An intersex character in throes of south Asian identity crisis.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The About Face Theatre, a production house in Chicago that puts on shows catered towards the LGBT [Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender] community, is co-producing alongside Silk Road Rising, a new show entitled “Brahman/i: A One-Hijra Stand-Up Comedy Show,” written by Aditi Brennan Kapil and starring Fawzia Mirza.
The play is about an intersex character who must come to terms with the idea of gender identity as it relates to being a south Asian. The title is a play on the character’s desire to be both a Brahman (boy) and Brahmini (girl), but their inability to ever be viewed completely as one or the other. In India, transgender people are commonly called “hijra,” which the character of the play learns about as she explores history, mythology, and gender roles of south Asian culture.
“We are thrilled to be producing the Chicago premiere of this adventurous new play with our friends at Silk Road Rising,” comments About Face Artistic Director Andrew Volkoff. “The missions of our theaters dovetail seamlessly in this story, offering us a rare opportunity to work together and tell a truly unique story. Using stand up comedy to blow apart preconceptions of gender and cultural identities, Brahman/i truly highlights what it means to be an outsider, embracing who you are, and the power of unconditional love.
In an interview with the Windy City Times, Volkoff, who also directs the play, discusses what drew him so passionately to “Brahman/i,” saying that not only the themes and content of the play mesh perfectly with the theatre’s pursuits, but the style and comedy of the piece was a major selling point. Vokoff teamed up with Silk Road Rising, a production company specializing in Asian American and Middle Eastern theatre.
“When I first read this, I was absolutely blown away by the intelligence and daring of humor that she employed in putting the piece together,” said Volkoff. “I knew I wanted to do something that was diverse [and] a south Asian intersex character has rarely, if ever, been seen on stage, [so] I felt it was important to begin that conversation.”
Kapil, a renowned Indian American writer, went to school with Volkoff at the Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she earned a B.A. in English and Dramatic Arts. With partly Bulgarian ancestry, and a childhood spent in Sweden, Kapil embodies diversity, and that quality embodies her work. “Brahman/i”, along with two other plays – “The Chronicles of Kalki” and “Shiv” – was published in a single volume called the “Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy,” which won her the 2013 Artist of the Year award from the Minneapolis City Pages.
Mirza also knows the meaning of diversity, as a “queer, Muslim, south Asian woman,” as she told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“That’s a lot of minority layers,” she says. “Plus, I was really pudgy growing up. I grew up in a mostly white, Christian neighborhood. So I was different. I figured out how pretty fast how to use humor as a defense mechanism, to get the cool kids to like me. I also found it was a great way to circumvent sorrow.”
Mirza has trained at Chicago’s iO and the School at Steppenwolfm, two prestigious performance schools. She has her own web series on YouTube, entitled “Kam Kardashian,” which has received positive reviews and developed a strong cult following. Now, on the stage, she’s hoping her comedic talents find a whole new audience.
Regular runs of “Brahman/i” begin on Friday, April 4, at Silk Road Rising’s Pierce Hall at the Historic Chicago Temple Building. The show will run nearly the entire month, ending on Sunday, April 27. The following is a brief video introduction, produced by Silk Road Rising, explaining some of the background on “Brahman/i.”