top of page

Meet The Team

WhatsApp Image 2021-11-15 at 09.45.23.jpeg

Ayesha Susan Thomas

Writer, Director

Ayesha Susan Thomas is a theatre facilitator currently based in Bangalore, India. She spends most days ruminating about Cats, Pills and new Gin infusions, and is somewhat obsessed with everything that plays with Gender, Education, Sexuality and Medicine in a suitably irreverent and unapologetic way :)

anoop.png

Anoop Unnikrishnan

Sound Designer

Anoop Unnikrishnan an independent music producer and audio engineer currently based in Kerala. Anoop says "I often find myself getting lost in my own weird world of electronic- folk-tribal soundscapes. Occasionally I like to DJ my sounds to an intimate crowd and watch them smile. Theatre sound production is my recent field of exploration and I greatly enjoy it; for the sheer amount of freedom it comes with and the element of never ending curiosity" smoothly blended in with purpose.

Karen+D'Mello.jpeg

Karen D'mello

Dramaturg

Karen D’Mello is a theatre maker and educator from Bangalore. She is a co-founder of KathaSiyah and Same Same. Karen also works as a drama educator with children and young adults. Before embarking on a career in theatre, Karen studied engineering, and she has also worked in the IT industry and in advertising. Karen also loves sleeping!

WhatsApp Image 2022-01-23 at 4.07.15 PM.jpeg

Freya Kothari

Performer

Freya Kothari is a cross form theatre practitioner. She graduated with a Bachelors in Theatre Studies, Media and English from Christ University, Bangalore and from the Drama School Mumbai. 

Her practice has evolved from holistic theatre making across all departments to producing theatre nationally and internationally.

She has produced ad films and takes up projects as an art director.

Her first film is down to release and she is currently occupied with finding collaborative ways of theatre making that include science, technology, visual art and performance.

Sunayana

Sunayana Premchander

Producer

Sunayana is the mother of 2 cats and one very feline dog. When she isn't snuggling them you can find her snoozing (mouth open) in odd positions, brewing coffee, trying to organize her feminist coworkers, or making theatre with KathaSiyah.

Tanvi Shah photo_edited.jpg

Tanvi Shah

Dramaturg

Tanvi is a former avid reader, current avid feeder – has nearly perfected the art of eating a buffet. If she remarks on your light design plans, homemade pickle stash, and threadbare quilts, you've probably made her feel at home. She prefers the absurdity of making theatre to the absurdity of not making theatre, to paraphrase Szymborska. When Tanvi isn't perched atop the Scoville scale, she is prepping for train journeys around India with a dog whose name means 'meri jaan'

mallika.png

Mallika Shah

Publicity & Opportunities Producer

Mallika is an actor, writer and winner of ceiling staring competitions.

WhatsApp Image 2022-01-23 at 4.07.52 PM.jpeg

Chandani Naik

Performer

Chandini Naik an incurable optimist with a lust for life and a penchant to try anything new.

gaurav.png

Gaurav Singh

Technical Director

Gaurav Singh is a theatre-maker, technical designer and arts manager whose artistic practice investigates live performance and audience- performer interactivity using technology and distanced composition. He works with Kaivalya Plays (India) and The Nursery Theatre (UK) and freelances across the arts and cultural sector in different capacities.

charu.png

Charulatha Dasappa

Associate Producer

Charu is a book editor and an Art-Maker who may or may not have ice-cold hands and feet, depending on where you find her.

WhatsApp Image 2022-01-20 at 9.09.12 PM.jpeg

Krupa M V

Visual Artist

Krupa M V aka KOP is a Visual Artist, Animation Film maker and an Illustrator. Her identity is fluid between a seal and an otter, she used to be fun at parties now she just wants to be left alone.

Work With Us

Do you have a sordid tale? 

Do you have a lived experience of how medicine has misunderstood your body or your mind? 

Are you an artist or creator seeking opportunities to tell your story in a medium of your choice? 

 

Make a new sordid tale: 
 

Call for writers, directors, creators of any and all artistic media. 

Potential topics could include:

 

  • sexual and reproductive health

  • gender minorities 

  • The history of medicine  

  • medical ethics

Get in touch with us at kathasiyah@gmail.com

About KathaSiyah

  • Instagram
  • Facebook

KathaSiyah is a multilingual, feminist, performance collective centered around ethics of care and a deliberate awareness of our own position in relation to the work we make.

KathaSiyah is a group for artists chasing an inquiry; it is a space where ideas float, take shape, or just exist. It is a place to collaborate, play and develop artistic responses to hopes, fears, and questions we have about the world we live in, as well as our relationship to it.

At the core of each project is an exploration of process that leads to the discovery of form—performative, artistic, interdisciplinary. KathaSiyah is excited by the merging of disciplines, the creation of new forms, and ways to voice. The work it creates seeks to challenge conventions through what is said and how it is said. It responds to the world it sees, challenges itself, moulds itself to the times we live in, and embraces change as it grows. In its discovery of an evolving artistic practice, KathaSiyah invites artists to join in the exploration of what it means to be creators, collectives, institutions and spaces. It both screams loudly, and speaks in gentler tones - the voice of KathaSiyah is female.

Formed in 2015, it is a Registered Trust, therefore, donations made to Katha Siyah are deductible under Section 80G(5)(vi).

Previous works include: Taramandal (English, Hindi, Bengali), GidaGiduga (Kannada), 3 (English), Nagamandala (Malayalam).

About Asia Safe Abortion Partnership

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP) is a regional network of individuals and organisations working for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Founded in 2008, ASAP aims to promote women’s sexual and reproductive rights and health in Asia by reducing unsafe abortion and by promoting access to comprehensive safe abortion services. Its members include doctors, nurses, midwives, lawyers, and researchers, among others.

bottom of page