Ulka Mayur

Ulka Mayur is an Indian theatre artist, storyteller, writer, actor, director and folklorist. She has worked across various genres and formats ranging from physical theatre to musical theatre. She is renowned for her solo performance ‘Cast Off All Shame’- a play that she has written intertwining themes of feminism and bhakti movement. Helming the production company Story Circus, she has created well-researched and engaging content for children and adults. She is known for researching lesser known folktales and presenting them in innovative ways, augmented with other art forms like music, installations and animation. She has presented her shows in formal theatre spaces as well as intimate spaces like museums, art galleries, libraries and cultural clubs.
== Early life and education ==
Born to Kirtibhai and Kala Joshi in Kapadvanj, Gujarat, Ulka did her schooling from Shreyas Foundation, Ahmedabad and St. Xavier’s school, Gandhinagar. During her years in Shreyas foundation, she had her first tryst with performing arts, folk traditions and stories, the penchant for which stayed with her all along. 
She acquired M.A. and M.Phil. degrees in English literature from Gujarat university and later obtained Ph.D. degree from University of Mumbai under the tutelage of Dr. Nilufer Bharucha. 
Ulka is a trained Kathak dancer and has been trained in both Lucknow and Jaipur gharana of Kathak. After a Visharad degree, Ulka pursued further training under noted Kathak exponents, Padamshri-Padambhusan Kumudini Lakhia and Pandita Uma Dogra. Her initiation into acting on stage began during college days when she did a role in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party directed by Ralph Yarrow.
She worked as an academician for over a decade first in C.U. Shah college, Ahmedabad and later in Nagindas Khandwala College, Mumbai, which she eventually gave up to explore her artistic side. 
== Personal life ==
Ulka married songwriter and filmmaker Mayur Puri and moved to Mumbai in 2001. She has two sons, Aravir and Abhisar.
== Career ==
With her husband Mayur Puri, she co-founded a multi-art production company Story Circus, for which she is also the artistic director. 
After writing-directing her first play Tik Tak Tales, Ulka went on to write and direct more plays like I, Cloud, a play set in dystopian future and Ballad of Desires, a piece investigating themes of desire. Her plays and story acts have been showcased at Kala Ghoda Arts festival, National Children’s theatre festival, NCPA Centrestage festival, Gujarat literature festival and Chandigarh literature festival. She has collaborated with many talented artists for her plays like Shashaa Tirupati, Priya Saraiya and Dipna Patel. In the documentary theatre piece ‘Loitering’(5)(directed by Satchit Puranik), which had medley of real people from different fields playing themselves, Ulka brought on stage a quirky chapter of her life. 
As a screenwriter, she has worked on two successful television shows Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai and Jiji Maa. Ulka also produced a short film ‘Firdaws’ (2017) which was selected in over 35 international Film Festivals and has won 17 awards.
She has facilitated workshops in institutions and corporates using the model of stories and theatre. She designed and performed special storytelling acts at St. Xavier’s college for Harvard in Asia program (2019) and for an international conference of CoHaB IDC project at University of Mumbai (2014). 
== Plays ==
Plays 	Premiering Year	Genre 	Special notes
Loitering 	2016 	Documentary theatre 	Performer
Tik Tak Tales 	2016 	Musical 	Writer, director, performer
Cast Off All Shame	2017 	One woman show 	Writer, director, performer
I, Cloud 	2017 	Futuristic Thriller Comedy	Writer, director, performer
Go…Go…Gomuli 	2018 	Play for children, Comedy 	Writer, director, performer
Ballad of Desires 	2020 	Physical /Dance theatre 	Writer, director, performer
== Storytelling acts ==
* Discovery of India with Folktales: 2016 to present
* Around the world with Folktales: 2017 to present
* Stick Around, I May Need Someone to Blame (Anecdotal stand-up comedy act): 2019 to present
* Maitreyi, Malala and Other Stories I tell Myself: 2019
* Explore India with Folktales (Digital series): 2020
== Television ==
* Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai: Writer (2017)
* Jiji Maa: Show-runner, Writer (2017-2018)
== Filmography ==
* Firdaws (short film-2017): Producer
== Music videos ==
* Doicha padar (2020): Director
* Ei Watan (narrative poetry video -2020): Director
==In the media==
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== References ==
==External links==
* Cast off all Shame by Ulka Mayur - Paytm Insider
* Ulka Mayur on linkedin
* Our Team – Story Circus
* A lot of my friends are in TV, though they love theatre a lot more: Ulka Mayur
* Ulka Mayur on imdb
* Punctuated with poetry - The Hindu
* Stories at the museum - The Asian Age
Category:Indian stage actresses
Category:Indian theatre people
Category:Indian storytellers
Category:Indian storytellers
Category:Indian writers
Category:Indian television directors
Category:Indian folklorists
Category:Master's degrees
Category:Doctoral degrees
Category:Gujarat University alumni
Category:University of Mumbai alumni