Pritha Singh, A Founding Director
There are only two kinds of artists ~ those in the arts, and those with the art in them. Rajkumari Singh, A.A. My greatest personal and artistic achievements became manifest working with my brothers, Karna and Gora, at the Rajkumari Center where I got a front row seat with Indo- Caribbean folk artists and practitioners ~ They're just ordinary working people like us, who left their fishing nets, sugar cane and rice fields, farms and cow pastures behind in India, Guyana, Suriname and islands like Trinidad and Jamaica., to live in New York's Metropolitan and Tri-State areas. They gather often in temples and masjids; in wedding houses and dead houses; and in basements of fellow artistes to continue telling stories 'bout WE in music and song. These are the most precious elements of our heritage, preserved by our Ancestors for hundreds of years, from continent to continent, so that I might find them here in Richmond Hill, to join in the feast when I became ready! - Pritha Singh |
Pritha belongs to a family whose members have been distinguished leaders in Indian and Caribbean political, intellectual and cultural life for 5 generations. Pritha is a multi-disciplinary artist with an extensive work history in arts management, theater and television production, corporate management and marketing.
Particularly interested in neglected heritage art forms, many of them unique variations of originals evolved from the East Indian Diaspora in Guyana, Suriname, the Caribbean and New York, Pritha and her brother, the late Gora Singh (1950-1997), Kathak Dance Exponent, Caribbean Folklorist and Cultural Activist, founded the Rajkumari Cultural Center in 1995. Pritha has pioneered and instituted several programs critical to the Indo-Caribbean communities she serves, and the wider New York environment.
She began her artistic journey from age 5 studying Ballet under Prima Ballerina Helen Taitt (Bolshoi); Caribbean Folk Singing and Dancing under with Doris Harper-Wills and Malcolm Hall (Theatre Guild); European Line Dancing with Jim Graham; Rajdhar, Natya and Indian Leela (dance-dramas) with her parents, Hari and Rajkumari Singh; Kathak under Gora Singh and Kamudini Lakhia.
Pritha learned drawing, painting, and sculpture from her father first, then studied with Stanley Greaves, and the late Marjorie Broodhagen and Philip Moore. She studied Literature and Theater Arts at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Herbert Berghof Studio and Playwrights Foundation , Pace University (NYC), and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Lon).
Passionate about Tamil-derived Mariammen Theater of Music, Dance and Crafts (1980s to present) and Bhojpuri-derived Tan Sangeet, Baithak Ki Gana and the Women’s Repertory (1997 to present), Pritha pursued knowledge with some of the great Indo-Caribbean custodians - Chinappa Virasawmi, Mukain Nagapoolay, Basdeo Mangal, Karna Singh, Gora Singh, Bharat Das, Kalush Budhu, Ramrajie Prabhoo, Bhagmati Raghbir, Rudy Ramnarine, Putsy Maharaj, Dino Budram, Errol Balkisson, Manraji Lachman and Pandit Gajadhar-Sukul.
As Director of the Rajkumari Center, she utilizes all her skills, knowledge and experience to create a vibrant cultural and artistic organization that continues to be the vanguard of cultural renaissance to revive and revitalize Indo-Caribbean art and culture, and, to preserve, present and institutionalize these arts here in the United States.
In the midst of it all, Pritha manages to eek out time to pursue her passion, play-writing. Most notably is her pièce de résistance, Women of the Mahabarata (2003), and The Vivaha (Wedding House) Series of dance-dramas written exclusively for the Rajkumari Center's Annual Kitchrie Festivals (1998-present). My new work, A Garden In Lanka,
Pritha's Nani (maternal grandmother), Alicia Bhagwandai Prasad-Singh of Suriname, founded the British Guyana Dramatic Society when she married Dr. Jung Bahadur Singh and moved to Georgetown, Guyana. A linguist, Alice Bhagwandai presented Classical Sanskrit, Hindi and English plays by Kalidas, Tagore, Wilde, etc. She developed a core of young people from Guyana's diverse, multi-ethnic society and trained them to become actors, directors, producers and writers. Her drawing room was the nerve center and rehearsal space, and plays were presented at the YMCA. Many who passed through the BG Dramatic Society went on to become leading Orators, Intellectuals, Scholars and Professionals in the region. Alicia Bhagwandai was also a great inspiration to her own children, and, grandchildren who discovered her work through newspaper reviews, program booklets and storytelling circles that was part of everyday life in the home. Pritha's handsome and gifted father, Hari, was one of BGDS' leading actors. So, it comes as not surprise that Pritha became a theater buff by simply growing up backstage.
Particularly interested in neglected heritage art forms, many of them unique variations of originals evolved from the East Indian Diaspora in Guyana, Suriname, the Caribbean and New York, Pritha and her brother, the late Gora Singh (1950-1997), Kathak Dance Exponent, Caribbean Folklorist and Cultural Activist, founded the Rajkumari Cultural Center in 1995. Pritha has pioneered and instituted several programs critical to the Indo-Caribbean communities she serves, and the wider New York environment.
She began her artistic journey from age 5 studying Ballet under Prima Ballerina Helen Taitt (Bolshoi); Caribbean Folk Singing and Dancing under with Doris Harper-Wills and Malcolm Hall (Theatre Guild); European Line Dancing with Jim Graham; Rajdhar, Natya and Indian Leela (dance-dramas) with her parents, Hari and Rajkumari Singh; Kathak under Gora Singh and Kamudini Lakhia.
Pritha learned drawing, painting, and sculpture from her father first, then studied with Stanley Greaves, and the late Marjorie Broodhagen and Philip Moore. She studied Literature and Theater Arts at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Herbert Berghof Studio and Playwrights Foundation , Pace University (NYC), and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Lon).
Passionate about Tamil-derived Mariammen Theater of Music, Dance and Crafts (1980s to present) and Bhojpuri-derived Tan Sangeet, Baithak Ki Gana and the Women’s Repertory (1997 to present), Pritha pursued knowledge with some of the great Indo-Caribbean custodians - Chinappa Virasawmi, Mukain Nagapoolay, Basdeo Mangal, Karna Singh, Gora Singh, Bharat Das, Kalush Budhu, Ramrajie Prabhoo, Bhagmati Raghbir, Rudy Ramnarine, Putsy Maharaj, Dino Budram, Errol Balkisson, Manraji Lachman and Pandit Gajadhar-Sukul.
As Director of the Rajkumari Center, she utilizes all her skills, knowledge and experience to create a vibrant cultural and artistic organization that continues to be the vanguard of cultural renaissance to revive and revitalize Indo-Caribbean art and culture, and, to preserve, present and institutionalize these arts here in the United States.
In the midst of it all, Pritha manages to eek out time to pursue her passion, play-writing. Most notably is her pièce de résistance, Women of the Mahabarata (2003), and The Vivaha (Wedding House) Series of dance-dramas written exclusively for the Rajkumari Center's Annual Kitchrie Festivals (1998-present). My new work, A Garden In Lanka,
Pritha's Nani (maternal grandmother), Alicia Bhagwandai Prasad-Singh of Suriname, founded the British Guyana Dramatic Society when she married Dr. Jung Bahadur Singh and moved to Georgetown, Guyana. A linguist, Alice Bhagwandai presented Classical Sanskrit, Hindi and English plays by Kalidas, Tagore, Wilde, etc. She developed a core of young people from Guyana's diverse, multi-ethnic society and trained them to become actors, directors, producers and writers. Her drawing room was the nerve center and rehearsal space, and plays were presented at the YMCA. Many who passed through the BG Dramatic Society went on to become leading Orators, Intellectuals, Scholars and Professionals in the region. Alicia Bhagwandai was also a great inspiration to her own children, and, grandchildren who discovered her work through newspaper reviews, program booklets and storytelling circles that was part of everyday life in the home. Pritha's handsome and gifted father, Hari, was one of BGDS' leading actors. So, it comes as not surprise that Pritha became a theater buff by simply growing up backstage.
Pritha Talks with Lakshmee Singh Part 1
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In My Own Words: I majored in Literature and Theater, did a lot of play-writing courses and worked on several one act plays, but I only became a "real playwright" out of need because there was very little written about us - the emerging generations of the East Indian Diaspora, now on a second migration to the United States.
Being multi-disciplinary, I was attracted to the lila or leela, the Indian musical examining the human condition as traveling minstrels. But lilas currently are mostly formatted to promote religious ideology centered around Avatars Rama, Krishna and characters located in a distant time capsule, with little or no interpretations for the modern, complex mind of the 21st Century. This is a huge tragedy! I believe the great Indian epics belong to the world, just like the Bible, Talmud, Quran, Homer's Iliad and Odessy, Greek tragedys Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the English, Shakespear, Chaucer, etc.
India's Poet Laureate, Sri Rabindranath Tagore wrote several original plays. He drew themes from the Mahabarata, i.e. "Karna and Kunti", "Savitri" and "Chitra", focusing on female-warrior-queen-mother-daughter in a way that we can experience them from the inside - their vulnerability, strength and dignity, and, SEE ourselves in them! This is the raison d'être of any art form.
By the time Kitchrie Annual Festival began in 1998, I was madly in love with Richmond Hill and everything Indo-Caribbean. It felt like I was in Port Mourant (Berbice, Guyana) gobbling up every little "slice of life", language, rhythm, idiom, expression, custom and most of all the music and story-telling that was going on all the time, everywhere. I'd finally come home! So I began writing furiously - Our local folk became the avatars, gods and goddesses. The battleground was the home. We were all taking a beating trying to adjust to the radical changes, the new order and abundant social freedoms of life in New York. The battles were the schisms between teenagers and their parents. Parents were the Sinners and Grand Parents were our Saints and only saving grace, because they always knew more! The hope and beauty was coming through our great leela heritage of live music, dance, drama and theater magic... holding the mirror up so we can see ourselves for better or for worse.
The Mahabarata and Ramayana are bigger in volume than all of Western and Mid-Eastern Biblical and Historical Literature! We can wallpaper the entire Earth with pages of the two Indian epics, which, are written in the most beautiful poetry in rhythmic meters so they may also be sung. Just this little knowledge alone is earth-shaking, and, WE don't even know what's on the pages... THIS is earth-shattering!
Being multi-disciplinary, I was attracted to the lila or leela, the Indian musical examining the human condition as traveling minstrels. But lilas currently are mostly formatted to promote religious ideology centered around Avatars Rama, Krishna and characters located in a distant time capsule, with little or no interpretations for the modern, complex mind of the 21st Century. This is a huge tragedy! I believe the great Indian epics belong to the world, just like the Bible, Talmud, Quran, Homer's Iliad and Odessy, Greek tragedys Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the English, Shakespear, Chaucer, etc.
India's Poet Laureate, Sri Rabindranath Tagore wrote several original plays. He drew themes from the Mahabarata, i.e. "Karna and Kunti", "Savitri" and "Chitra", focusing on female-warrior-queen-mother-daughter in a way that we can experience them from the inside - their vulnerability, strength and dignity, and, SEE ourselves in them! This is the raison d'être of any art form.
By the time Kitchrie Annual Festival began in 1998, I was madly in love with Richmond Hill and everything Indo-Caribbean. It felt like I was in Port Mourant (Berbice, Guyana) gobbling up every little "slice of life", language, rhythm, idiom, expression, custom and most of all the music and story-telling that was going on all the time, everywhere. I'd finally come home! So I began writing furiously - Our local folk became the avatars, gods and goddesses. The battleground was the home. We were all taking a beating trying to adjust to the radical changes, the new order and abundant social freedoms of life in New York. The battles were the schisms between teenagers and their parents. Parents were the Sinners and Grand Parents were our Saints and only saving grace, because they always knew more! The hope and beauty was coming through our great leela heritage of live music, dance, drama and theater magic... holding the mirror up so we can see ourselves for better or for worse.
The Mahabarata and Ramayana are bigger in volume than all of Western and Mid-Eastern Biblical and Historical Literature! We can wallpaper the entire Earth with pages of the two Indian epics, which, are written in the most beautiful poetry in rhythmic meters so they may also be sung. Just this little knowledge alone is earth-shaking, and, WE don't even know what's on the pages... THIS is earth-shattering!
I tried to stay away from the epics, perhaps I felt unworthy or afraid of being judged. But after 911, everything changed. The media flood of shrouded Indo-Afghan women bemoaning the trails of death from mountain tops to towns and village lowlands, brought me to battle field, Kurukshetra. Oh My God! It was still a Man's World and and we were still the WOMEN "awaiting the news of a son's death!" The despair caused me to turn inward and I found strength in the understanding that they were my ancestors and that their legacy was my legacy; and I wanted to do something to help change the Legacy of Despair. I spent some time preparing Ito embraced the WOMEN. I wanted to go in "tabula rasa", leaving all precepts and conditioning behind. After preparing myself physically, mentally and spiritually, eventually, THEY came to give me the help I needed to write, Women of the Mahabarata. In the process I realized there is only ONE WOMAN and we are all facets of HER. And I'm still learning about myself and being a women.
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SO, THE MORAL OF MY LITTLE TALE IS . . . DUMP THE GARBAGE - THE LABELS, RACE AND GENDER PREJUDICE . . . BE READY WHEN THE DREAM FAIRY COMES! GET OFF THIS COMPUTER NOW! GO OUTSIDE & LIVE YOUR PASSION! MAKE 2018 GREAT!