Crafting Inclusive Experiences in Theatre and Design

I'm an actor and theatre director. I've been a member of the Delhi-based theatre group Jana Natya Manch (Janam) for over 35 years. We mostly do street theatre. This is theatre in the open, on street corners, in residential neighbourhoods, factory areas, bastis, schools and colleges. The overwhelming proportion of our audience is from the working class or lower middle class, many are women, and there are also a large number of children.

Last year, in 2023, Janam completed 50 years of its life. We wanted to create an exhibition to mark this journey of half a century. We got in touch with IIAD. A group of students, some from Communication Design and some from Interior Architecture & Design got involved. After weeks of research and ideation, they created a travelling exhibition.

How was this exhibition an example of intersectionality in design?

One, because, like our plays, the audience for the exhibition was to be extremely diverse. We needed the exhibition to speak to working-class people as much as to the middle or upper middle class; to the barely educated as much as to the highly educated; to women as much as to men; and most of all, to children.

Two, we needed the exhibition to be put up as easily indoors as outdoors. In addition, we needed a modular approach, both in terms of content and physical structure, so that we could put up the entire exhibition where possible and parts of it where not.

Three, we needed the exhibition to not only speak to adults and children in terms of content but also form. Children needed to have something at their eye level that was more graphic than text-based. But not only graphics, because people in wheelchairs who might be more proficient readers would also be among the viewers.

Fourth, we needed both the physical structure and the content to be striking and attractive without seeming alien or too polished and expensive. In other words, to blend in but also stand out.

In a word, the exhibition needed to incorporate diversity at various levels. What could be more intersectional than that?

Did the exhibition fulfil these criteria?

I leave the judgement to you, dear reader.

About The Author

Sudhanva Deshpande is a renowned theatre director and actor with a rich career spanning over three decades. He is a prominent member of Jana Natya Manch since 1987 and has graced the stage in more than 4,000 performances across 80 plays. Sudhanva ... is also a prolific writer, contributing articles and essays to prestigious publications such as The Drama Review, The Hindu, Frontline, Seminar, Economic and Political Weekly, among others.

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