Nationality Indian/Canadian Spouse Dipti Varma Name Rahul Varma Education University of Lucknow | Alma mater University of Lucknow Child(ren) Aliya Varma Role Playwright Books Bhopal, Counter offence | |
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In conversation with writer director rahul varma
Rahul Varma (born 1952 in Lucknow, India) is a Canadian playwright.
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He attended college at the University of Lucknow, and moved to Canada in 1976. He co-founded Teesri Duniya Theatre in 1981, and became its Artistic Director in 1986. He began Teesri Duniya's quarterly magazine, alt.theatre, in 1998. He lives in Montreal with his wife, Dipti, and his daughter, Aliya, who was in the original chorus of his play Bhopal. His most famous plays are Counter Offence and Bhopal, both of which have been translated into French and other languages.
Nearly all of his plays are based on actual events, and all of them have racism, justice, and inequality at their core. He began his theatre, Teesri Duniya Theatre (which means Third World in Hindi), so that South Asians living in Canada would have a voice in theatre.
RAHUL VARMA
Plays
State of Denial
State of Denial is the latest play by Artistic Director, Rahul Varma and directed by Deborah Forde. Inspired by interviews acquired through the Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and other Human Rights Violations, the play has been developed at the Banff Centre for the Arts with additional development at Playwrights' Workshop Montreal.
When Odette, a Rwandan-borne Canadian filmmaker, travels to Turkey to investigate stories of genocide and hidden identity, she interviews Sahana, an elderly and respected Muslim woman who has devoted her life to assisting Armenian survivors. On her deathbed, Sahana confesses a chilling secret to Odette - a secret that challenges a long-standing state of denial - a secret that Odette must promise to make public at any cost.
Teesri has an impressive track record of working with women directors. As an artist, Deborah Forde is not afraid of difficult themes and is committed to artistic excellence in a collaborative environment. A difficult story such as State of Denial must be told through the prism of artistic beauty—that is why we invited Deborah to direct State of Denial.Deborah Forde "In State of Denial, Rahul Varma not only invites us to take the leap into the solid world of his imaginings, but in so doing, connects us in a very real way to our own. It is a great pleasure to be so embraced by the Teesri family. The synergy created by working in partnership with such a brilliant and generous cast and crew. " - Deborah Forde