Join Salons for Life for the second virtual salon of In Nature and In Nurture series, "False Dichotomies: What We Can Learn from Karna '' with V. Balakrishnan (aka “Bala”), actor and artistic director of Theatre Nisha. Bala’s work is centered on activating imagination and intuition so that we can live a truly present and liberated human existence. In this virtual interactive theatrical salon, Bala will retell the story of Karna, a warrior from the Indian epic Mahābhārata, through the seven cantos of the epic poem, Rashmirathi, pausing to examine, through interactive theater games, the central question of this year’s salon series: What is it to be In Nature and In Nurture?

Bala’s artistic practice engages the human mind, body and spirit through storytelling to liberate the actor and audience to become “people in the moment.” Bala endeavors to find intuition, instinct and imagination, both on and off the stage. The essence of his work at Theater Nisha is to connect societally-relevant stories to real life so that we can be activated in our common human potential.

This 90-minute virtual workshop is hosted on Zoom. The zoom room opens 5 minutes prior to start time; do come early. Keep some writing material at hand, dress comfortably and keep some space around you to enable some movement.

“through the relentless passage of time, we have lost our powers of intuitive, instinctive, impulsive behavior and negated imagination and its wonders, leading many to lack self esteem and confidence… and that theatre and its many forms… free and liberate us to become people in the moment.“ - V. Balakrishnan