Working with the parallel theatre for more than a decade, Irum Sana was an introvert in her early years when she made a resolve never to live the life of housewives, restricting herself to household.

While studying architecture at the National College of Arts (NCA), she realised her passion for theatre and used the college’s theatre society ‘Nautanki’ as a laboratory to execute what she was studying in architecture. That’s where she found the connection between formal design and an informal form of performing arts. After graduation, she practised architecture, interior designing and worked for the conservation of the Walled City for a few years before finally dedicating herself to theatre.

“Working as an architect was not something fulfilling. Designing and creating work as an architect or fine artist is a personal experience but theatre is interactive, meeting different kinds of people, creating a team and developing something together with a collective input,” she says about her experience as a theatre actor.

Irum considers herself as a socialist and humanist who believes in people and the importance of their existence.

“I always love meeting people, knowing their life stories and making a single story out of numerous stories,” she narrates

‘Hond Unhond’ was her first Punjabi play with Punjab Lok Rahs in 2004 in which she played the lead role. Working with this theatre group helped her develop a better understanding of her mother language, Punjabi, which was ignored at her home as it happens in many Punjabi so-called educated urban families.

Irum Sana worked for some years along with Shoaib Iqbal, another theatre activist, to establish the department of art education at the Ali Institute of Education.

“Our purpose was to educate the teachers on how to integrate visual arts and theatre with the academic studies. The basic concept was to replace methodology of reading, writing and memorising with visual arts and theatre. Use of artistic tools helps students in conceptual clarity and development of critical thinking,” she explains.

Irum conducts theatre workshops and gives performances for various educational institutions to make a living.

Four years back after failing a project of organising a theatre festival, she along with her two like-minded friends formed Olomopolo, a studio for performing arts.

“The concept was to revive the meaningful theatre as a weekend activity in Lahore. We started with inviting a friend to perform , the response by the audience was positive enough to continue the activities like storytelling, theatre, dance, study circles and open discussions every weekend,” she says while talking about her experience.

A theatrical performance ‘Teesri Dhun’, based on the research work by Claire Pamment is one of the major works as co-director to Irum’s credit. It was first-ever documentary play performed by transgender persons of Pakistan in which they narrated their own stories on stage. The transgender persons’ personal stories interlaced with the political scenario and how the approach of society changes toward this community with the passage of time was the focus of the performance.

“We auditioned 140 transgender persons, selected 12 of them for a month-long training before the final performance. I was amused to see fifty percent of the Alhamra Hall 2 filled by their community along with the straight people in the first show.”

Teesri Dhun was performed seven times last year at various venues outside Pakistan as well including Yale University and Texas University.

Irum never associates herself with any political party but in most of her performances she challenges and questions patriarchy, class conflicts and gender discrimination.

Humble and humane Irum worked as an actress, director and producer for numerous stage performances. Being an optimist she believes that all kinds of theatre help for creating a culture of dialogue and development of this art form.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2017