Anupama's story

Anupama Chandrasekhar is a Chennai-based playwright and screenwriter. Her plays have been staged at leading venues in India, Europe and the US.

Anupama was the Royal National Theatre’s first International playwright in residence from 2016-2017. Anupama’s plays include ‘Free Outgoing’ and ‘Disconnect’, which were both premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Anupama also wrote the adaptation of the ‘The Snow Queen’ which was toured by Trestle Theatre Company across the UK and India.

Widely recognised in the arts, Anupama was a runner-up for the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright and a finalist for the Whiting Award (UK), and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (US) for ‘Free Outgoing’. Her screenplay was a finalist for the Sundance International Screenwriters’ Lab, Utah. 

A fellowship from CWIT (2000) enabled Anupama to take part in the Royal Court Theatre’s International residency for young playwrights.

As a budding writer, I was introduced to the best of international theatre and saw firsthand the kind of magic that world class theatre could evoke. I could never have pursued playwriting as a career without this experience.

Anupama is one of the lucky ones, in 2015 she received a second CWIT fellowship at the University of Chichester. This residency enabled Anupama to work on a draft of ‘When the Crows Visit’ which was presented by the Kiln Theatre in October 2019, directed by Indhu Rubasingham. During the second fellowship in Chichester, Anupama had the time, space, silence and intellectual stimulation to not only work on a tricky play but also to figure out new ways of getting over creative humps and find more organic ways of shaping stories.

When the Crows Visit trailer | Kiln Theatre

Anupama Chandrasekhar

Soni Razan and Bally Gill. When The Crows Visit | Kiln Theatre. Photo © Mark Douet

Ayesha Dharker. When The Crows Visit | Kiln Theatre. Photo © Mark Douet