Hey y’all! Welcome to the Theatre Artist Podcast | Diving Into the Craft and Business for Theatre Artists. 

Today’s conversation is with Gulshirin Dubash who directed me in a show at Interlochen Arts Academy and has been an incredible mentor and inspiration over the past 6 years. Gulshirin grew up in Bombay, India and after undergrad, attended the Dell‘Arte School of Physical Theatre. She later studied at the Kita School and trained in Japanese Noh Theatre with The Noh Training Project led by Richard Emmert. Theatre Nohgaku. She is currently on sabbatical in India and is a theatre instructor at Interlochen Arts Academy where she teaches physical theatre, commedia dell’arte, melodrama, clown, and devised work. On top of all of this, she also created close to 400 performances of environmental street theatre in Bombay. 

A few things to note before we get into the episode; we reference some people and shows that I will have linked for you and talk about during the Fact Check, but I wanted to mention them at the top so that you have some reference. I mention Bill when talking about working at Interlochen last summer, referring to the Director of Theatre Arts, William Church and I also mention Matt, referring to Matthew Lindstrom who was the choreographer in the show Gulsh directed me in, A Secret in the Wings by Mary Zimmerman. 

I also wanted to mention that later on in the Fact Check, I’ll read her convocation speech that she wrote for the Interlochen Arts Academy class of 2012. It is so moving and if you are part of the class of 2020, I hope that it can have some sort of impact on you as we continue to forge on in our journeys and figure how we can be working artists in our post Covid world. 

I’m so happy that I could cackle and learn more about myself and Gulsh in this hour I got to speak with her. The audio literally cut out so many times because we were cry-laughing so hard. I hope that, if you’ve listened to previous episodes where I reference Gulsh, you have been able to experience her greatness at least a little bit from this episode. Her experience in the theatre and in life beyond of American theatre brings such a wonderful perspective and deeply helpful insight into what it really means to be an artist and a healthier way to approach being a working actor. In this episode, I really tried to convey my fears and confusion about my future after 6 years of higher education in theatre. When we recorded this episode, I still think I didn’t really understand what “the business” was/is to me and since then, I think I’ve gathered some thoughts on what that is, which I’ll talk about during the Fact Check. I hope that the way Gulsh suggested advice to me can also apply to some of you who might also be experiencing these fears and confusing thoughts about theatre. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Follow us on social media @theatreartistpodcast, check out the Fact Check page with links at www.kasiagneiser.com/links-for-a-conversation-with , and support us at www.patreon.com/theatreartistpodcast .