these divisions, speaking form his own experience as an artist creating work, collectively, in remote and unusual places, and as Artistic Director of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (2015-2016) that brings together an extremely eclectic audience every year.
Artist's Biography
Sankar Venkateswaran, born in 1979, is a theatre director from Kerala, India. He graduated from Calicut University School of Drama and Fine Arts, after which he completed Theatre Training and Research Programme, Singapore (presently Intercultural Theatre Institute). In 2007, he founded the theatre company Theatre Roots & Wings, and directed “Quick Death” (2007), “Sahyande Makan- The Elephant Project” (2008), “The Water Station” (2011), “When We Dead Awaken” (2012), “UDAL URAVU (Body/Source)” (2017), and “Criminal Tribes Act” (2017), among others.
He was the guest director at Munich Volkstheater, in the year 2016 and 2017, and directed “Tage der Dunkelheit (Days of Darkness)” and “INDIKA”. He has been a guest faculty at various institutions including Intercultural Theatre Institute, Singapore, National School of Drama, New Delhi, and NINASAM Theatre Institute, Heggodu. He served as the artistic director for International Theatre Festival of Kerala in 2015 and 2016. He was the jury member for Zurich Theater Spektakel in 2016. He is a recipient of International Ibsen Scholarship 2013 (Teater Ibsen, Norway), Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar Award 2011 (Government of India), Pro Helvetia Artist in Residence 2011 (Swiss Arts Council), and JENESYS Fellowship 2009 (The Japan Foundation/ Shinshu University).
He lives in Attappady, Kerala, where he has setup a space and works with the indigenous communities of the region.
Zoukak Sidewalks – The festival 2018 is supported by: Drosos Foundation, AFAC – Arab Fund for Art and Culture, the Sundance Institute, the Goethe Institute, the British Council, the French Institute – Paris, the French Institute – Lebanon, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Beirut Office, Salon Du Livre Francophone.
