Dr. Anandibai
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The first woman to perform a solo role in a Manoj Shah production — and the first Indian woman to earn a medical degree. Two firsts, separated by 131 years. Dr. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi was married at nine, widowed of her infant son, and told by every institution around her that a woman's place was in the home. In 1886, she sailed to America and earned her MD from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania — the first Indian woman to do so. She returned to India to serve as the physician-in-charge at the Albert Edward Hospital in Kolhapur. She was twenty-one. She died of tuberculosis the following year, at twenty-two. Written by Geeta Manek and directed by Manoj Shah, the play uses the conceit of social media — Like, Comment, Share — to draw parallels between Anandibai's 19th-century struggles and the pressures facing Indian women today. Are they still defined by the likes they receive? Still waiting for male validation? Still weighed down by domestic duty disguised as devotion? Manasi Joshi performs the 75-minute monologue alone on a bare stage — no props, no set, just Kabir Thakore's spatial design and Hemant Joshi's lighting carving the world out of darkness. The play premiered at NCPA's CentreStage Festival on 2 December 2017, was later staged in Hindi and Marathi, and was selected for the 8th Theatre Olympics in 2018.
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DNA India
A Play to Celebrate Life and Times of India's First Female Doctor
Written by Geeta Manek and directed by Manoj Shah, the solo play performed by Manasi Joshi uses a social media conceit to draw parallels between 19th-century struggles and modern Indian women's issues.
1 December 2017
Mumbai Theatre Guide
Dr. Anandibai: Like, Comment, Share — NCPA CentreStage
Actress Manasi Joshi describes the struggles and sacrifices of Dr Anandibai Joshi, who died at age 22, in this Gujarati play selected for the Theatre Olympics.
2 December 2017