Holy Cross Music and Theatre Departments Present Phoolan Devi, the story of the 'Bandit Queen'

WORCESTER, Mass. – The music and theatre departments at the College of the Holy Cross presents “Phoolan Devi: Bandit Queen,” scenes from an opera, with Boston Musica Viva, an internationally renowned ensemble, on Monday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. in the Pit (O’Kane 037).   Music for the opera was composed by Shirish Korde, professor and chair of the music department.  The performance, free and open to the public, was developed by Lynn Kremer, professor of theatre, with the help of her experimental theatre ensemble class.

Faculty and student performances will reference events from the life of Phoolan Devi. Widely known as the bandit queen, she was a controversial Indian lawmaker who rose from abused child-bride and infamous outlaw to become a Member of Parliament.   She was shot dead by three masked gunmen outside her official residence in the heart of New Delhi in 2001.  Revered by some as a messiah of the downtrodden and reviled by others as a ruthless killer, Phoolan Devi was one of the most controversial figures in India.  In her short and turbulent life, she captured the popular imagination, first as a victim of social injustice, then as a dreaded avenger, and finally as a charming politician, who learned to skillfully exploit her past for political gain.  In 1994, her life became the subject of the movie Bandit Queen.

The experimental theatre ensemble is a recreation of the traditional European ensemble-based theatre companies in which all members have a creative voice in developing a new work.   Participants married the facts of Phoolan Devi’s life with Indian dance and music traditions as the foundation for the work. The experimental component involved learning how to abstract from the visual and textual elements necessary for a performance piece.

The internationally renowned Boston Musica Viva, founded in 1969 by music director Richard Pittman, is the first ensemble in Boston dedicated to contemporary music. According to their Web site, “It’s our mission to broaden experience, knowledge, and enjoyment of every style of new music by embracing the full range of compositional activity and giving voice to music that might otherwise not be heard.”