Memories of time spent in India revealed in ‘Public Obscenities’
‘Public Obscenities’Through Dec. 23Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company641 D St., N.W.$52-$85Woollymammoth.net For writer-director Shayok Misha Chowdhury, the memories and imaginings of time spent in India are revealed in “Public Obscenities,” an inspiring new production currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Born in India, raised in Boston and now living in New York, Chowdhury, 38, has visited his native country often over the years.
Those visits serve as a connection to family and himself. “I was trying to a write a thing that reflected the intense specificities of my life as a uniquely situated gay man,” he explains. “It’s filled with intersecting longings among diasporic gay folks and those on the subcontinent.” A Woolly co-production with Theatre For A New Audience (in which four of the seven characters are queer), “Public Obscenities” follows Indian born Choton (Abrar Haque) as he returns to Kolkata on a research trip with his Black American boyfriend Raheem (Jakeem Dante Powell).
While visiting his family home, Choton acts as translator (Bangla and English) and interviews queer locals all while showing Raheem his world.
