Poems For People Who Hate Poetry

Send us a textWhat happens when an epic Hindu poem collides with modern workplace bias?Artistic-director Sharanya Rao joins Kirk to trace three big chapters of her journey: consulting on Mahabharata Tales for Austin Shakespeare, founding Leela Indian Community Theatre, and creating Anklets in the Boardroom, a Theatre of the Oppressed production where spectators jump onstage to rewrite real discrimination scenarios. https://www.leelatheatre.org/ In this conversation:Cutting the Mahabharata down to a 2-hour stage piece (and the “must-have” scenes)Why Austin needed a South-Asian community stage—and how Leela was born in 2012Theatre of the Oppressed 101: “spect-actors,” no spectatorsHow story circles turn real workplace stories into live scriptsThe power of name-pronunciation, audience agency, and non-violent rehearsalMay 16-18 performances of Anklets in the Boardroom at Austin PBS