THEATRE ARTS PROGRAM (TAP) Faculty

Arundhati Raja

Arundhati Raja grew up in the UK and is a graduate of The University of Birmingham with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Physiology followed by a B.Ed. on her return to India.

She made her debut on the Bangalore stage in 1977 and has portrayed numerous and varied roles. In 2005, she premiered the English version of Girish Karnad’s new one-woman play, A Heap of Broken Images performing over thirty shows in Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai.

Arundhati began directing in 1982 and has since then directed over forty productions. These range from serious drama to comedies to the Broadway musical West Side Story. Her landmark productions in Jagriti have been Girish Karnad’s The Dreams of Tipu Sultan and Yayati.

She began her teaching career in 1979 at the Sheila Kothawalla School for the Deaf. She then continued at the Bangalore International School. She was part of the group that launched Mallya Aditi International School in 1984 where she taught General Science, ICSE Biology, Computer Studies and Drama. She left there in 1994 in order to pursue theatre full time.

She has directed several school productions and conducted teacher induction programs on communication skills and the use of drama in the curriculum. She has run drama workshops since 1994.

Rebecca Spurgeon

Rebecca Spurgeon is a Director, Actor, Lighting Designer, Drama Teacher and curriculum designer. She began training in Western Classical Piano and vocals from age 5. At 18, she decided to focus on Theatre and has spent the last 15 years working in the Theatre, as an actor, production designer, festival director and more recently as Director. In the work she directs, she is drawn to Form, Physical Theatre, Absurdity and Sound. Her plays are typically devised and include a combination of all these aspects. Her most recent work is Euripedes’ Medea.

Her work as a Lighting Designer and her approach to Lighting performances is similarly inspired. Since she began her work in the Theatre, she has acted in over 30 productions and has significant experience as a Festival Director and Curator.

She curated performances for the 20th edition of the Thespo Festival, Mumbai and for Jagriti's annual festivals. She believes in making time to engage with local new work and is often invited to watch rehearsals and engage with emerging Directors and Theatre makers. She also loves to share her love for the Theatre with children and has taught Drama now for many years. She has also led several corporate workshops that integrate Theatre with communication and creative thinking.

As an Arts Administrator, Rebecca has worked at Jagriti for over a decade in various capacities. She currently heads the Education & Training department and is Artistic Director at Jagriti Theatre, Bangalore.

Rency Philip

Rency Philip is a Bangalore-based theatre maker and drama educator trained in contemporary puppetry, physical comedy, and masks. Her work includes devised theatre, postdramatic performances, and digital media, staged at various festivals and venues. She also works as a scenographer and conducts workshops to build puppets using found objects and materials. Recently, Rency has ventured into digital media and is thrilled by the internet as a site of performance and nonsense, producing short-format video and audio content.

Samragni Dasgupta

Samragni Dasgupta is a Bangalore based artist. She is the co-founder of Last Page Collective. Samragni has directed several plays, including Dance Like a Man by Mahesh Dattani, and Constellations by Nick Payne. As an actor, she has worked with Kirtana Kumar, Rebecca Spurgeon and Sandbox Collective. She is a part of ‘Border Busters’, and Indo-German theatre collaboration between Schauburg Theatre Munich, and Theatre Lab Youth Bangalore. Samragni was part of the first group of artists to be awarded the Gender Bender grant. She currently works in the policy space, and in theatre and the arts.

Shweta Desai

Shweta Desai is an actor, writer and a healthcare clown. An alumnus of Mr. Anupam Kher's Actor Prepares, Mumbai. Her further training as part of residencies and workshops include Voice Culture by Veena Pani Chawla, Navarasa Sadhana by Venu G, Acting Elements by Atul Mongia, Ecole Nomade – a theatre workshop by Ariane Mnouchkine and Theatre Du Soliel, Healthcare Clowning by Igor Narovski, Suzie Ferguson and Linda..

She has acted in films like Harivu - a National Award Winning Best film In Kannada, Rani Rani Rani, Ringmaster, Gultoo, Prakash Raj's Oggarane/Ullavacharu Biryani, Pawan Kumar's Lucia, KM Chaitanya's Parari to name a few.

She has acted in theatre productions of Sandbox Collective, Indian Ensemble, Still Space Theatre, Rangashankara’s AHA, Benaka, Suchitra, Spandana Theatre, Vasp. Her extensive explorative devised based work as a writer and performer is the solo play Burn My Diaries, which explored mental health and well-being.

Currently, she visits Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health every month as a healthcare clown interacting with the children in the hospital. Parallelly, she is working on making music videos of songs written by her and producing a play. She designs workshop material that are subject centric and requirement specific for people in the creative field and for anyone looking to work towards a specific intent.

She writes :
"What interests me about working in the field of education is that through theatre, I get an opportunity to hold space for imagination, expression, and creativity where empathy and human connection can be understood and lived. I believe in an individual's overall growth for collective progress."

jagriti