Dr. Devendra Sharma is a Professor of Communication at California State University,
USA. He is also at least a fifth generation performer, writer, and director of Swang-Nautanki, Raaslila, Bhagat,
and Rasiya, the traditional Sāngīt musical theater genres of northern India. His ancestors made “Rahas” or the musical
theatre popular at Awadh’s Nawab (Prince) Wajid Ali Shah’s court in the mid 1800s.
In 2021, Professor Sharma received one of the largest commissions in the traditional
and folk arts the US from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to create a Nautanki
opera to be premiered in the Bay Area in 2024. http://www.fresnostatenews.com/2021/12/02/largest-nautanki-folk-opera-in-us-to-be-staged-by-fresno-state-professor/
In March 2012, Dr. Sharma was awarded the Franklin Research Grant by the American
Philosophical Society to conduct research in the British Library on Swang-Nautanki (a folk operatic performance tradition of India) and its connection to communication
and community engagement. In 2011, Dr. Sharma's syllabus for COMM 264M (Graduate Seminar
on Strategies and Applications of Communications Research) was selected among nationwide
faculty by NERCHE (New England Resource Center for Higher Education) as a noteworthy
example of community-based teaching and learning due to its application of communication
literature to improve communities and its emphasis on student participation in field-based
research projects.
Professor Sharma served as the Chief Creative Consultant to the United Nations Joint
Program ‘s project on HIV/AIDS from 2007 to 2008, in Bihar, India. In this capacity, he
used Nautanki-Swang as a communication medium to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS. From
1999 to 2005 Dr. Sharma helped Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs
(JHU/CCP) and the Government of India to create a massive folk media campaign for
women's empowerment and health in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Through this
project, Dr. Sharma trained over 150 folk theatre troupes to stage more than 10,000
musical performances. This has been one of the largest theatre campaigns for social
change in history.
Dr. Sharma has been invited as a visiting professor, and resident artist and director
at renowned institutions such as the University of Oxford, University of London’s
School of Oriental and African Studies, Columbia University, Cornell University, University
of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-
Davis, University of Texas- Austin, Syracuse University, University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill, CLUJ university-Romania, and Central Michigan University-Mount Pleasant. In
India, he has also been a visiting professor of performance and media at the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) -Delhi, School of Arts and Aesthetics- Jawahar Lal Nehru
University (JNU), Foundation for Liberal and Management Education-Pune, University
of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Central University of Jharkhand, Central University
of Rajasthan, Presidency College-Calcutta, and Sophia College-Mumbai.
In 2000, professor Sharma was the “Packard Foundation Media Leadership Fellow” from
India at the University of Southern California’s (Los Angeles) School of Cinematic
Arts, where he was trained in film direction and production. Before that, Dr. Sharma
earned his master’s degree in Film and Television from Mass Communication Research
Center (MCRC), Jamia Millia, Delhi. He earned his doctoral degree in Communication
and performance from Ohio University, USA, in which he focused on the relationship
between community, social change, and indigenous musical theatre forms such as Nautanki.
In 2010, professor Sharma was invited by the world-renowned Théâtre du Soleil in Paris,
France to train French actors and create a Nuatanki musical theatre show. Professor
Sharma is a pioneer in introducing Swang-Nautanki to America and Europe. He single-handedly
created a US-based Nautanki troupe, and has directed at least 30 Nautanki productions
in the US at esteemed organizations such as the Center for South Asia Studies at University
of California, Berkeley, CounterPULSE in San Francisco, Hindi Sangam in Portland,
and the Inner Eye Art Foundation, San Ramon.More can be known about Dr. Devendra Sharma’s
work on his website: www.devnautanki.com.
