An Invitation to Godspeed

You are invited to the first of three rehearsed readings of plays that have won the TOTO for Creative Writing in earlier years.  MD Pallavi’s version of Neel Chaudhuri’s Godspeed, which won the TOTO in 2009, will be performed at Atta Galatta (178, 5th Main, 9th Cross, 1st Stage, Indiranagar, Bengaluru 560038) on Saturday, 28 October 2023 at 6.30 p.m.

These readings form part of a series of events that connect to young artists whose work TFA has encouraged and validated over the last 20 years. 

About Godspeed

In Godspeed (originally developed with Kriti Pant at the Tadpole Repertory in 2008), a girl cleans up a room that belonged to a boy who died suddenly, finding comfort in songs from his music collection. It was transplanted from an abandoned idea by a writer-friend and written as part of a two-hander with another monologue titled Good Hands. Both pieces build on a mode of informal, oral storytelling, telling stories about people we know or may have known in our lifetime.

The jurors for the 2009 TOTO Awards for Writing described Godspeed “remarkably well-structured, revealing an imagination that is finely attuned to the stringent requirements of performance”. 

 

About Neel

Neel Chaudhuri is a playwright and theatre director based in New Delhi. He is a founder member and former Artistic Director of The Tadpole Repertory. His plays include Godspeed (TOTO Award for Creative Writing 2009), Taramandal (The Hindu MetroPlus Playwright Award 2010), Still and Still Moving and Quicksand. His most recent work includes Meridian, an interactive audio performance, and Rihla, a play with Aagaaz Theatre Trust. Neel is visiting faculty at Ashoka University and the National School of Drama and is the head of dramaturgy at Drama School Mumbai. Neel has received the Vinod Doshi Fellowship, the Aditya Vikram Birla Kalakiran Puraskar and the Shankar Nag Award for his work in the theatre.

About Pallavi

Bengaluru-based singer, actor and composer, MD Pallavi has been performing Kannada poetry (bhavageethe) for the last 28 years. She was awarded the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar for her contribution to the field of Bhav Sangeet and the Kempegowda State Award for her contribution in the field of music. Her performance in C Sharp C Blunt won her the META Best Actress Award. She has acted in Girish Kasaravalli’s Gulabi Talkies and Prakash Belawadi's Stumble, both national award winning films, while Playgrounds, a short film she co-wrote and directed, won the best film award at the Hong Kong Film Festival and at IFFLA, Los Angeles. Pallavi has been part of many international and interdisciplinary collaborations. 

Poster by MD Pallavi