‘Nepali theatre back into renaissance drive after temporary Covid-19 pause’

Deborah Merola , PhD, is an American theatre director. She first came to Nepal in 1992 and later as a Fulbright scholar in 2003 and 2011. Under the Fulbright programme in 2011, she also worked with Gurukul Theatre in Kathmandu and produced a play, Desire Under the Elms . Even after nine months of the programme, she chose to stay in Kathmandu and began teaching drama at Tribhuvan and Pokhara universities. Also, Merola established One World Theatre , a company that has produced and performed over 30 plays in Nepal, mostly in English and some in Nepali. Over these years, she worked with stars of Nepali theatres and films such as Bipin Karki, Namrataa Shrestha, and Rajkumar Pudasaini.

Merola was preparing for a play to stage in Kathmandu in March 2020 when fears of the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the country. She closed her production and moved back to the US and hopes to return to Kathmandu later this year. As people are gradually returning to normality, the veteran director is hopeful of the revival of Nepali theatre soon.