Irshad 2026 is here!

Hello everyone! This blog is dedicated entirely to Irshad - the graduation show of the Bargad Theatre Fellowship.

Last year's Irshad was deeply special for all of us. Four sold-out shows, and the sheer joy of finally placing months of work before a live audience. It marked not just an ending but a beginning - one of the productions, Kachchi Chhat, has in fact, continued to travel and find new audiences, and is still doing so today.

• 

• 

The baton now passes to a new cohort, and with them come new stories, new questions, new possibilities. This year, we are also joined by two wonderful directors - Sajida Saji and Joy Maisnam - who bring distinct approaches to performance-making and actor training, and are guiding the fellows through this process of creation.

Sajida Saji is a director, actor, and designer whose work moves across realism and devised theatre. A graduate of the National School of Drama and founder of Treasure Art Association, she has over 25 productions to her name, work that has travelled widely across major festivals in India, alongside a sustained engagement with teaching and actor training.

Joy Maisnam, also an NSD graduate, is known for his practice in psychophysical theatre and actor training across institutions in India and beyond. His productions have toured nationally and internationally, earning critical recognition including multiple META Awards.

This edition of Irshad brings together two distinct plays. Douloti, directed by Sajida Saji and drawn from Mahasweta Devi's short story, looks closely at the violence embedded within everyday systems - where caste, class, and gender shape lives in ways that are at once invisible and inescapable. Endless Nights, directed by Joy Maisnam, traces the quiet, enduring aftermath of war - moving beyond spectacle to sit with memory, loss, and the lives reshaped by conflict across geographies.

As these works continue to take form, what emerges are not just performances, but very real reckonings with power, survival, and the worlds we inherit and inhabit. We're excited to see and share how it unfolds.

Thank you, as always, for being a vital part of the Bargad community.