Hosted by GAC & LAS, the workshop will be rooted in Prof. Kumar’s own experience of conducting theatre-oriented workshops in Kashmir to take a closer look at arbitrary constructions of borders and how to move beyond them. How do we undercut prejudice, perceive our own biases and see profiling for what it is? Is it possible to resolve, to understand conflict? The workshop will begin with basic theatre/therapy exercises to erode the barriers the participants come in with and move narrative generation and enactments to a serious grappling with borders and boundaries.

A practitioner of activist theatre Sanjay Kumar is the founding President of Pandies' Theatre, India and the director/chief facilitator of its productions and workshops from 1993. A resident of the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency (Italy, 2010 - for continuing workshop theatre work with ‘platform children’ in India), and a participant of the US government's prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (2011, under the rubric - Social Change through Arts). A recipient of Delhi University's (Vice Chancellor's) Distinguished Teacher Award (2009), he is also an alum of the International Class for Social Therapy, East Side Institute (New York, 2012). He is an Associate Professor at the Hansraj College, University of Delhi and has been teaching Literature and Drama for over 35 years. He has lectured, published and conducted over 100 workshops all over the world. His book, Performing, Teaching and Writing Theatre: Exploring Play (2023), has just been published from UK and theorises from his experience of directing/workshopping, teaching/researching and writing/collating theatre.