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Shahid Nadeem, award-winning Pakistani playwright and director of Ajoka Theatre, is joined in conversation by Fawzia Afzal-Khan, professor of gender and sexuality studies at Princeton University.
In association with an upcoming staged reading of "Lawrence in Lahore: the Lost Years," Fawzia Afzal-Khan hosts director of the Ajoka Theatre Shahid Nadeem, whose work has been widely performed and honored both within Pakistan and internationally.
During the dark days of Zia up Haq, a ban on most forms of artistic expression led Shahid Nadeem to run an underground pro-democracy theatre movement. The conversation explores how art and theatre in South Asia promoted peaceful forms of protest toward the advancement of decolonization, secular democracy and regional peace, translating the lessons learned to the context of the global rise in authoritarianism.
Doors open at 10:45 a.m. for coffee and pastries and the conversation begins at 11 a.m.
About the Artists:
Shahid Nadeem is Pakistan’s leading playwright and head of the renowned Ajoka Theatre. His plays have been widely performed and published in Pakistan and India. His plays have also been performed around the world including “Bulha” at Hammersmith Theatre, London, Tramway, Glasgow and Helsignor, Denmark, “Amrika Chalo” at Davis Centre for Performing Arts, Georgetown University, Washington, “Bala King” at Black Box Theatre, Oslo, “Burqavaganza” at Bravo for Women Theatre, San Francisco, “Acquittal” at Highways, Santa Monica and Theatre Row, New York, and “Dara” at Lyttleton Theatre, London and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, US. His plays have been translated into English and published by Oxford University Press, Nick Hern Publishers and in several anthologies. He was awarded the President of Pakistan’s Medal for the Pride of Performance in 2009. He has also directed plays for stage and television and organized Theatre for Peace festivals in India and Pakistan. He has contributed to leading Pakistani and Indian newspapers and BBC’s Urdu Service,and has produced documentaries on cultural topics including the Lahore Museum, Punjabi customs, the poet Muhammad Iqbal and painter Sadeqain.
Fawzia Afzal-Khan is a University Distinguished Scholar, Professor of English, and former Director of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Montclair State University, who is a Visiting Faculty member of the GSS Program at Princeton. She is a feminist cultural materialist whose research interests lie at the intersection of Postcolonial Literary and Performance Studies. Her most recent publications include her book on Pakistani cultural history, "Siren Song: Understanding Pakistan Through its Women Singers" (OUP 2020), and a co-edited anthology: "Milestones in Feminist Performance" (Routledge 2024). She is currently working on a book tentatively titled "Muslim Drag: A Disruptive Genealogy of Queer Performativities in Pakistan." She is a Contributing Editor of TDR (The Drama Review), a trained vocalist in North Indian classical khayal, and a published playwright and poet.
Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
