[Reader-list] A Peaceful Response

[Anna J. Kurien]

South Asian American Arts and Theatre,
Wellesley Association for South Asian Cultures,
Harvard South Asian Association, &

presents

A  P E A C E F U L  R E S P O N S E 

A theatre event dedicated to the victims of the recent communal violence
in Gujarat, India

The performance will include:

GRAVE AFFAIRS

A stage adaptation of John Mathew's BBC award-winning radio play that
offers a light-hearted look at a religious imbroglio set in a fictitious
village in the Indian state of Kerala. A collaboration between Wellesley
and Harvard students. (See end of e-mail for brief synopsis).

RESPONSE WAGON

A series of dramatized readings in response to the events in Gujarat.
Wellesley College students perform works of well-known South Asian
writers. 

Saturday, April 6th, 2002
12:00 noon – 2:00pm
Jewett Auditorium
WELLESLEY COLLEGE
Free Admission

*Co-sponsored by Darshana (Wellesley's Hindu Student Organization)

Directions:
http://www.wellesley.edu/Admin/travel.html
Campus Map:
http://www.wellesley.edu/CampusMaps/

For more information, contact Anna at akurien at wellesley.edu or Vandana at
vreddy at wellesley.edu

****************************

SYNOPSIS of  GRAVE AFFAIRS
‘Grave Affairs’ is set in Kerala, a tiny state tucked away in the
south-west of India, the inhabitants of which are called Keralites, or
Malayalees (Malayalam being the local language). With a majority of the
state’s population (50%) professing Hinduism, followed by a fairly
considerable Muslim (28%) and Christian (22%) strengths, the religious
factor often treads the tightrope of delicate politesse. “Grave Affairs,”
however, pitches the ‘majority’ representative, Kuttappan Nair, the common
caretaker for two cemeteries, into the yawning gap dividing the
predominant Muslim and Christian communities in Mattoor, a fictitious
village in Kerala. A piquant situation arising out of the discovery of a
long concealed Christian grave in the Muslim sector of the graveyard
threatens to blow up into a full scale religious brawl, until Kuttappan,
quite uncharacteristically, decides to step in.