Fresh Off the Page

Tonight Proudly Asian Theatre presents a live script- reading of The Colours of Our Katha written by Ronia Ibrahim.

Fresh Off the Page is contemporary Asian plays hot off the press, performed in a series of free play readings by local artists with an aim to highlight the diversity in our communities, with a focus on Asian representation in all aspects of a work.

About The Colours of Our Katha

It’s 1971, and a nation is emerging. East Pakistan, (present day Bangladesh) is undergoing its revolution. The Pakistani Army initiates a military operation on the rising Bengali nationalist movement. This would mark the beginning of Bengali genocide, but also the beginning of a Bengali liberation. Priya is a young girl who is fiercely outspoken, and an artist and writer at heart. As she witnesses the genocide of her culture, she fights along side guerilla forces, engaging in local activism through her poetry and art. She rounds up her community to create kathas out of old materials and saris. They use these to create flags, blankets for fighters, and as a way to connect with each other. As all the male figures in her life decide to enter the fight, she must rely on artistic voice and outspoken spirit to make her preserve her identity in a world of war, revolution and uprising.

About the Writer

Ronia Ibrahim is an artist, writer and designer from Pōneke. She is a 1st gen immigrant, of Taiwanese-Bengali and Muslim background. She primarily works in the spaces of poetry and nonfiction, focussing on the strange experience of growing up and the stories of diaspora communities. Her work has been published in places such as Starling, Stasis, Pantograph Punch, Te Papa and Newsroom. In June 2021 she worked with Kia Mau Festival to direct a migrant poetry showcase, Before I Go Home, alongside writer Khadro Mohamed. In her spare time she is an op shop fiend and twitter sensation.