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More completely fleshed out the work Sudha Bhuchar has done for British theatre/playwriting, her personal life and background, artistic goals, and type of work. Included more sources. |
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'''Sudha Bhuchar''' (born 1961 or 1962) is a Tanzanian-born British Asian actor, playwright, and co-founder of the Tamasha Theatre Company. <ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamasha.org.uk/productions/past/|title=Past Productions - Tamasha Theatre Company|last=Company|first=Tamasha Theatre|website=www.tamasha.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> She is best known for Tamasha's ''Balti Kings'' (1999), ''A Fine Balance'' (2005), ''The Trouble with Asian Men'' (2005), and ''My Name Is...'' (2014) as well as numerous screenplays for television and film. <ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/sudha-bhuchar|title=Sudha Bhuchar - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> Bhuchar's playwriting and producing work focuses on the stories of British Asians with the goal of attracting culturally and ethnically diverse audiences. <ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bhucharboulevard.com/|title=Home|website=Bhuchar Boulevard|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> She is called "one of Britain's most successful artistic theatre directors and well-established actors" by ''Asian Culture Vulture'' online magazine. <ref>http://asianculturevulture.com/portfolios/artistic-director-25-years-experience-treated-like-a-beginner/</ref>
== Early Life and Education ==
Bhuchar was born in Tanga, Tanzania, to Indian parents. <ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/sudha-bhuchar|title=Sudha Bhuchar - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> She identifies as a British Asian and spent her childhood traveling back and forth from India. When Bhuchar was 11 years old, the family moved to King's Lynn Norfolk. She describes herself as "a chronically shy teenager" and focused academically on science and math, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Maths and Sociology from Roehampton Institute (now known as University of Roehampton). <ref name=":22">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bhucharboulevard.com/|title=Home|website=Bhuchar Boulevard|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> Bhuchar credits her first interest with theatre to attending the performance of Tara Arts, a South Asian cultural entertainment group, at a Diwali celebration in 1979. She joined the group to connect with other young British Asians. <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2002/jul/06/whoswhoinbritishtheatre.features18|title=Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith|date=2002-07-06|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
She lives in London with her sons and husband. <ref name=":22" />
== Professional Life ==
'''Tamasha Theatre Company'''
In 1989, Bhuchar and director Kristine Landon-Smith founded Tamasha Theatre Company with the mission of popularizing Asian art into the British mainstream culture, diversifying narratives, and encouraging developing artists from ethnic minorities. <ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamasha.org.uk/about/history/|title=History - Tamasha Theatre Company|last=Company|first=Tamasha Theatre|website=www.tamasha.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> At Tamasha, Bhuchar has worked as a playwright, actor, and co-Artistic Director. According to Bhuchar in a 2014 interview with ''London Calling'' cultural review, Tamasha is a "political company" that encourages "diversity in the arts, representation on the stages, [and] writers from backgrounds which don't normally birth artists and writers". <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.londoncalling.com/features/a-day-in-the-life-of-tamasha-theatre-company|title=Tamasha Theatre {{!}} A Day In The Life {{!}} Sudha Bhuchar & Fin Kennedy|website=www.londoncalling.com|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> In a 1999 interview with ''The Guardian'', Bhuchar explained that casting opportunities for Asian actors in England are limited and "unimaginative". <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/jul/14/artsfeatures2|title=If you want it done properly...|date=1999-07-14|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
For their work with Tamasha, Bhuchar and Landon-Smith jointly won the 2005 Asian Women of Achievement Awards for Arts and Culture and the 2010 First Women Award in the Tourism and Leisure Category. <ref name=":13">{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/sudha-bhuchar|title=Sudha Bhuchar - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
After 26 years, Bhuchar retired from her Artistic Director position at Tamasha and founded a new theatre company, Bhuchar Boulevard in 2015. <ref name=":3" />
'''Bhuchar Boulevard'''
In 2015, after leaving Tamasha Theatre Company, Bhuchar founded Bhuchar Boulevard with the goal of continuing to diversify British theatre by featuring more artists of color and challenging its audience to more critically and empathetically examine their surrounding communities. <ref name=":23">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bhucharboulevard.com/|title=Home|website=Bhuchar Boulevard|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> The title of the theatre company is a nod to Bhuchar's "global family" and their efforts to push for a sense of belonging and recognition in mainstream Western culture and is publicly funded by Arts Council England. <ref name=":23" />
Bhuchar Boulevard creates new plays- most recently, ''Child of the Divide'' (2017) and ''Golden Hearts'' (2014). It also combines activism for diversifying arts and other public causes, such as with Bhuchar's work with ''Golden Hearts'' and its 2016 partnership with East London Genes & Health to prevent premature heart failure among Asian men. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.richmix.org.uk/events/theatre/golden-hearts|title=Golden Hearts|website=Rich Mix|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
As Artistic Director of Bhuchar Boulevard, Sudha Bhuchar also works as a commissioned playwright. She most recently collaborated with Tamasha and Paines Plough Theatre Companies, writing a collection of monologues entitled <i>Come To Where I'm From</i> (2017). <ref name=":23" /><p>'''Playwriting and Screenwriting Selected Works''' <ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamasha.org.uk/productions/past/|title=Past Productions - Tamasha Theatre Company|last=Company|first=Tamasha Theatre|website=www.tamasha.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref></p>
{| class="wikitable"
<tbody><tr><th>Title of Play</th><th>Year of Premiere</th><th>Authorship</th><th>Notes</th></tr><tr><td>Untouchable</td><td>1989</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith, adapted from the novel by Mulk Raj Anand</td><td>Tamasha's first production</td></tr><tr><td>House of the Sun</td><td>1991</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>A Tainted Dawn</td><td>1997</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral</td><td>1998</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith, adapted from the film "Hum Aapke Hain Koun" by Sooraj Barjatya</td><td>Winner of the Barclays Theatre Award for Best Musical and BBC Asia Award for Achievement in the Arts</td></tr><tr><td>Balti Kings</td><td>1999</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar and Shaheen Khan</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Ryman and the Shiekh</td><td>2002</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar, Kristine Landon-Smith, Rehan Sheikh, Chris Ryman and Richard Vranch</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Strictly Dandia</td><td>2003</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith</td><td href="IMDb"></td></tr><tr><td>The Trouble with Asian Men</td><td href="Category:Articles needing additional categories from January 2017">2005</td><td>Created by Sudha Buchar, Kristine Landon-Smith, and Louise Wallinger</td><td href="Category:1960s births"></td></tr><tr href="Category:Living people"><td>Child of the Divide</td><td>2006</td><td href="Category:All stub articles">Sudha Buchar, adapted from the short story <i>Pali</i> by Bhisham Sahni</td><td href="Category:All stub articles"><i>Best Kids' Show of 2006</i> Time Out London</td></tr><tr><td>A Fine Balance</td><td>2006</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith, adapted from the novel by Rohinton Mistry</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The House of Bilquis Bibi</td><td>2010</td><td>Sudha Buchar, adapted from the play ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' by Federico Garcia Lorca</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>My Name Is...</td><td>2014</td><td>Sudha Bhuchar</td><td></td></tr><tr></tr></tbody>
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!Title of Screenplay or Radio Script <ref name=":14">{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/sudha-bhuchar|title=Sudha Bhuchar - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|language=en|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
!Year
!Authorship
!Company
|-
|Midnight Feast
|2004
|Sudha Bhuchar
|Tamasha Theatre Company
|-
|Girlies
|1997
|Sudha Bhuchar and Shaheen Khan
|BBC Radio 4
|-
|The House Across the Street
|Unknown
|Sudha Bhuchar and Shaheen Khan
|Unknown
|}
===== Performance Experience <ref name=":02" /> <ref name=":14" /> =====
{| class="wikitable"
!Play
!Year
!Company
|-
|Women of the Dust
|1992
|Tamasha Theatre Company
|-
|A Shaft of Sunlight
|1994
|Tamasha Theatre Company
|-
|A Yearning
|1995
|Tamasha Theatre Company
|-
|A Fine Balance
|2006, 2007
|Tamasha Theatre Company
|-
|Sweet Cider
|2008
|Tamasha Theatre Company
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!Television Show
!Date
!Role
|-
|EastEnders
|1993-1994, 1996
|Meena McKenzie
|-
|Coronation Street
|August 22 2016
|Unknown
|}
==References==
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