In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Envisioning South Asian Theatre in New Zealand:An Interview with Amit Ohdedar and Jacob Rajan
• Kimberly M. Jew (bio)

New Zealand (Aotearoa) offers one of the most famous and geologically active landscapes in the Global South. From the fantastic images of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy to the Christchurch earthquake and the recent White Island volcano eruption, New Zealand is unique in its environmental positioning that vacillates between the idyllic and the devastating. Within this country of about 600 islands lies an emerging intercultural theatre created by the South Asian New Zealander community, a fast-growing minority that constitutes almost 5 percent of the New Zealand population. This emerging theatre notably contrasts with the majority white New Zealander theatre (Pākehā) and the active, Indigenous and Pacific Islander theatres (Māori, Samoan).

Early South Asian New Zealander Theatre companies––including Indian Ink Theatre Company (1996), Those Indian Guys (2002), The Untouchables Collective (2003), and Prayas Theatre (2005)––have explored topics of immigration, assimilation, hybrid identities, and family structures, often utilizing traditional South Asian dance forms, music and storytelling devices. Altogether these theatres have fostered new and experimental works, comedy routines, historical dramas, community performances and classical South Asian theatre productions in English. Artists and scholars of ethnic American theatre may find rich and familiar territory in the work of emerging South Asian theatre-makers in New Zealand, ready connections that auger well for greater global consciousness among the arts and ethnic studies.

I asked two of the leading artists, Amit Ohdedar of Prayas Theatre and Jacob Rajan of Indian Ink Theatre Company, for their perspectives on their intercultural theatre work: our discussions focused on identifying the correct "language" to define their work and on envisioning their theatrical past, present, and future.

Amit Ohdedar

An active theatre director and advocate for the presentation of both classical and new South Asian plays in English, Ohdedar was one of the seven founding members of Prayas Theatre in Auckland in 2005. He has since directed seven plays for Prayas, inspired by what he calls a "deep pride in his Indian heritage," one which compels him to create theatre in his adopted home of New Zealand. [End Page E-1]

Odhedar approached his theatrical career as an outsider to institutionalized and Westernized theatre education and training. Working as a refrigeration and air conditioning contracts manager by day, he confesses in his theatre website bio that his true love lies in the engineering of theatrical elements for his audiences, as well as the engineering of a delicious Indian lamb curry. This cheeky, self-effacing style of humor is typical of contemporary Indian New Zealand comedy.

Like Ohdedar, Prayas Theatre has its early roots in nonprofessional, community-based theatre. In the past fifteen years Prayas has established a reputation as an enthusiastic producer of classical South Asian plays and dramatic adaptations of canonical Indian literature, performed by local actors and performers. Through its highly theatrical, multi-art endeavors, Prayas has contributed to the cultivation of traditional forms of music, dance, and puppetry within the Auckland South Asian community. Offerings in youth theatre (such as the Wesley Community Project, 2008) and collaborations with visiting artists (such as hosting "Bauls of Bengals," 2009) have further cemented the theatre's role as a center for community civic engagement. During its early history, Prayas also presented modern South Asian plays. The epic Charandas Chor by Tanvib Hanvir was performed in 2005, 2006, and 2014, in recognition of one of India's most influential modern playwrights.

In recent years Prayas Theatre has embraced a broader South Asian cultural identity and steadily moved toward the performance of new, unpublished works and devised theatre pieces. The First World Problems series (1.0, 2.0, and 3.0) has become an annual tradition of new, locally written plays that explore contemporary social problems and themes. And the ambitious production Swabhoomi: Borrowed Earth (2017) was created from scratch though a process of theatrical devising. Directed by the Sri Lankan New Zealander director Ahi Karunaharan, this large-scale historical drama narrated the entire 150-year history of Indians in New Zealand. As reviewer Rina Patel comments, "by staging a large ensemble contemporary story like Swabhoomi...

中文翻译：

---

展望新西兰的南亚剧院：艾米特·奥哈达达（Amit Ohdedar）和雅各布·拉詹（Jacob Rajan）的访谈

代替摘要，这里是内容的简要摘录：

• 展望新西兰的南亚剧院：艾米特·奥哈达达（Amit Ohdedar）和雅各布·拉詹（Jacob Rajan）的访谈
• 金伯利·M·犹太（生物）

新西兰（Aotearoa）提供了全球南方最著名和地质活跃的景观之一。从《指环王》电影三部曲的奇妙影像到克赖斯特彻奇地震和最近的白岛火山喷发，新西兰的环境定位是独一无二的，可以在田园风光和毁灭性气候之间摇摆。在这个约有600个岛屿的国家中，有一个新兴的跨文化剧场，该剧场是由南亚新西兰人社区创建的，这是一个快速增长的少数民族，几乎占新西兰人口的5％。这个新兴的剧院与大多数新西兰白人剧院（Pākehā）和活跃，土著和太平洋岛民剧院（毛利，萨摩亚）形成鲜明对比。

早期的南亚新西兰人剧院公司-包括印度墨水剧院公司（1996），那些印第安人（2002），The Untouchables Collective（2003）和Prayas Theatre（2005）-曾探讨过移民，同化，混合身份等主题。和家庭结构，通常利用传统的南亚舞蹈形式，音乐和讲故事的设备。这些剧院总共培养了新的和实验性的作品，喜剧套路，历史戏剧，社区表演和经典的南亚戏剧英语制作。美国民族戏剧的艺术家和学者可能会在新西兰新兴的南亚戏剧制作人的工作中找到丰富而熟悉的领地，这些现成的联系预示着增强艺术和种族研究之间的全球意识。

我请两位主要的艺术家，普拉亚斯剧院的阿米特·奥哈达达（Amit Ohdedar）和印度墨水剧院公司的雅各布·拉詹（Jacob Rajan）对他们跨文化戏剧工作的看法：我们的讨论重点是确定正确的“语言”以定义他们的作品并设想他们的戏剧过去，现在和未来。

阿米特·奥希达（Amit Ohdedar）

Ohdedar是活跃的戏剧导演和英语经典南亚戏剧展示的倡导者，是2005年奥克兰海峡剧院（Prayas Theatre）的七个创始成员之一。此后，他为海峡剧院（Prayas）执导了七部戏剧，受到他所谓的启发一种“对他的印度传统深为自豪”的事实，迫使他在他被收养的新西兰故乡创建剧院。[第E-1页结束]

奥德达（Odhedar）作为局外人进入戏剧界，从事制度化和西方化的戏剧教育和培训。他每天担任制冷和空调合同经理，在剧院网站的简历中承认，他的真正爱在于对观众的戏剧元素工程以及美味的印度羔羊咖喱工程。这种厚脸皮，自欺欺人的幽默风格是当代印度新西兰喜剧的典型代表。

像Ohdedar一样，Prayas剧院也起源于非专业的社区剧院。在过去的15年中，普拉亚斯（Prayas）在当地古典演员和表演者的热情奉献下，成为古典南亚戏剧和经典印度文学戏剧改编作品的狂热制作人。通过高度戏剧性的多元艺术努力，Prayas为奥克兰南亚社区内传统音乐，舞蹈和木偶的培养做出了贡献。青年剧院提供的产品（例如Wesley社区项目，2008年）以及与来访艺术家的合作（例如2009年主办“孟加拉的鲍尔”），进一步巩固了剧院作为社区公民参与中心的作用。在早期的历史中，Prayas还介绍了现代南亚戏剧。史诗Tanvib Hanvir的Charandas Chor于2005年，2006年和2014年演出，以表彰印度最有影响力的现代剧作家之一。

近年来，普拉亚斯剧院（Prayas Theatre）拥有更广泛的南亚文化认同，并逐渐转向表演未出版的新作品和设计的剧院作品。《第一世界问题》系列（1.0、2.0和3.0）已成为探索本地当代社会问题和主题的新本地剧本的年度传统。雄心勃勃的作品《Swabhoomi：Borrowed Earth（2017）》是通过戏剧设计过程从头开始创作的。这部大型历史剧由斯里兰卡新西兰人导演阿西·卡鲁纳哈兰（Ahi Karunaharan）执导，讲述了新西兰印第安人整整150年的历史。正如评论家里娜·帕特尔（Rina Patel）所评论的那样：“通过讲述诸如Swabhoomi之类的大型集体当代故事，...