Academia
This section presents the highlights of Zubin's academic projects and research. These works fuse primary research and practice with theory. Some rooted within the field of performing arts and others set at interdisciplinary junctures- investigations of artistic practices through the lens of sociology and entrepreneurship.
Please note that while these documents are available for reference, it would be appreciated that due credit is given in all published works.
The Enigma of Drama-Based Training
Presented as a dissertation for the M.A. in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship- Theatre and Performance pathway, at Goldsmiths, University of London. This paper investigates the practices prevalent in the Drama-Based training circuit of the UK and evaluates its impact on growing creative and cultural enterprises.
Although, set within the context of the UK this paper would provide readers and researchers with insights into general practices and the obstacles that drama-based trainers are met with around the world. It examines the theoretical foundations of applied theatre and charts the changes that it has seen in a micro-industry where regulatory bodies are few and documentation seems sparse.
The Predicament of Cross-Cultural Performance in a Globalized World
This essay questions this notion of a “Global Village”, critiquing the impact that globalization has had on performing arts, especially within the circuits of international arts practice and festivals. Evaluating the limitations and liberties that dispositions give to artists and audiences, the essay analyses the concepts developed by eminent sociologists of the 20th century to determine how social worlds and habitus in a globalized context have affected our cultural consumption habits. Furthermore, having been written from the perspective of an artist-entrepreneur, it contextualizes these findings within the creative economy, reflecting upon the relationship between marketplace laws and content creation- grappling with questions of homogeneity within theatre and cultural appropriation.
Social Capital
An evaluation of formal and informal networks, this essay analyses some of the prominent forms of networks that emerged since the medieval ages- from guilds and trade associations, to community support groups, modern social media and networking aggregators. It also examines the “informal” and non-institutionalized networks that entrepreneurs engage in. The essay presents the objectives that these institutions served and evaluates their impact on the sociability and social capital of entrepreneurs.
GRIPS Theatre in Pune
It started as a revolution in children’s theatre breaking away from unnatural elements and fantasy. It brought to the stage something that a child or teenager could actually connect with.
However, the last decade has seen a decline in the influence of GRIPS. This essay investigates in detail the various challenges faced by this genre of theatre and maps out reflections on the decisions taken. The investigation process consists of interviews of a range of people affiliated with the movement. Also a great deal is analysed through newspaper
articles and surveys. It tracks how advances made in media and the modernization of lifestyle have affected GRIPS. These changes have led to loss of the great audience that GRIPS could once boast about. The essay follows how the decisions in the past have influenced its current situation and the projects for the future. It also addresses the latest developments in this form of theatre and analyses the outcomes and impacts of the same.
Performance Portfolio- Reinterpreting Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings".
Readings of this short story by Marquez prompted within me several mythical connections. Submitted as a Practical Performance Proposal for the IBDP Theatre Higher Level programme in 2013, this portfolio documents the various elements required to stage this reinterpretation of Marquez's short story.
The original story is a masterpiece of magical realism- a rationally presented blend of real and fantasy, from Latin America. It felt tempting to propose to adapt this stimulus to a form of theatre equally alluring, yet rooted in a culture that could not be more distant from its origin. Thus, the decision to lay the foundations of this proposed performance in the Japanese form- Noh.
This portfolio documents the process that would need to be followed, from examining the principles of Noh to character studies of the original story. At various points it anchors itself to the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus, an anchorage between Colombia and Japan.