Khorang at 15:56, 16 October 2025

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{{Short description|Indian playwright}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
'''Anupama Chandrasekhar ''' is an Indian [[playwright]] born and based in Chennai. She is known for her play ''[[The Father and the Assassin]]'', which earned her a nomination for the [[Evening Standard Theatre Awards]] for Best Play and was a finalist for the [[Susan Smith Blackburn Prize]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/66th-evening-standard-theatre-awards-shortlist-best-play-best-actor-best-musical-b1032690.html|title=The 66th Evening Standard Theatre Awards shortlist is here - and it's a tribute to London's incredible talent|journal=Evening Standard|date=1 November 2022|accessdate=29 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url= https://theatreweekly.com/2023-finalists-announced-for-the-susan-smith-blackburn-prize/|title=Finalists announced for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize|journal=Theatre Weekly|date=8 February 2023|accessdate=29 March 2023}}</ref>

==Career==

Chandrasekhar's plays have been staged at leading venues in India, Europe, Canada, and the US. She was the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]], London's first international playwright-in-residence from 2016 to 2017.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/national-theatre-appoints-anupama-chandrasekhar-as-first-international-writer-in-residence|title=National Theatre appoints Anupama Chandrasekhar as first international writer-in-residence|last=Snow|first=Georgia|date=22 September 2016|work=The Stage|accessdate=7 April 2023}}</ref>

Her play ''Free Outgoing'', directed by [[Indhu Rubasingham]] premiered at the [[Royal Court Theatre]] in London in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/free-outgoing/?tab=4|title = Free Outgoing}}</ref> It was revived at the Royal Court's main theatre in Summer 2008 and travelled to the Traverse Theatre for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the same year.<ref name="Macmillan">{{Cite web |date=2008-08-11 |title=Fringe reviews: It's still a man's world |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/fringe-reviews-it-s-still-a-man-s-world-1-1084748 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026075611/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/fringe-reviews-it-s-still-a-man-s-world-1-1084748 |archive-date=2016-10-26}}</ref>

Chandrasekhar was a runner up for the [[Evening Standard Theatre Award]]’s Charles Wintour Prize for Most Promising Playwright in 2008.<ref name="Standard">{{Cite web |last=Correspondent |first=Louise Jury, Chief Arts |date=2012-04-13 |title=Donmar dominates the London stage at ES Theatre Awards |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/donmar-dominates-the-london-stage-at-es-theatre-awards-6872624.html |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref> She was also shortlisted for the [[John Whiting Award]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/Contributor/2024/Anupama-Chandrasekhar.html|title = Nick Hern Books | About Anupama Chandrasekhar}}</ref> and the [[Susan Smith Blackburn Prize]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackburnprize.org/finalists%202009.htm |title=Finalists 2009 |accessdate=2013-10-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029200222/http://www.blackburnprize.org/finalists%202009.htm |archivedate=2013-10-29 }}</ref> for ''Free Outgoing''. The play has also been staged by the [[Nightwood Theatre]] in Toronto.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nightwoodtheatre.net/index.php/blog/an_interview_with_anupama_chandrasekhar |title=AN INTERVIEW WITH ANUPAMA CHANDRASEKHAR - Nightwood Theatre |website=www.nightwoodtheatre.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306080653/http://www.nightwoodtheatre.net/index.php/blog/an_interview_with_anupama_chandrasekhar |archive-date=2014-03-06}}</ref> The play was staged in India by Crea-Shakti and directed by [[Mahesh Dattani]] in 2015 <ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/theatre/mahesh-dattani-tells-about-the-introspective-nature-of-his-theatre-and-his-latest-project-in-chennai-free-outgoing/article6824015.ece|title = A peep into your soul|newspaper = The Hindu|date = 26 January 2015|last1 = Zachariah|first1 = Preeti}}</ref> and had its American premiere, directed by Snehal Desai and produced by Boom Arts, in Portland, Oregon in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2016/02/sex_lies_and_india.html|title = Sex, lies and India: Play pits technology against tradition|date = 25 February 2016}}</ref>

Her next play, ''Disconnect'', directed by Indhu Rubasingham, also premiered at the Royal Court Theatre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genesisfoundation.org.uk/content/anupama-chandrasekhars-latest-play-disconnect-receives-great-reviews-uk-press |title=Anupama Chandrasekhar's latest play Disconnect receives great reviews in the UK press. | Genesis Foundation |accessdate=2013-10-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203705/http://www.genesisfoundation.org.uk/content/anupama-chandrasekhars-latest-play-disconnect-receives-great-reviews-uk-press |archivedate=2013-10-29 }}</ref> ''Disconnect'' has been translated and staged in German and Czech languages and had its American and West Coast premieres in 2013 at Chicago's [[Victory Gardens Theater]] and the [[San Jose Repertory Theatre]] respectively.

Her play for children, ''[[The Snow Queen]]'', an Indian adaptation of the [[Hans Christian Andersen]] story, written under commission to the [[Unicorn Theatre]] in London, opened for Christmas in December 2011. The play, directed by Rosamunde Hutt, was a tremendous box office success.<ref name="Muthalaly">{{Cite news |date=2012-08-01 |title=50 shows and still going strong |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/theatre/50-shows-and-still-going-strong/article3711858.ece |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> A remount of the production, produced by the [[Trestle Theatre]], UK, opened the Chennai Metroplus Theatre Festival in 2012 and has toured several cities in India and the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-04-09 |title=Trestle Theatre. The Snow Queen National Tour |url=http://www.trestle.org.uk/the-snow-queen-national-tour |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102010908/http://www.trestle.org.uk/the-snow-queen-national-tour/ |archive-date=2013-11-02}}</ref>

Her subsequent play, ''When the Crows Visit'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/theatre/when-the-crows-visit-review-kiln-theatre-a4274031.html|title=When the Crows Visit review: Triumphant and intense|date=30 October 2019}}</ref> inspired by [[Ibsen]]'s ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'' and tackling the issue of sexual violence and patriarchy in India, opened at the [[Kiln Theatre]] in Autumn 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/when-the-crows-visit/|title=WHEN THE CROWS VISIT | Kiln Theatre|website=kilntheatre.com}}</ref> Directed by [[Indhu Rubasingham]], the play was a response to India's horrific [[2012 Delhi gang rape]] and other crimes against women.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/oct/28/anupama-chandrasekhar-interview-playwright-shocking-india-Ibsen |title=Sex tapes and acid attacks: Anupama Chandrasekhar, the playwright shocking India {{!}} Stage {{!}} The Guardian |website=www.theguardian.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028165115/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/oct/28/anupama-chandrasekhar-interview-playwright-shocking-india-ibsen |archive-date=2019-10-28}}</ref>

In June 2021, the National Theatre announced that it would stage Chandrasekher's new work ''[[The Father and the Assassin]]'' in its Olivier Theatre in May 2022, a work about the radicalised, devout follower of Gandhi who eventually became his killer.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

Her other plays include Acid, originally produced by QTP, Mumbai and later by the Madras Players in 2007 (which she directed), and Closer Apart, produced by Theatre Nisha – Chennai.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

Her screenplay adaptation of Free Outgoing was a finalist for the Sundance International Screenwriters’ Lab, Utah. She is the screenplay writer for a short film Kitchen Tales directed by Jane Moriarty and completed in 2020-21.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

Her short story Wings of Vedanthangal was the Asia winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cba.org.uk/events/awards/commonwealth-short-story-competition/2006-commonwealth-short-story-competition/|title = 2006 Short Story Competition|date = 19 October 2011}}</ref> She won a Charles Wallace Trust of India (CWIT) fellowship to the Royal Court Theatre's International Playwrights Programme in 2000. She was the CWIT Writing Fellow at the University of Chichester in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview With Anupama Chandrashekar Interview : www.MumbaiTheatreGuide.com |url=https://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/interviews/anupama-chandrashekar-interview.asp |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=www.mumbaitheatreguide.com}}</ref>

== Selected plays==
#''The Father and the Assassin''
#''When the Crows Visit''
# ''The Snow Queen''
#''Disconnect''
#''Free Outgoing''
#''Acid''

==References==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, Anupama}}
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[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
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Anupama Chandrasekhar - Revision history

Khorang at 15:56, 16 October 2025