Anusree Roy

Anusree Roy (born 1982 in Kolkata, India) is an Indo-Canadian award-winning playwright, actress and librettist.[1] Roy emigrated to Canada with her family at age 17. Roy writes plays because she truly believes that they have the power to change the world [2]

Anusree Roy
Born1982
Kolkata, India
OccupationPlaywright, actress
NationalityIndian/Canadian
Period2000s-present
Notable worksPyaasa, Brothel #9, Letters to my Grandma, Roshni, Sultans of the Street

Education

She holds a B.A in theatre from York University and an M.A from the University of Toronto.[1]

Theatre work

She premiered her first piece, breathlessness, in 2006.[1] Her play Pyaasa debuted at Theatre Passe Muraille in 2007, and won two Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the independent theatre division in 2008, including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance (Female).[1] Her subsequent plays have included Letters to My Grandma, Roshni and Brothel #9.[1] Brothel #9 won the Carol Bolt Award and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2011, and was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2012 Governor General's Awards.[1] She has also won the RBC Emerging Artist Award, the K. M. Hunter Award and the Siminovitch Protege Prize. She has premiered two operas, Noor over Afghan and The Golden Boy.[1]

She has been playwright-in-residence at the Canadian Stage, Theatre Passe Muraille, Nightwood Theatre, Factory Theatre and the Blyth Festival, and is co-artistic director with David DeGrow and Thomas Morgan Jones of Theatre Jones Roy.[3]

She also played Nurse Patel on the TV show Remedy in 2014 and 2015. She was a story editor for Remedy in its first season.[4]

Play summaries
  • Brothel # 9 - Rekha, a young South Asian village woman, travels to Calcutta to take an honest job, only to discover she has been sold into a brothel. There she meets Jamuna, the jaded madam, who believes there's no escape from the confines of their trade. Strong-willed and determined to defy fate, Rekha realizes she can shape her own destiny and discovers compassion, faith and forgiveness are the foundation of true liberty.[5]
  • Letters to My Grandma - Malobee unearths letters detailing her grandmother's fight to survive the 1947 partition of India, which resonates with Malobee's own struggles to create a new life in present-day Toronto.[6]
  • Pyaasa - Set in Calcutta, Pyaasa tells the story of Chaya, an eleven-year-old untouchable who dreams of nothing more than learning her times tables. When Chaya's mother begs a woman from a higher caste to give Chaya a job at a local tea stall, Chaya's journey from childhood to adulthood begins and ends over ten days.[7]
  • Little Pretty and The Exceptional - a family drama involving two sisters and their father preparing to open their new sari shop in Toronto's Little India neighbourhood.[8]

Awards
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding New Play for Pyaasa (2008)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding Performance by a Female for Pyaasa (2008)
  • RBC Emerging Artist Award Theatre (2009)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding New Play for Brothel # 9 (2011)
  • K. M Hunter Artist Award Theatre (2011)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding New Play (Brothel # 9) (2011)
  • Carol Bolt Award for Playwriting Brothel # 9 (2011)
  • Governor General's Award. Theatre (Brothel # 9) (2013)
  • Siminovitch Protege Prize Theatre (Brothel # 9) (2012)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding New Play (Sultans of the Street) (2014)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding Ensemble (Sultans of the Street) (2014)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding Direction (Sultans of the Street) (2014)
  • Dora Mavor Moore Award Outstanding Production (Sultans of the Street) (2014)

References
  1. Roy, Anusree. Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, 10 November 2011.
  2. Bhatia, Nandi (2013). "Diasporic activism and the mediations of "home": South asian voices in canadian drama". Studies in Social Justice. 7 (1): 129–141. ProQuest 1315912870.
  3. "Anusree Roy gets to roar in The Golden Dragon". NOW, 5 January 2012.
  4. "Remedy (2014-): Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  5. "Brothel # 9". Playwrights Guild of Canada. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  6. "Letters to My Grandma". Playwrights Guild of Canada. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  7. "Pyassa". Playwrights Guild of Canada. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  8. Wheeler, Brad (29 March 2017). "What playwright Anusree Roy is watching, looking forward to and tuning into". theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
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