Kayhan Irani

October 9, 2016

Civic Engagement, Education, Theatre

Back from the White House & Cambridge. Fall in NYC

Kayhan Irani

October 9, 2016

Civic Engagement, Education, Theatre

Back from the White House & Cambridge. Fall in NYC

After the whirlwind of fabulousness in D.C. I joined the team of the Anna Deavere Smith Pipeline Project to support the production of Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education!!

It is an extremely powerful and extraordinarily timely performance. Urgent and inspiring, it depicts the personal accounts of students, parents, teachers and administrators caught in America’s school-to-prison pipeline. Investigating a justice system that pushes minors from poor communities out of the classroom and into incarceration.

Kayhan Irani

December 21, 2013

Arts, Theatre, Theater

Longest Night

Kayhan Irani

December 21, 2013

Arts, Theatre, Theater

Tonight, we will pass through the longest night of the year. We will regain a tiny bit of light, with each new day. The end of 2013 seems to have opened a thousand little doors of terror inside me. This is the first time I am “properly” developing a play. That means I’m not jumping right into a production process but taking time to write, re-write, show it to others, share my thoughts, and hear the words read aloud. It’s brought me face to face with many of my feelings of inadequacy, superiority, futility, and desperation. It’s been a long night in the life of this artist.

Kayhan Irani

October 12, 2012

Art, Social Change, Theater, Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed

Aerial Roots

Kayhan Irani

October 12, 2012

Art, Social Change, Theater, Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed

The famous banyan tree in India has aerial roots. That means small seedlings growing on its branches send down vine-like extensions that upon hitting dirt, take root and anchor the tree. If left unchecked, a single banyan can expand into a maze-like thicket of its own creation. A tree intertwined around another tree, creating shadow trees. I’m living in a similar metaphoric spiral right now. Thoughts shooting straight downward, leading to confusion, leading to pause, leading to insights, leading to growth.

Kayhan Irani

August 26, 2012

Afghanistan, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theater, Theatre

How to value difference?

Kayhan Irani

August 26, 2012

Afghanistan, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theater, Theatre

How do I talk about difference without putting a value judgment on it? If one thing is different than another, must one thing be better than the other? How can I value multiple experiences, approaches and perspectives while keeping a sense of self? Must I choose one as better so that I can hold on to something familiar? This project is different than the rest of my work in Afghanistan. I am not working directly with a theater group, I am working with media makers; writers, producers, researchers from Equal Access, Afghanistan. I am training them in methods of participatory storytelling for community engagement and social change

Kayhan Irani

August 16, 2012

Afghanistan, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre

Eid Mubarak – Happy Eid

Kayhan Irani

August 16, 2012

Afghanistan, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre

As I prepare to return to Kabul for a short project with the US Institute for Peace, I wanted to take the time to wish everyone a very happy Eid. May it be filled with closeness, kindness and a renewed hope for human liberation. May the best and brightest parts of your spirit shine. The end of Ramadan (marked by Eid) this year coincides with the Zoroastrian time of prayer and reflection for our dearly departed. The prayers we held at my parent’s home fell one week after the death anniversary of my maternal grandmother. As a girl growing up in India when she did, Dina Arjani was not to be educated past middle school, but her family relented after her insistence.

Kayhan Irani

April 25, 2012

Afghanistan, Art, Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed

You Can't Have It

Kayhan Irani

April 25, 2012

Afghanistan, Art, Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed

Tomorrow is my last day of training. The actors from Khost, Baghlan and Herat are going to perform two short Forum Theater plays for a limited audience of friends and colleagues. At the core of both stories is the question of whose decisions are respected? Who has the power to make a life choice, and who doesn’t.

Kayhan Irani

April 20, 2012

Afghanistan, Art, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre, Theater

Life Interrupted

Kayhan Irani

April 20, 2012

Afghanistan, Art, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre, Theater

This week was a long week with lots of prodding and pushing. We were telling stories about oppression, personal experiences of oppression, something simple, clear. I started by asking them to make a frozen body sculpture of one such experience. After the activity, we spoke about what they were showing. It turns out no one made an image of something from their own life! They made images from other people’s lives, images from stories they heard, or things they saw. They were finding it hard to access those personal stories, without compounding them with others.

Kayhan Irani

March 28, 2012

Afghanistan, Art, Theatre, Women

I’m Full of It

Kayhan Irani

March 28, 2012

Afghanistan, Art, Theatre, Women

Full of JOY! I feel like I’m walking on clouds, slowly climbing higher and higher till I reach my cruising altitude. I am preparing to go back to Kabul for a month of trainings and am thrilled to see my work build on itself. The first two groups I trained are coming back and I will be offering them new cultural tools for community engagement, collective problem solving and local healing. After this advanced workshop, a few members will stay with me to co-facilitate a brand new training with 3 new groups!

Kayhan Irani

January 25, 2012

Art, Civic Engagement, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre, Theater

Winter Events

Kayhan Irani

January 25, 2012

Art, Civic Engagement, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre, Theater

Since returning from Kabul last month I’ve jumped back into NYC life with both feet! Now I find my schedule full of speaking events and workshops from February through March! If you will be in NYC on any of these dates, please come to one or more of these events. I’d love to see you. And as always, please forward this to anyone who you think would be interested.

Kayhan Irani

December 28, 2011

Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre

Little Light of Mine

Kayhan Irani

December 28, 2011

Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre

I love this time of year since its often the only extended break I have to reflect on my life, gather with people I love and appreciate the small, simple moments of grace from the year gone by. The lights we burn on Yalda, Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa are all rooted in primal symbolism and full of references to the light of human goodness triumphing over fear and confusion.

Kayhan Irani

October 20, 2011

Afghanistan, Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre, Theater, Theatre of the Oppressed

Sisters Are Doing It

Kayhan Irani

October 20, 2011

Afghanistan, Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre, Theater, Theatre of the Oppressed

I’m writing two separate blog posts, one about the young men’s production and process and one about the young women’s. This one is all about the women. Despite being located in the cosmopolitan capital city, it seems that this theater group is the first all women’s group in Kabul. Many of these young women, even though they have studied theater at university, have not performed on the stage for audiences – not even in university productions. Well, here’s their chance! They are talented, smart, passionate, and ready to shout from the rooftops.

Kayhan Irani

October 14, 2011

Afghanistan, Civic Engagement, Art, Theater, Social Change, Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed

Bigger than Me

Kayhan Irani

October 14, 2011

Afghanistan, Civic Engagement, Art, Theater, Social Change, Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed

I’m tired. Tired, tired, tired. I work 6 days a week with the actors, then spend many more hours at the apartment revising agendas, planning, And trying to connect with local and international NGOs who would be interested in supporting this fledgling theater company when we leave. We go to meetings in the mornings and then go to the university in the afternoons until evening working hard and pushing the students harder. The sky is dark when we leave and Kabul is getting chilly, “sard-e-st” … “it is cold” in Dari.

Kayhan Irani

October 8, 2011

Afghanistan, Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre

Training Days

Kayhan Irani

October 8, 2011

Afghanistan, Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre

Today is Friday, the traditional day of rest. Families spend time together, friends meet, people go out. Today is the end of my second week in Kabul and the end of my first week training the brilliant young actors. Today I also rested, met friends, and ran errands.

Kayhan Irani

October 2, 2011

Afghanistan, Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre

Stupid American

Kayhan Irani

October 2, 2011

Afghanistan, Art, Civic Engagement, Social Change, Theatre

Being raised in a South/West Asian home, in NYC, I have the privilege to be able to see things from different cultural perspectives and to carry with me the knowledges of many people. (I use the plural to reflect that there is no one “knowledge”.) I am blessed to have an extended family of second mothers, sisters and brothers who have shared with me some of Puerto Rican culture, African American culture, LGBTQ culture, Jewish culture and so on. I am grateful to have that information and perspective as a part of my being.