Jahnvi Raj

Adept Theater Practitioner with a rich background in performance making, archiving and research. Excelled in roles as a writer, actor, director, and designer across prestigious platforms like the International Festival of Theatre Schools. Demonstrates exceptional writing prowess and creative curation, enhancing storytelling through innovative performance art.

• Smt Kishori Devi Memorial Prize, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, 2019
• Best Actor (Female), Antaragini, IIT Kanpur, 2018

Sometimes I still hear the Burials speak, An autobiographical protest performance art piece that aimed to highlight the traumas of child sexual abuse, anchor collective grief and move towards healing. The piece was showcased at the first International Festival of Theatre Schools, Kerala in 2023. 

 Jaise Kahin Ek Azaad Aasmaan, Tumhari Nooran, A self written, self devised theatrical piece that came out of engaging extensively with India's partition archives and memoirs. It follows the journey of a woman called Nooran, as she travels through newly made borders, leaving behind her home and lover, both-forever lost in time to the nostalgia of 'Purana Punjab'. The play has traveled to various performance venues and festivals across the country between the year 2023-2024.

'The Spirit of Achhe Lhamo in the Continuum of Exile': An ethnocultural research that closely studied the role of Tibetan opera, known as the Achhe Lhamo in helping the community living in exile, preserve its cultural memory of Tibet and reclaim identity. The research was done in close proximity with the Tibetan performing arts community for two years in Mcleodganj, Himachal Pradesh and Mundgod Tibetan Settlement, Karnataka. The research has been taken up by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) for publishing.

• Hindi
• English
• Urdu

• Folk Performing Arts
• Memory Studies
• Experimental Theatre
• Political Theatre
• Visual Art
• Documentation
• Archiving
• Curation

Currently working on her next self devised musical performance piece inspired by the lives and memories of Bhakti saint Meera and Kashmiri poet, Habba Khatoon