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Public Obscenities
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Brief Description
Finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama A complex and compelling bilingual play that examines the intersections of queerness and Indian-American identity. When Indian-American graduate student Choton travels from the U.S. to his family's home city of Kolkata to film interviews with the local queer...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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A compelling bilingual play that examines the intersections of queerness and Indian-American identity. A finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
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Description
Finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
A complex and compelling bilingual play that examines the intersections of queerness and Indian-American identity.
When Indian-American graduate student Choton travels from the U.S. to his family's home city of Kolkata to film interviews with the local queer community, he relishes acting as the local expert, especially in his role as interpreter between Bangla and English for his filmmaker boyfriend. Soon, though, Choton starts to question not only what he thinks he knows about queerness in India, but what both queerness and his Indian heritage mean for him.
When a rediscovered roll of film reveals surprisingly intimate photographs of Choton's austere grandfather (taken by whom?), Choton's understanding of his family, both living and dead, starts to unravel. What follows is a mesmerizing examination of intercultural identity, asking audiences to reconsider what we mean when we call a place home.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781636702001
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group Inc.,U.S.
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 March 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Theatre Communications Group Inc.,U.S.
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 137.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 144
Collections
About the Author
Shayok Misha Chowdhuryis a writer and director based in Brooklyn. His playPublic Obscenities, which he also directed, premiered in the spring of 2023 at Soho Rep in a co-commission with NAATCO. Misha was also awarded a Jonathan Larson Grant for his body of work writing musicals with composer Laura Grill Jaye; their most recent collaboration,How the White Girl Got Her Spots and Other 90s Triviawas awarded the 2022 Relentless Award.
Chowdhury is the creator ofVICHITRA, a series of sound-driven, cinematic experiments, includingEnglandbashi,The Other Other,An Anthology of Queer Dreams,andIn Order to Become, which he is developing into a live Carnatic opera.
and elsewhere. He has taught and directed at Stanford University, Brown University, New York University, California Institute of the Arts, Fordham University, Syracuse University, University of the Arts, Hunter College, Carnegie-Mellon University, and Williams College.
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