Where are you from and where do you reside now?
Hi hi! I am from Kolkata, India and I currently reside in New York City,
What is your artistic discipline?
I’m an actor-writer.
When did you become a Member?
I became a Member in 2015.
What is one of your favorite EST Memories?
Working with Debargo Sanyal in When January Feels Like Summer and his sensitivity/ respect in portraying a man who identified as a woman. I was lucky enough to be on stage with him every night when his character expressed how they felt- it was a delicate masterpiece crafted anew each performance.
What is influencing or inspiring your artistry right now?
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez- a Democrat in a rural district in Washington State who listens to her community’s concerns, the dramaturg Amrita Ramanan who invests in community with generosity and grace, Mfoniso Udofua who channels her anger at injustice into creativity, colleagues from India who have started walking tours that educate people about the history of the neighborhoods they are walking in, Madhuri Shekar who never stops digging and trying to find the heart in her stories, Shehan Karunatilikam who writes with gallows humor about the tough stuff, textile makers and artisans who create with durability in mind, Alex Birnie who has been quietly working with to support his local community of actors, civil servants who do the boring work of making sure our safety nets hold, librarians who are fighting for banned books to stay in libraries.
Who are your artistic influences?
Street performers, itinerant storytellers, craftspeople, artisans, acrobats, circus performers, Taylor Mac, Dennis O Hare, Teejan Bai, John Tiffany’s Black Watch, Mira Nair, Pina Bausch, Pao Kun.
What was the best play/film/TV you watched recently?
Counting and Cracking/ “American Fiction”/ “Panchayat,” “Lioness,” “Somebody Somewhere.”
What advice do you have for emerging theatermakers that you wish you knew?
Everything in theater is built on relationships.
It is vital that you take care of your body.
Treat people well and treat yourself well. You can’t take care of other people if you’re not resourced. You are on your own timeline and success could be X amount in the bank, or a good life with lifelong friends and great food and company or both- you get to decide.
Everything is fodder- and I don’t mean that in the sense of consume everything. But if you’re feeling guilty about not producing or seeing things, don’t- living offers experiences that can’t be replicated.
Take a break. Drink enough water. Eat your vegetables. Get enough sleep. Pay attention to your needs. Keep your overheads low if you can. Ask for help. Apologize when you mess up. Try not to repeat the mistakes.
Learn carpentry, costuming, how to hang lights if you can by training with people. Under commit and over deliver if you can, instead of the reverse. Keep your word. Be gentle with yourself. Think about who/how you want to be as person first. If you’re feeling cynical or angry or unmotivated ask yourself what’s underneath that. If you can extend compassion, patience and non judgement towards yourself, you will be trained in using those muscles when you need them the most.
Travel. Nurture and protect your joy. It is a form of resilience. Stay curious. Listen to what you want. Listen to how audiences react. Go see all different kinds of art. Go sit in all different kinds of venues- court rooms. sports stadiums, knitting circles.
Keep your life big. You can do this inexpensively.
Many people are suffering and act out of that. Offer them grace if you can. Or ask whatever you believe in for the willingness to offer them grace. Pause. Go where it’s warm, rather than where it’s hip and fashionable. You will be able to build more in places where people welcome you.
You are not your resume or your training or your education or your product or your likability. You have intrinsic value as a human being. May you have an expansive, fulfilling life and feel aligned with yourself.
What are you working on now?
I am adapting India and the world’s biggest epic into eighteen spare theatrical plays that could work as stand alone pieces or be viewed together. It is a big dream involving many collaborators, a variety of theatrical styles, an inclusive writer’s room, different theaters and hopefully has something of a peripatetic nature to it.
How can people connect with you?
My website. www.mahirakakkar.com
Instagram.@mahirakakkar
Full disclosure - I can sometimes take a while in getting back to people. If it’s urgent and work related you should probably contact my manager Josh Pultz josh@amplified-ent. He is front footed about correspondence in the best ways.