KatharinaFlanery at 20:57, 20 April 2026

2026-04-20T20:57:08Z

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{{short description|Indian author and playwright}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Isabel de Santa Rita Vás
| image = Shubhankar Shah - Isabel de Santa Rita Vaz 2018.jpg
| image_size =
| image_upright = 0.80
| alt = Isabel de Santa Rita Vas in 2018
| caption = Isabel de Santa Rita Vas in 2018
| birth_name = Maria Isabel de Santa Rita Vás
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Playwright
* director
* professor
* author
}}
| notableworks = {{flatlist|
* ''Frescoes in the Womb: Six Plays from Goa''
* ''My Name is Goa''
* ''Who Sits Behind My Eyes''
}}
| awards = {{ubl|Goa Sudharop Fellowship <small>(2003)</small>
|Goa State Cultural Award for Excellence in Drama <small>(2012-2013)</small>}}
}}

'''Maria Isabel de Santa Rita Vás''' is an Indian author, playwright, theatre director and teacher. She is the founder of the Mustard Seed Art Company (an amateur theatre group from [[Goa]]) and has been associated from its inception with the Positive People (an [[NGO]] that spreads awareness on [[HIV/AIDS]] and provides support to its victims). With over 65 theatre productions under the banner of The Mustard Seed Art Company, Vás has written and directed a number of plays in English. She has primarily been an educator for more than 40 years. She is the author of ''Frescoes in the Womb: Six Plays from Goa''.<ref>{{cite news
|url = http://www.navhindtimes.in/the-speakers-of-tedx-panaji/
|title = The Speakers of TEDx-Panaji
|work = [[The Navhind Times]]
|date = Jan 24, 2017
|access-date = 2018-11-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115113413/http://www.navhindtimes.in/the-speakers-of-tedx-panaji/
|archive-date = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list
|last = Noronha
|first = Frederick
|author-link = Frederick Noronha
|mailing-list = GoaNet-News
|url = http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-news-goanet.org/2012-November/011137.html
|title = English theatre in Goa...
|date = Nov 11, 2012
|accessdate = 2018-11-17
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20181117233303/http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-news-goanet.org/2012-November/011137.html
|archivedate = 2018-11-17
|url-status = live
|df =
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| url = https://archive.org/details/TheatreInGoa25YearsLater
| title = English theatre in Goa, 25 years later
| website = Archive.org
| date = Nov 10, 2012
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| url = https://archive.org/details/IsabelSantaRitaVasSixEnglishPlaysFromGoa
| title = Isabel Santa Rita Vas: Six English Plays from Goa
| website = Archive.org
| date = Nov 11, 2012
}}</ref> She often features as a speaker at the [[Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF)]].<ref>
{{Cite news
|url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/All-that-will-happen-at-GALF-2017/123654.html
|title=All that will happen at GALF 2017
|work=oHeraldo
|access-date=2018-11-22
|language=en
}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Hailing from [[Aldona]], she currently resides in [[Dona Paula]], near the state's capital, [[Panaji]].<ref name="GoaStreetsCutMustard" /> She holds a Doctor of Philosophy ([[PhD]]) from [[Goa University]].<ref name="HeraldSeedToTree">{{cite news|last=D'Cruz|first=Dolcy|date=Sep 24, 2017|title=From a seed to a nourishing tree|work=Herald Goa|url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/From-a-seed-to-a-nourishing-tree/120478.html|url-status=live|access-date=2018-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115112922/https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/From-a-seed-to-a-nourishing-tree/120478.html|archive-date=2018-11-15}}</ref><ref name="Thesis">
{{cite thesis|last=Santa Rita Vas|first=Maria Isabel|author-link=Isabel de Santa Rita Vas|title=Performing Change: Theatre in the Context of Social Transformation in Three Asian Cultures in the Twentieth Century|pages=311|date=Aug 1, 2008|publisher=Goa University|location=Goa|hdl=10603/11937}}</ref>

==Career==
===Teaching===
Currently a guest faculty at the Department of English, [[Goa University]], Vás lectures MA students on creative writing. Prior to this, she worked as the head of the English Department, Dhempe College of Arts and Science, [[Panaji]], and retired after almost 40 years of service.<ref>{{cite news
|url = http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=29282
|title = Have you met TED?
|work = The Goan
|date = Jan 26, 2017
|access-date = 2018-11-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115113133/http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=29282
|archive-date = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
}}</ref> Holding an MA degree and a PhD, she specialises in [[Drama]], [[British literature|British]] and [[American Literature]].<ref>
{{Citation
|title=Self Study Report - DHEMPE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCE
|date=January 2015
|url=https://www.dhempecollege.edu.in/ssr.pdf
|page=294
}}</ref>

===Theatre===
In 1987, Vás was approached by some students outside of school to help them in producing and performing plays. The result was an amateur theatre group, ''The Mustard Seed Art Company''.<ref name="GoaStreetsCutMustard" /> Initially, her theatre group staged plays, based on social issues, by well-known playwrights. In 1992, she wrote and produced her first own original play, ''A Leaf in the Wind'', after being inspired by the hardships faced by her friend, [[Dominic D'Souza]], the first person to be diagnosed with HIV in Goa and India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ferrão |first=R. Benedito |date=2021-05-27 |title=40 years after AIDS, remembering Dominic D’Souza, the first Indian diagnosed with HIV infection |url=https://scroll.in/article/995839/40-years-after-aids-remembering-dominic-dsouza-the-first-indian-diagnosed-with-hiv-infection |access-date=2026-03-05 |website=Scroll.in |language=en}}</ref> She then started writing her own scripts, some of which were loosely based upon her own experiences: ''A Harvest of Gold'' (based on the exploitation of farmers), ''Who Killed the Ministers'' (a play about corruption in politics), ''Unmask the Mask'' (a play about social responsibility) and ''Little Boxes'' (a story about child labour). Her play, ''My Name is Goa'', was performed entirely in mime, and touched upon alcoholism and the culture and history of Goa. Subsequently, she and the Company won a prize for her play, ''Who Sits Behind My Eyes''. This play was about the life of a woman living in a fishing village, and reminded the modern generation to not forget or ignore its own traditions and community. It was inspired by a Tagore poem.<ref name="OutlookMustard">{{cite magazine
| url = https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/the-universe-in-a-mustard-seed/220318
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181118200320/https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/the-universe-in-a-mustard-seed/220318
| archive-date = 18 November 2018
| title = The Universe In A Mustard Seed
| magazine = Outlook India
| first = Maria
| last = Cardoso
| date = June 2, 2003
| access-date = November 16, 2018
| url-status = live
}}</ref> In 2016, she wrote a play titled ''All Those Pipe Dreams'', which revolved around a typically Goan family who had just bought and moved into an old mansion.<ref>{{cite news
|url = http://www.navhindtimes.in/for-the-love-of-theatre/
|title = For the love of theatre
|date = Feb 25, 2016
|work = The Navhind Times
|first = Janice
|last = Rodrigues
|access-date = 2018-11-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115113404/http://www.navhindtimes.in/for-the-love-of-theatre/
|archive-date = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
}}</ref> In 2017, the group presented ''Hold Up the Sky'', which was a fictional dramatisation on the life of [[Madame Mao]], the wife of [[Mao Zedong]], [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]] (in this work of historical fiction, she found her freedom in theatre).<ref name="HeraldSeedToTree" /> In 2018, she wrote the group's 66th play, ''Famous Nobodies''. In this fictional play, museum exhibits of spouses of famous personalities from history strike up a conversation. It focused on individuals like [[Kasturba Gandhi]], [[Eva Braun]], [[Marilyn Monroe]] and the wife of the Pulitzer Prize winner [[Arthur Miller]].<ref>{{cite news
|url = https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Are-you-a-second-choice/135665.html
|title = Are you a second choice?
|date = Sep 4, 2018
|work = Herald Goa
|access-date = 2018-11-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115153507/https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Are-you-a-second-choice/135665.html
|archive-date = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list
|last = Noronha
|first = Frederick
|author-link = Frederick Noronha
|mailing-list = GoaNet-News
|title = Isabel Santa Rita Vas: How green is my theatre...
|date = Apr 15, 2011
|url = https://goanet-news.goanet.narkive.com/U9PQaaze/isabel-de-santa-rita-vas-how-green-is-my-theatre
|accessdate = 2018-11-15
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115113143/https://goanet-news.goanet.narkive.com/U9PQaaze/isabel-de-santa-rita-vas-how-green-is-my-theatre
|archivedate = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
|df =
}}</ref>

Her Doctor of Philosophy ([[PhD]]) thesis, titled ''Performing Change: Theatre in the Context of Social Transformation in Three Asian Cultures in the Twentieth Century'', explores theatre in China, India (specifically, West Bengal) and Sri Lanka from 1950 to 2000.<ref name="Thesis"/>

===Other works===
The 250th birth anniversary of [[Abbé Faria]], the noted Goan hypnotist, was celebrated in [[Candolim]] in 2006. For this occasion, Vás made a video titled ''In Search of Abbé Faria'' and wrote a dramatization on the life of Faria, titled ''Kator Re Bhaji'' ({{Translation|''Cut the vegetables''}}).<ref>
{{Citation
| first = Lee
| last = Siegel
| author-link = Lee Siegel (professor and novelist)
| title = Trance-Migrations: Stories of India, Tales of Hypnosis
| place = Chicago | publisher = The University of Chicago Press
| year = 2014
| page = 103
| isbn = 9780226185323
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nC-OBAAAQBAJ&q=Trance-Migrations:+Stories+of+India,+Tales+of+Hypnosis
}}</ref>

She knows [[Portugal|Portuguese]] language, culture and its theatre and has been featured as a guest speaker on the topic of theatre in Portuguese in 20th century Goa.<ref>{{cite news
|url = http://www.uniindia.com/seminar-on-cultures-language--literature-of-goa-held-in-goa/states/news/1120539.html
|title = Seminar on cultures, languages & literature of Goa held in Goa
|work = United News of India
|date = Jan 29, 2018
|access-date = 2018-11-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115153439/http://www.uniindia.com/seminar-on-cultures-language--literature-of-goa-held-in-goa/states/news/1120539.html
|archive-date = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
}}</ref> In 2017, she translated the play ''No Flowers, No Wreaths'' written by [[Orlando da Costa]], current [[Portuguese Prime Minister]] [[António Costa]]'s late father, into English. In a ceremony, she was given the opportunity of personally presenting her translation of the work to the prime minister, who is of [[Goan]] origin.<ref name="GoaStreetsCutMustard">{{cite web
|url = http://goastreets.com/maria-isabel-de-santa-rita-vas-cutting-the-mustard/
|title = Maria Isabel de Santa Rita Vas: Cutting the Mustard
|website = Goa Streets
|date = Jan 19, 2017
|last = Lapedis
|first = Hilary
|access-date = 2018-11-15
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181115154747/http://goastreets.com/maria-isabel-de-santa-rita-vas-cutting-the-mustard/
|archive-date = 2018-11-15
|url-status = live
}}</ref>

==Community work==
Apart from theatre, Vás has been actively involved in community work.

===Positive People===
She was a close friend of the late [[Dominic D'Souza]], Goa's first documented HIV patient (having worked with him on Mustard Seed plays). Together, they founded Positive People — Goa's first counselling group, an [[NGO]], to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS. The discrimination and hardship faced by Dominic because of his disease inspired her to write and produce the Company's first original play in 1992, titled, ''A Leaf in the Wind''.<ref name="OutlookMustard" /><ref name="Firstpost">
{{cite web
|title = Students discriminated: Goa has always treated HIV positive patients badly
|url = http://www.firstpost.com/india/students-discriminated-goa-has-always-treated-hiv-positive-patients-badly-1633795.html
|date = Jul 25, 2014
|access-date = 17 August 2014
|first = Mayabhushan
|last = Nagvenkar
|work = Firstpost
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140728201233/http://www.firstpost.com/india/students-discriminated-goa-has-always-treated-hiv-positive-patients-badly-1633795.html
|archive-date = 2014-07-28
|url-status = live
}}</ref> The 2005 Indian film ''[[My Brother…Nikhil]]'', directed by [[Onir]], was based on D'Souza's life although this fact goes unmentioned in the credits.<ref>
{{cite web
| url = http://www.asianage.com/entertainment/bollywood/100517/remembering-dominic-dsouza.html
| title = Remembering Dominic D'Souza
| date = May 10, 2017
| work = The Asian Age
| first = Dhaval
| last = Roy
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181119172753/http://www.asianage.com/entertainment/bollywood/100517/remembering-dominic-dsouza.html
| archive-date = 19 November 2018
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ferrão |first=R. Benedito |date=2021-05-27 |title=40 years after AIDS, remembering Dominic D’Souza, the first Indian diagnosed with HIV infection |url=https://scroll.in/article/995839/40-years-after-aids-remembering-dominic-dsouza-the-first-indian-diagnosed-with-hiv-infection |access-date=2026-03-05 |website=Scroll.in |language=en}}</ref>

===Other ventures===
In 2016, she joined a new project called "Play Fools", where artistes and theatre personalities from different backgrounds (both, linguistic and professional) came together under a common banner to learn out of each other's experience.<ref name="ToIWorldStage" />

==Works==
===Books===
* ''Frescoes in the Womb: Six Plays from Goa'' (2012)

===Plays===
* ''A Leaf in the Wind'' (1992)
* ''A Harvest of Gold''
* ''Who Killed the Ministers''
* ''Unmask the Mask''
* ''Little Boxes''
* ''My Name is Goa''
* ''Who Sits Behind My Eyes''
* ''Kator Re Bhaji'' (2006)
* ''All Those Pipe Dreams'' (2016)
* ''Hold Up the Sky'' (2017)
* ''Famous Nobodies'' (2018)

===Other works===
* ''No Flowers, No Wreaths'' (by Orlando Costa, translated into English)
* ''In Search of Abbé Faria'' (2006, video)

==Awards==
* Goa Sudharop Fellowship (awarded by an NGO working for the betterment of Goa) in 2003<ref name="OutlookMustard" />
* Goa State Cultural Award for Excellence in Drama for the year 2012-13<ref
name="ToIWorldStage">
{{cite news
| title = For this teacher, all the world's a stage
| url = https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52274315.cms
| date = May 15, 2016
| work = The Times of India
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181119172328/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/For-this-teacher-all-the-worlds-a-stage/articleshow/52274315.cms
| archive-date = 19 November 2018
| url-status = live
| access-date = 15 November 2018
}}
</ref>

==See also==
* [[Goa Arts and Literature Festival|Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{YouTube|tiu9OrwGmZM|Flying together with theatre {{!}} Isabel De Santa Rita Vas {{!}} TEDxPanaji}}
* {{YouTube|t1PBrcPxAWQ|Isabela Santa Rita Vas: How green is my theatre...}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vas, Isabel de Santa Rita}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Writers from North Goa district]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Goa]]
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:English-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Women writers from Goa]]

Isabel de Santa Rita Vás - Revision history

KatharinaFlanery at 20:57, 20 April 2026