Anoushka Anand
Anoushka Anand is in her final year at Con U, specialising in Design for the Theatre, and minoring in Film Animation. Her past credits include designing the set for Geordie's To Kill a Mockingbird (2006), lights for Concordia's Motel Chronicles (2005), and costume for Concordia's Blood and Ice (2005). She also assisted New-York based lighting designer Linnaea Tillet, for the unconventional design at the CCA exhibit Senses and the City (2005-2006).
Andrea Thring
I will be graduating from the Theatre and Development program this year very excited about the possibilities and newfound knowledge I have gained from my experiences in the last two years. I am anxious to see what wisdom and enlightenment will be waiting for me in India. It will definitely be an eye-opening experience with regards to my dreams of bringing together communities through theatre and the arts. I can’t wait!
Sean Frey
I am finishing my final year in Concordia's Theatre and Development program and am excited about embarking on a journey to India to explore alternative approaches to activism, gain other perspectives on human rights issues and to learn how to work amongst a myriad of perspectives. I am particularly interested in community development, communicating through the arts and exploration through play.
I am a third year law student at Université de Montréal. I am graduating this year and will be pursuing Bar school to become a lawyer. I have travelled through South East Asia and India in the past. India has been an incredible cultural experience for me and I developed a strong interest in human rights. This project is giving me the opportunity to travel in India again and to expand my knowledge of human rights introducing an art component and a culturally different point of view. I am looking forward to participate in this project in order to help target and overcome different social issues that the Park Extension community are facing using the skills I have learned in India.
Stephanie
I'm a fourth year Theatre and Development student. I'm excited for the Rights Here! project for so many reasons, a few being: -to explore my own relationship with travel & study -to increase my awareness of human rights issues and experiment with art as a form of awareness and discussion -to work with this group of people with very different backgrounds.
Carolyn Howard
I don’t know exactly what to expect from India, as I am certain to feel completely culture shocked, but nevertheless I enter into this project hoping that it will transform my attitudes about having chosen the arts as a form of study and practice. I would like to be able to expand my knowledge surrounding the relationship between human rights advocacy and the theatre. I am also interested in challenging my ideas about traditional genres of theatre by learning a new form and applying it to our work in park extension in the spring. It should prove to be one exciting, mind-altering experience and I just can’t wait!
Maya Dhawan
My name is Maya Dhawan and I am a local actor of French and EastIndian descent. I graduated from theatre studies at the University ofOttawa in 2003 and have been working in the arts ever since. Some of my personal goals for the Right's Here! project are:- to explore a new form of theatre and performance and it's role in Indian society- to get to know the Montreal community better- to gain more knowledge, hands-on experience, and insight into therealm of human rights activism
Polina Smith
It's my second year in the theater and development program and I fell asleep last night thinking this education has been one of the biggest blessings of my life; a holistic appropach to understanding ourselves, our community and our art. Through theater I seek ritual, communal gatherings and safe havens of spirituality that are devoid of exclusionary walls. To continue this exploration in a country with a rich ancient history of theater and ritual and divinity is more than I ever could have dreamed.
Sarah Chenevert Beaudoin
Graduating TDEV student, with no formal idea of what in the big big world will tempt me next, I am dreaming of India, street theater, the Magdalene Islands, Eastern Europe and a little niche to further my readings on everything from Queer Theory and Design to Sustainable Community Development and Political Activism. Mostly dreaming of a way to keep marveling at what inspiring people do for our little planet.
Jasmin Scarf
My name is Jasmine Scarf and I am a fourth year Theatre and Development student at Concordia. Originally from Vancouver, I have transplanted myself in Montreal to study and soak up many of the great things this city has to offer. Some of my personal goals for the Right's Here! project are: - to learn how street theatre is used as a tool for social organization and community activism in India - to learn more about the history of human rights, and the issues that exist in Canada and India in regards to human rights abuses - to put into practice some of the ideas and techniques acquired in India when working with youth in Park extension this spring - to develop a greater understanding of how social change and community growth can take place
Rahul Varma, Teesri Duniya Theatre, Artistic Director and Dramaturge
Rahul Varma immigrated to Canada from India in 1976 and co-founded Teesri Duniya Theatre in 1981. He has been the company’s Artistic Director since 1986. He has written over 10 plays in both Hindi and English. His critically acclaimed play Counter Offence has been translated into both French (L’affaire Farhadi), and Italian (Il caso Farhadi). His most recent play, Bhopal has been translated into Hindi (Zehreeli Hawa), and French. More information on Rahul Varma can be found at the
Edward Little, Rights Here! Project Artistic Director and Teesri Associate Artistic Director
Edward (Ted) Little is also Editor in Chief of alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Concordia University where he coordinates the department¹s specialization in Theatre and Development. He holds a BFA (acting and directing) from the University of Victoria, an MA (Canadian Drama) from the University of Guelph, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His areas of specialization include Community-based and Popular Theatre, and he has directed and served as consultant on numerous large and small-scale projects across Canada. His list of publications includes articles, reviews, and chapters in Canadian Theatre Review, alt.theatre, Modern Drama, Theatre Research in Canada, Contemporary Issues in Canadian Drama, and The Theatre of Form and the Production of Meaning. His recent publications include “Towards a Poetics of Popular Theatre: Directing and Authorship in Community-based Work” in Directing and Authorship in Western Drama (Ottawa: Legas, 2006).
Rachael Van Fossen, Rights Here! Creative/Staging Director and Playwright
Rachael Van Fossen was the founding artistic director of Common Weal, a company acknowledged as a Canadian leader in community-based arts. Among other awards, Rachael’s work developing and directing community plays in Saskatchewan in the 1990’s garnered a national race unity award for bridges built between First Nations peoples and people of European descent. She has frequently acted as a consultant for similar projects across Canada, and has traveled to England, Ireland, France, Greece and Australia to lead workshops and/or speak about her work in community-engaged and often intercultural theatre. In her four years as Artistic Director of Black Theatre Workshop (2001-2005) she successfully integrated community arts programming into the life of this Montreal professional theatre company.
Mireille Deschênes, Rights Here! Project Leader
Mireille Deschênes is a principal and senior lawyer at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Ms Deschênes specializes in employment, social security and discrimination law. From 1993 to 1998, Ms Deschênes was a member of the Québec Human Rights Tribunal, a specialized tribunal belonging to a broader forum of institutions aimed at ensuring the effective respect of human rights nationally, regionally and internationally. Ms Deschênes is a frequent author and speaker on social security and human rights law. She has published a number of articles in academic journals in the field of social security and human rights. She serves as an executive member of the Equality Committee of the Québec division of the Canadian Bar Association, which is devoted to the promotion of equality and the elimination of discrimination.
Dipti Gupta, Rights Here! Videographer
Dipti Gupta, is currently a teacher in the department of Cinema-Video-Communication at Dawson College, Montreal. Dipti is also a part-time faculty member of the Communications Department at Concordia University. She teaches courses on writing for the media and gender constructs in the media. Dipti Gupta has worked in the field of documentary filmmaking holding diverse positions both in India and in Canada. She has directed short documentaries on social and political issues in these two countries. She is currently the President of Teesri Duniya Theatre – a Montreal-based professional theatre company. She has worked actively in the past as a board member of the McGill Child Care Center, Playwrights Workshop of Montreal and acted as the graduate representative at the McGill Center for Research and Teaching on Women at McGill University. Having a strong background in documentary filmmaking and theatre practices, she strives to connect theory and practice through her work in academia and socially relevant work through the mediums of theatre and film.
Nisha Sajnani, Community Outreach Coordinator in the Park Ex neighbourhood
Nisha Sajnani is the artistic director of Creative Alternatives in Montreal, and holds a Masters Degree in Drama Therapy from Concordia University. Her creative practice involves autobiographical performance with culturally diverse community groups including Montreal’s South Asian Women’s Community Centre. As an actor, Nisha has worked extensively on social issues relating to South Asian children in collaboration with the South Asian Women's Community Centre, Teesri Duniya Theatre, and community groups in the Park Extension district of Montreal.
Jaswant Gunder, Rights Here! cultural and community health consultant
Jaswant Guzder, M.D., is a specialist in Child and Transcultural Psychiatry. She is head of Child Psychiatry at the Jewish General Hospital, an Associate Professor at McGill University, a psychoanalyst and a painter. She is on the Board of Teesri Duniya Theatre.
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