Rahul Varma

Artistic Director

Rahul Varma is a playwright, activist, and Artistic Director of Teesri Duniya Theatre. In 1981, he co-founded the company with Rana Bose. He co-founded a journal, alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage in 1998. Born in India, Rahul writes in Hindi and English, a language he acquired as an adult. His recent plays include Counter Offence; Bhopal; Truth and Treason; State of Denial and Dhara’s Revenge, among others. His unproduced new works include Kali’s Dance, Merchant of God and Talaq, etc. His plays have been translated into French, Italian, Hindi and Punjabi. He is honoured to have worked with India’s pre-eminent artist, the late Dr. Habib Tanvir.

Rahul has received the Quebec Drama Federation’s Juror’s Award (1986); the Montreal English Critics Circle award for interculturalism (1999); META’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award (2018); and a Lifetime Honorary Membership Award (2020) from the Canadian Association for Theatre Research.

Vishesh Abeyratne

Literary Manager, Play Development

Vishesh Abeyratne is a Sri Lankan-Canadian playwright and dramaturg who divides his time between Ottawa and Montreal. He is the Literary Manager for Teesri Duniya Theatre and the coordinator at the Fireworks Playwrights’ Mentorship Program. He has served as playwright-in-residence at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. His plays include Exposure, Blood Offering, White Lion, Brown Tiger, and The Agony Market.

Sean Ryan

Artistic Associate

Sean Ryan (they/he/she) is a queer actor/performer/creator who finds joy in the exploration. They started their journey near the water, on Treaty 13A territory- a territory which was and remains under the care of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation. They currently practice in Tiohtià:ke, the unceded territory of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people, where they find themselves beginning a career that centers around love, death, decolonization, queerness, clown, and the chaos that comprises a life.

A recent graduate of Concordia University’s acting program, they just played Beauté in Infinithéâtre’s Extra/Beautiful/U and completed their first professional Assistant Director contract with Liz Valdez on Tableau D’Hôtes, Caravan. Through their practice, they hope to cultivate and create the spark that makes a room collectively and impulsively hold its breath.

Jen Cressey

Fireworks Dramaturg

Jen Cressey (BFA Theatre, MA Individualized Program, Concordia University) is a theatre artist and practice-based researcher living in Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal. She directs, dramaturges, devises, and co-creates contemporary performances.

Recent credits as a director/dramaturg/ collaborator include The Streets; a segment of the roving site-specific play, Dwellings (Concordia University); the little life of we (Nuit Blanche), Keeper (Art Matters, Freestanding Room), and The Yellow Wallpaper (Concordia). As a performer/ collaborator, Jen participated in ineradicable voices: narratives towards rerooting, headphone verbatim performance.

As a director/ dramaturg, she is currently workshopping the stage play Freedom Junkie (Working Title). Jen has trained in several approaches to generating embodied theatrical work, including Viewpoints, Somatics, Grotowki, and corporeal mime; she is interested in how these practices attune attention and perception, feeding the creative process.

Elsa di Paola

Rangshala Studio Coordinator

Elsa (she/her) is based in Montreal, she is a recent graduate from McGill University's English Department, where she now works as a costume assistant. She is continuously involved in various performing arts projects as a stage manager, production manager, and occasional costume maker.

📧 rangshala@teesriduniyatheatre.com

Gaby Rutter

Office Administrator

Gaby (she/her) is a recent graduate of Concordia’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program, where she majored in Music. With years of experience as a performer and teacher, she is deeply passionate about the arts and fostering creativity. Gaby recently joined Teesri’s office administration team, where she shares her enthusiasm for supporting creative communities.

📧 info@teesriduniyatheatre.com

Yolanda Chow

General Manager

Yolanda is an emerging filmmaker, based in Montreal. She has produced, written, and directed, for podcasts, campaigns, and short films. In her work, she combines her passion for storytelling and the arts to foster community and champion social causes.

📧 admin@teesriduniyatheatre.com

Shailee Rajak

Archivist

Shailee Rajak—an Indian scholar, writer, and theater practitioner—joined Teesri Duniya as a Research Intern from McGill University in 2022. In September 2023, she became the theater's Archivist and is currently leading a project to curate, preserve, and digitize its four decades of rich history. Her work has led to the publication of a paper titled, “Teesri Duniya’s ‘Counter’ Offence” in the International Association of Theatre Critics’ (IATC) journal, Critical Stages/Scènes critiques.

Rania Salawdeh

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Rania Salawdeh—artistically known as Lardjane—is a visual storyteller and cultural worker based in Montreal. She studied Film Production at Dar Al-Kalima University in Bethlehem and completed a BFA in Film Studies at Concordia University, Canada.

📧 marketing@teesriduniyatheatre.com

Janis Kirshner

Publicist

As a seasoned theatre/literary/arts publicist, Janis is passionate about promoting the stories & people that make remarkable, creative works. As an actor she takes performing comedic roles seriously and values serious roles. She has decades of experience working with most of Montreal’s respected independent and established theatre companies, festivals and incredibly talented artists, as well as the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival and numerous publishers and authors. 

In addition to her work as a sought-after publicist, Janis has written a range of feature articles, columns, and theatre interviews and reviews for diverse media, publications and organizations. She also enjoyed years on the radio as a traffic reporter, entertainment reviewer and host of open-line talk shows. Janis co-founded the comedy duo TITTERS (with Laura Mitchell), with shows featuring stand-up comedy, sketches, spoken word, monologues and songs, at Fringe Festivals, the Vancouver Int’l Comedy Festival, theatres, comedy clubs, fundraisers and events. She’s sat on a number of professional committees including the METAs, Canadian Actors' Equity Association and the MECCAs. Janis is honoured to be Teesri Duniya Theatre’s longtime publicist. 

Deepa Nallappan

Artist in Residence

Deepa Nallappan, the artistic director of Param des arts, is a Bharathanatyam artist, performer, and teacher located in Montreal. With over three decades of dedication to learning and performing in this artistic domain, Deepa staunchly supports ethnocultural diversity, inclusion, and fosters intercultural and interfaith understanding. she tirelessly endeavors to bring pressing social issues to the forefront of the community's attention through her dance creations. Additionally, Deepa serves as the curator of the Montreal Natyanjali festival.

Siya Pandit

Independent Project, Trans-Formation

Siya is an undergraduate student at McGill University, where she is majoring in Political Science. Having been involved in the theatre community since high school, she is very fortunate to continue this work in meaningful ways throughout university as well. In her work with Teesri, Siya hopes to impact change in her community through the arts.

They are currently in charge of the project Trans-Formation which deals with discrimination and racism by presenting the real experiences of BIPOC LGBTQ-TGD communities.