Firefly Women is based on letters written from jail by two young women, Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, student leaders and powerful voices in the Anti CAA (Citizen Amendment Act) Movement in India, who were wrongly accused and incarcerated in 2020. On being released on bail, they chanted the slogan “ladai ab bhi baaki hai” which translates as “the struggle shall continue”. In the year that Narwal and Kalita spent incarcerated, they wrote numerous letters to their friends and comrades which would sometimes take up to a month to be delivered. They wrote their letters over several days, almost like journal entries, talking about their daily lives in jail, their friendships with other inmates, their struggles and anxieties as well as dreaming about fireflies, rainbows and a “naiya” [small boat] of hope.

Performed by: Savita Rani, Priiya & Manjari Kaul

Dramaturgy: Wen Hui
Music: Philipp Kehder
Directed by: Manjari Kaul


Manjari K
She is a Delhi based performer, director and teacher. She is a graduate of the DUENDE School of Ensemble Physical Theatre (2015) and holds a Master’s degree from The School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her work is dedicated to exploring the incongruous, fragmentary, disruptive, off-key and awkward in theatre and live performance.

Website: https://www.manjarikaul.com/

Priiya Prethora
Priiya is a performer, mover and video artist currently based in Berlin, Germany. Recent graduate with an Master's in Movement Direction from University of London, they have been on a journey of finding roots in the moving body and the socio-political memory of nature. They like to re-imagine ways of organizing body and space where multiple languages, fictions, memories, and identities can fluidly morph.

Website: https://vimeo.com/prethora

Savita Rani
She is a graduate of National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi (2008), with specialization in acting. Working as a researcher and practitioner as an actor, director, actor’s trainer in theatre. Recently She has completed her Ph.D. from the Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University on title ‘A Study on Devised Solo Theatre in India’. She has been trained in martial arts like Kalari and Tai chi.

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