Lavina Jadhwani

Lavina Jadhwani

Lavina Jadhwani is a Chicago-based director and adaptor. She has received the O’Neill/NNPN National Directors Fellowship, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Phil Killian Directing Fellowship, the Drama League’s Classical Directing Fellowship, an SDCF Observership, an Illinois Board of Higher Education Fellowship, and an LMDA Residency Award. She was named Time Out Chicago’s “Best Next Generation Stage Director” in...
Lavina Jadhwani is a Chicago-based director and adaptor. She has received the O’Neill/NNPN National Directors Fellowship, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Phil Killian Directing Fellowship, the Drama League’s Classical Directing Fellowship, an SDCF Observership, an Illinois Board of Higher Education Fellowship, and an LMDA Residency Award. She was named Time Out Chicago’s “Best Next Generation Stage Director” in 2013.

In Chicago, Lavina maintains relationships with Chicago Dramatists (Associate Dramaturg), Lifeline Theatre (Casting Director), Rasaka Theatre Company (Artistic Director, 2007-2013), Silk Road Rising (Artistic Associate), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Artistic Engagement Associate), and Writers Theatre (Script Reader). Her work has also been seen at Apple Tree Theatre, Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Raven Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, the side project, Stage Left Theatre, Timeline Theatre, Teatro Vista, and Victory Gardens Theater.

Lavina is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University (MFA, Directing), Carnegie Mellon University (BFA, Scenic Design; Masters, Arts Management) and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.

Plays

  • THE SITAYANA (or "How to Make an Exit") by Lavina Jadhwani
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: solo performance, hinduism + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale
    Keyword: solo performance, hinduism, feminist drama
    The young princess Sita follows her new husband Ram to his kingdom in Ayodhya - only to learn that he has been banished to the forest! Refusing to abandon her partner, she joins him in exile, but finds her loyalty tested to surprising lengths. A solo piece written for a South Asian woman, The Sitayana is part Hindu epic, part coming of age story, and, ultimately, a break up play. Adapted from the Sanskrit epic...
    The young princess Sita follows her new husband Ram to his kingdom in Ayodhya - only to learn that he has been banished to the forest! Refusing to abandon her partner, she joins him in exile, but finds her loyalty tested to surprising lengths. A solo piece written for a South Asian woman, The Sitayana is part Hindu epic, part coming of age story, and, ultimately, a break up play. Adapted from the Sanskrit epic poem, The Ramayana


    "An artful, winkingly shrewd modern transposition of a Hindu myth about love, marriage, betrayal and acceptance." --Chicago Sun-Times
  • VANYA or "That's Life!" by Lavina Jadhwani
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, romantic comedy, translation
    Uncle Vanya continues to be one of the greatest and continually relevant of plays, concerned with and sending up family relationships, broken hearts, and the rampant disappointment of midlife crisis. In this hilarious and sharp reinvention, there is great providence in the shattering of a teacup, time moves backwards, and our bored, sad Chekhovian friends have a tendency to lapse into singing American Indie...
    Uncle Vanya continues to be one of the greatest and continually relevant of plays, concerned with and sending up family relationships, broken hearts, and the rampant disappointment of midlife crisis. In this hilarious and sharp reinvention, there is great providence in the shattering of a teacup, time moves backwards, and our bored, sad Chekhovian friends have a tendency to lapse into singing American Indie Folk tunes. What could be more Russian? Or American?
  • Shakuntala, an East-Meets-West Love Story by Lavina Jadhwani
    Cast: 
    8–9
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, fable/folktale, musical, political, romantic comedy, young audiences
    A modern adaptation of Kalidasa’s Sanskrit drama, infused with a mashup of contemporary Bollywood and American pop music.
  • JULIET AND REESE by Lavina Jadhwani
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: period, political + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Dallas, gun violence + 3 more
    Genre: period, political, romantic comedy, tragedy
    Keyword: Dallas, gun violence, Protests, JFK, Shakespeare
    A pair of star crossed lovers are forced to grow up too soon when their are confronted with violent events in their community. This 10 minute play that spans four centuries, including two shootings in Dallas (1963 and 2016) with a little Shakespeare mixed in.