We’re thrilled to continue our Featured Artist Series here at Bliss Street Studios with Naveen Bahar Choudhury, our artist for the month of May.
Naveen is a dear friend and one of the most talented emerging playwrights I know. I remember sitting in the theatre after hearing a reading of one of her plays, Lies That Speak to Me, crying, because I had been moved by the piece, and also so impressed by the accuracy of her observation and the emotional complexity of her characters. Naveen is a master of comedy and invariably insightful. She ventures freely into the theatrical and the absurd, but never loses connection to a core humanity that infuses her pieces.
Below are her answers to our Seven Questions: enjoy!
Q. What has quickened your pulse recently?
A. Hearing my play, Skin, being performed by two talented actors in a reading at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe! I’m sure every playwright experiences a change in pulse rate, blood pressure, and synaptic firing, among other things, when they see/hear their work performed. Lucky for me, this was very positive adrenaline rush experience.
Q. What are you reading/watching/listening to these days?
A. I am reading Eating Animals, a non-fiction book by one of my favorite novelists, Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s basically a collection of essays about farmed animals, eating meat, and not eating meat. I’ve been watching a lot of interesting and challenging plays off-Broadway, including Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Neighbors at The Public Theater, and Najla Said’s Palestine at New York Theatre Workshop. I wish that this was the stuff that tourists knew to see (as opposed to the typical Broadway musical) — it would make their trip to New York a lot more rewarding — and a little less expensive! I’ve been listening to lots of random things, in highly random order, thanks to my iPod. I love when Nine Inch Nails comes on right after Bach’s flute sonatas. It doesn’t really work the other way around for some reason; if you have an explanation for this, please call me.
Q. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
A. Project Runway. What? It’s very compelling! I am usually repelled by reality television, but Project Runway is quite different. It is less about the cattiness between competitors and more about the actual work that goes into making clothes. I like watching people go through the creative process from start to finish. There’s also something gratifying about watching people make something with their hands.
Q. Whose work do you admire?
A. This question is out of control! There are so many people whose work I admire. Off the top of my head, the first name that comes to mind is Alan Ball. I admire his plays, certainly, but even more than that, American Beauty is one of my favorite movies and I can’t say enough about Six Feet Under. He’s somehow able to explore the darkest aspects of being human in a way that is completely honest and un-sugar-coated, but also tasteful and dignified, humorous, and even hopeful — without being sentimental. How does he do that? I want my work to do that.
Q. Where’s your favorite place to do creative work?
A. My apartment. It’s the perfect atmosphere. I’m surrounded by artwork that’s meaningful to me, and I have sole control over the music, temperature, and humidity. It’s also a place where I can talk to myself, pace, and change positions often –I’ll move from desk to kitchen table to futon to bed.
Q. You’ve been given a $5,000 budget for your next project. What would you do?
A. I would give it to a theatre company that wants to produce one of my plays, and needs about that much encouragement to take a risk on my work.
Q. How can we find out more about your work?
A. My website. Oh, wait, I don’t have one. If you’d like to help me make one, please contact me. Until then, these are good resources:
My page on Southasianplaywrights.org: http://southasianplaywrights.org/?page_id=567
My page on Doollee.com: http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsC/choudhury-naveen-bahar.html
If you’d like to see my work on stage, the next opportunity will be in New York City on Monday, May 17. A monologue I wrote will be performed as part of a benefit for Haiti relief at the Abe Burrows Theatre, 721 Broadway; Tisch School of the Arts. The benefit will be produced by CAFE (Caribbean Association of Females in Entertainment); all proceeds will go to Partners in Health (http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti).
Finally, if you’d like to get in touch with me directly, just ask the managers of Bliss Street Studios how you can find me — they tend to know my whereabouts.
I loved reading your answers to Colette and Evan’s questions.