Anita Chandwaney
Contact Info
Chicago, IL
Playwright accepts commissions.
Bio
Anita Chandwaney is a performer, playwright and director. Her first full-length play Gandhi Marg won 2nd place in the 75th Annual Writers Digest Stage Play Competition. Its world premiere staged reading was held by Chicago’s Rasaka Theatre Company followed by a reading at Toronto’s Rasikarts. Of her short plays, Judging Jaya was part of Rasaka’s “Desi Women of the Diaspora” at Remy Bumppo’s 2007 thinkTANK and the 2007 Kriti Festival. Success and the City was seen with The 24 Hour Project. Her monologue Helpline received positive reviews in Rasaka’s January 2009 production of Yoni ki Baat:
“Anita Chandwaney’s Helpline–in which a Chicago attorney recounts her attempt to aid a Mumbai help-desk employee facing a coerced abortion–is particularly strong” Kerry Ried, Chicago Reader
One of the most poignant of these pieces is the one about the gung ho Desi lawyer who winds up in a deeply personal conversation with a woman at an out-sourced job center in the old country. They start out talking about solving a computer problem, but along the way it is revealed that the young woman on the line is pregnant with a child of the “wrong” sex and that because of family pressures not to have another girl she will have an abortion. The lawyer tries to talk her out of it, but in the end her protestations are useless, the weight of cultural expectations is too heavy.” Jack Hafferkamp, EDGE Chicago
Anita’s short play Instant Recall received positive reviews as well:
““Instant Recall,” is funny and compelling, playing cleverly on the concept of immigration by placing a South Asian newcomer on a cruise ship, where she confuses a British passenger with her selective memory and non sequiturs before revealing her quiet tragedy.”
- Monica Westin, New City Chicago
“Instant Recall” is particularly snappy and endearing, with the blustery Brit Nigel finding unexpected camaraderie with Madhu, a near stranger who’s temporarily lost her memory.”
-Anna Pulley, Center Stage
“Instant Recall” started the evening out with hope …” “It showed us a woman struggling with her memory but hopeful that not all was lost. “ “ Anita Chandwaney came out with a great sense of timing and energy …”
-Nicholas Ryan Lamb, SteadStyle
Instant Recall was produced as part of Rasaka’s August 2009 production of culture/clash:
“charming series of one-acts about the South Asian diaspora that deftly overcomes stereotypes of victimization and the American dream …” Monica Westin, New City
Anita is also the recipient of a 3Arts Fellowship and Chicago Artists Access Project grant.
As an actress she appeared in the Pulitzer Finalist, Miss Witherspoon by Christopher Durang at Next Theatre Company in Evanston. Chicago Stage Review critic Venus Zarris had this to say about Anitaā s work in Haram Iran performed in November 2008:
“Anita Chandwaney’s remarkable performance of Mrs. Marhoni, mother to Ayaz, elevates the production with transcending scenes of emotional honesty and sincere dramatic depth. In scenes of love, daily routine and great sorrow she creates the truth of human experience with powerful connection and gifted restraint. This is one of the most subtly outstanding performances of the year.”
In Chicago she’s also worked as an actress with Lookingglass, Organic, Remy Bumppo, Pegasus, Collaboraction, Stage Left, Silk Road, Live, Center Theatre and Rasaka ā for which she was Founding Executive Director and co-producer of the Jeff Citation-winning The Masrayana. In NYC she worked with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons and Open Eye New Stagings. She’s a 20 year working member of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild.
Anita directed Rasaka’s staged reading of Tanika Gupta’s The Waiting Room, a staged reading of Gitanjali Kapila’s screenplay Double Happiness at Silk Road Theatre Project.
Awards Grants Fellowships & Residencies
- Ragdale Residency (2009)
- 3Arts Fellowship (2008)
- Finalist for Many Voices Project, Chicago Dramatists, Gandhi Marg (2008)
- Awarded 2nd Place in Writers Digest’s 75th Annual Stage Play Competition, Gandhi Marg (2007)
- Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs CAAP Grant Recipient (2004, 2005, 2006)
- Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs Neighborhood Arts Project Grant Recipient (2005, 2006)
Memberships
- Associate Member with Dramatists Guild
- Network Playwright with Chicago Dramatists
- Ensemble Member and Board of Directors for Rasaka Theatre Company
Plays
Full Length Plays
Gandhi Marg
present day
Gandhi Marg was inspired by “A Streetcar Named Desire” and is set in the neighborhood surrounding Chicagoā s Devon Avenue, affectionately known as little India. The action takes place in the front “yard” of Shardul and Shanti’s apartment building, and inside the apartment itself. It is a small one-bedroom apartment on Rosehill Street. Shanti and Shardul are newlyweds and very much in love. Shanti’s sister, Bina, arrives to discover her sister is married to her former flame. It is the expectations these first generation South Asian-Americans have of each other, and themselves, that bring the past into the present and affect the futures of everyone involved.
Secession
December 1860, Louisiana
Momma, Dolly and Minnie are indentured servants in Louisiana. Their family has worked for the Beauregards for many generations as paying off their debt continues to elude them. The play opens at the Beauregard country estate in December, 1860 – a few days before South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union. Momma tries to convince her daughters that they are in an excellent position. Dolly and Minnie’s inner voices propel them to question their situation. Momma refuses to entertain the prospect of one day leaving the Beauregards “employment“. Will she continue to ignore her daughter’s urging? Will she develop a connection to her own inner voice? Or has it been ignored and silenced so often that it’s gone forever?
In Secession, the daughter’s inner voices manifest as Inner Dolly and Inner Minnie. They are not shy at making their point, even if it means resorting to physical combat – armed and unarmed!
One Acts & Short Plays
2020
set in the year 2020
Kali, a South Asian American woman comes face to face with the perils of not disclosing to her daughter Devi that she was conceived of a South Asian egg donor. Only when Devi brings home her new boyfriend and shares their joyous news does Kali learn of her daughters half-sibling.
Instant Recall
set in the present
Madhu, an aging South Asian woman is convinced that Nigel, an aging British man, is important to her life. As they share their stories, Nigel is persuaded that he indeed is.
Helpline
monologue
set in the present
A South Asian type-A attorney reconnects to a vitally important part of herself during a phone call to an internet helpline call center in India, where she learns the young woman on the other line is being coerced into aborting a female fetus by her husband and in-laws. (Produced as part of Rasaka Theatre Company’s “Yoni ki Baat”)