Today we’re hearing from Lavina Jadhwani, Chicago-based director, adaptor, and activist. She’s directed for Writers Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Remy Bumppo, the side project, and many others.
Friday, October 16, 2020
WHAT WE DO Interview Series: Lavina Jadhwani
Today we’re hearing from Lavina Jadhwani, Chicago-based director, adaptor, and activist. She’s directed for Writers Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Remy Bumppo, the side project, and many others.
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4 comments:
I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to work with Lavinia Jadhwani this coming spring semester. That is, of course, if she stays on it this time. It is comforting to read that she as a director spends a lot of time on prep. It makes my job as a stage manager a little bit easier as I know she also has probably thought through a lot of the difficult scenarios we may or may not face while we navigate creating a play via zoom. It also is nice to see that she is ‘eliminating perfectionism’ from her work. I think that that is so important as theatre artists. As other articles have stated, and as she says in this interview, it is a way to resist white supremacy and it also is a way just to be easy on ourselves as we navigate a new way of being. Lavinia seems like a great person, and, not to sound too ‘California Hippie’, seems to have a great solid energy that will be amazing to have on Men On Boats.
I don’t know who this is but based on the comment above me, I assume she’s connected to Carnegie Mellon university School of Drama in some way. Is she teaching ? Or directing Men On Boats? Anyway she sounds great. I like what she said about listening and learning from students and those she directs. It reminded me of something that my director always said, when you walk into a room as a director, you have something to learn from every person. It’s very limiting to have a mentality that because I’m the director I know everything. I also loved loved loved this quote of hers: ”We need to stop operating from a place of scarcity and start operating from a place of abundance. The notion that “when you get more, I get less” is colonizer nonsense intended to pit minorities against each other. When the tide rises, we all rise together.“ I read it multiple times to just take it in. When we believe money, time, resources are scarce we become fearful, aggressive and depressed but she’s right the world is so abundant and that positive might set will help all.
I always find it fascinating to read about people's creative process in theater. It was particularly striking to me that she first described herself as a director of plays but then said now she has turned into a facilitator. I also really enjoyed reading about how she believes we should "stop operating from a place of scarcity and start operating from a place of abundance". I think so often we don't think in this way and think in a more negative mindset but I like the way she thinks much better. I think that often there is so much competition in theater and she instead holds that attitude that "when the tide rises, we all rise together" which is a much better more sustainable mindset The process of creating theater is a really thoughtful one. There is a lot of thinking and planning that goes into it and I can tell through this article that she excels at this.
After reading about Lavina Jadhwani’s art, I would love to read more interviews from this series. I think it’s a fun little glimpse into a person’s life that we usually wouldn’t get, as they are behind the scenes. It’s especially interesting to hear about how COVID has shaped their jobs and responsibilities. I feel like we hear a lot about the larger scale impact it’s had but not as many individual stories of artists. There were many things she said that I really related to. One that really stood out to me was how she is trying to eliminate perfectionism, urgency, and other characteristics of white supremacy. I am working on making those same changes. Additionally, I really resonated with her stance on scarcity and abundance. Focusing on scarcity is pitting minorities against each other, which is extremely harmful when we should be working together.
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