ADITI BRENNAN KAPIL
ADITI BRENNAN KAPIl Is an actress, writer, and director, of Bulgarian and Indian descent. She was raised in Sweden, and resides in Minneapolis, MN. She is a graduate of Macalester College with a BA in English and Dramatic Arts. Ms. Kapil’s work has been produced around the U.S. to critical acclaim, and has been nominated for the ATCA/Steinberg Award, the Francesca Primus Prize, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Her play “Love Person” received the 2009 Stavis Playwriting Award. She will be discussing with the faculty cohort her process of drafting the play Agnes Under the Big Top: A Tall Tale, a play which explores the intersecting lives of immigrants in a U.S. city. One character learns of her diagnosis of cancer. An important theme in the play is the shame involved in failure, whether it be as an immigrant in a cross-cultural setting or a cancer patient losing the battle against the illness. This play has received a 2009 Distinguished New Play Development Project, selected by the NEA New Play Development program hosted by Arena Stage. It was developed at the Rhodopi International Theatre Laboratory in Bulgaria, the Playwright’s Center ruth Easton Core Lab (MN), the InterAct Theatre (PA), and the Lark Play Development Center Artist retreat (NY), and produced at Mixed Bllod Theatre (MN and Long Wharf Theatre (CT) in 2011; and Borderlands Theater (AZ) in 2012.
The faculty cohort will gain knowledge about the relationship between Cross-Cultural Medicine and the Humanities. This knowledge will be used when the cohort creates a sequence of new undergraduate courses in the area of Medical Humanities, one goal of the NEH-funded project.