Karthik Hebbar

“All art is a kind of confession”

James Baldwin

Theater

Karthik Hebbar is a voice to reckon with in the Kannada Theater fraternity. His works as a Playwright, Music Composer and Director have garnered much appreciation and success. He advocates theater as a tool of Activism to champion the causes of Human Rights and Equality. 

Patanga Prabhava

A series of conversations unfold on one night, in a dimension where time is myth or non-linear. On this night, two particles floating in space discuss the limitedness that obstructs scientific perception of basic existential questions. This dialogue unfolds how binary thought processes make it nearly impossible to accept and embrace any concept that cannot be bound by binary walls. Gender, love, spirituality all are discussed with passion and a heart by the four characters that travel between time, in search of understanding and meaning. Looking at the masculine – feminine, love – hate, God – human binaries with a prism of perspectives which eventually unfolds new understandings and brings forth new questions.

Particle or quantum physics have opened new doors for understanding the mechanics of creation. The deeper the research, the more ambiguous its findings. The most basic understanding though, is that to decode and understanding huge concepts, one has to break it down and understand all the smallest of particles that makes it big.   The characters take about their personal journeys and unearth the minute emotions in them that have quantified into the identity that they have today embraced. Through their stories they accept themselves for who they are and do not feel the need to box themselves in labels and eventually learn to let themselves free and be multiple things or entities at once.

Delve into the worlds of Krishna, Mo, Draupadi and Shikhandi as they reach out to each one of you through their stories of pain. Love, joy, search of identity, gender and finding meaning.

Amma mattu Suhail

Is an ode to queer love. It is a meditation on the values of Empathy and dialogue as powerful agents to bring estranged minds together. The narrative traverses through moments of Passion, anger, sadness and love in its raw human element. The characters attempt to interrogate, understand and acknowledge each other and in this process unveil the universality of all emotions as being the same irrespective of gender and orientation. The play tries to deconstruct and lay open the psychological and emotional baggage of the characters who are but symbols of the divided humanity that we are today. An interfaith gay couple and A mother of one of the characters, venture on a journey of understanding one another rather light heartedly through uncomfortable conversations, only to explore depths which they never knew or imagined would be possible to unearth.

36 Sati Savitri Nivasa

36 Sati Savitri Nivasa is a new Kannada Play presented by Bengaluru’s Dheemahi Centre for Arts. This laugh riot of a play will premiere at Rangashankara on February 11th, Saturday at Rangashankara with two shows at 3,30pm and 7.30pm. This play written and directed by Karthik Hebbar is a story of three women and their journey through friendship, loss, loneliness and sisterhood. This play has ounces of Humour, Music and some dancing too as it pays tribute to everything that these middleclass women indulge in! including Serials and Films. The play moves away from stereotyping these motifs and looks at shifting this day-to-day narrative into a narrative of Empowerment and choice! No woman here is a victim! They all claim power over their own stories!

Un-Mask (Concept-Playwright)

A Nukkad Natak that speaks about discrimination, work environment and micro aggressions that the Queer community endures. Â