Poorna and “Nirbhaya” director Yael Farber wanted their play to showcase the first-person accounts from seven victims of sexual abuse in India, including Poorna herself. The cast includes, from left, Ankur Vikal, Priyanka Bose, Sneha Jawale, Rukhsar Kabir and Japjit Kaur. In the play, Jawale offers testimony about how her husband and brother soaked her in kerosene and set her on fire, severely burning her face and neck.
Poorna attended Maryland when her parents, who were diplomats, were stationed in Washington, D.C. She complemented her journalism work with minors in women’s studies and theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York and worked in advertising. Though she still maintains her own brand consulting firm, Poorna’s passion had always been acting. She enrolled in the master’s program at the Actor’s Studio and landed roles on “Law & Order” and “Rescue Me” and will be a series regular on HBO’s forthcoming “Criminal Justice.” She is perhaps best known for her role in the hugely popular 2011 Bollywood movie “Delhi Belly.” She was in Vietnam, largely cut off from world news, when she first heard of the Delhi attack. “My husband told me there was ‘something crazy’ happening in Delhi,” she says. “At the time we didn’t have much information, and yet I remember feeling like there was something in his words that meant something to me. “It was such a huge event that was
going to change the course of my life. Although I didn’t know what it was, I felt it. Without having any information, it still carried weight.” It was the weight, she says, of her shared experience on that bus. Poorna knew immediately that she wanted to do something, to speak out. “If you don’t confront the problem,” she says, “how can you find the solution?” Knowing Nirbhaya
Yael Farber, an award-winning director from South Africa who had earned acclaim for a searing testimonial portrayal of apartheid in her London production of “Amajuba,” was the perfect collaborator. Poorna had recently seen the play and was drawn to the director’s blend of art and social activism. “There was no one who can deliver the truth in a more compelling way,” Poorna says. “She is an iron fist in a velvet glove.” Shortly after the attack, Yael posted a status update on her Facebook page with the words: “My mother, my daughter, myself.” Poorna read these words and
TOP PHOTOS BY WILLIAM BURDETT-COUTTS; FARBER PHOTO BY VINNA LAUDICO
contacted Yael, quickly finding in her the same sense of urgency to produce a play around Nirbhaya’s story. To smash the “cone of silence” that often envelops victims of sexual abuse in India, Poorna and Yael wanted to showcase first-person testimonials from seven different women, Yael Farber all real victims of sexual assault, including Poorna herself. In the spring of 2011, Yael had visited Maryland at the invitation of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. There she met Rob Jansen, a master’s student in performance. “I was impressed by her focus,” Rob says. “I felt invigorated and challenged as an artist. I knew then I wanted to work with her.” Rob reconnected with the director after completing his degree and was invited to WINTER 2014 TERP 33