This work stage involved the Indian partner QTP and took place in Mumbai from November 23 to December 9, 2022 in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Mumbai.
The international team of young Italian and Indian artists worked intensively in different rooms and outdoor spaces located in the suburbs of the Indian megalopolis, including some “slums,” places that inspired and guided the artistic research with their strong suggestions and images, giving the title to this particular session of the project: “Slums of Bollywood.”
The shared investigation among artists from different fields (dance, theater, music, video) focused on the limits, barriers, boundaries that young people perceive today in contemporary and globalized societies, with particular attention to those dynamics that create separation, segregation and ghettoization, within a big city.
Among the themes that emerged from the under-25 artists involved were mainly explored: gender differences, the gap between wealth and poverty, and religious discrimination. This field research phase was followed by a period of co-creation in the spaces of the Prithvi theater, which led to the creation of a performance entitled MEGALOPOLIS#India, presented at Prithvi House as part of the Thespo 24 Festival.
The direction of Megalopolis#India was supervised by Anna Dora Dorno, the original dramaturgy was composed by the actors themselves in two languages (English and Hindi) under the supervision of playwright Nicola Pianzola, and the music was created through a remote work with composer Riccardo Nanni.
This stage of work involved: Anna Dora Dorno – director and actress, Nicola Pianzola – performer – ITALIA, Abhinandan Gupta – actor, Lovely Raj – actress, R. Raj Shekhar – dancer, Subraja Venkat – dancer, Meghna Roy Chaudhury – actress, dancer and assistant director, Sudhanshu Pensia – Hip Hop singer, Tanay Khemka – misician, Riccardo Nanni – composer, Ashish Kumar Padhy – video maker, as well as young producers from Thespo, an association dedicated to artistic projects aimed at under 25s.
MEGALOPOLIS#India – Pritvhi House – Mumbai
