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Public Obscenities follows Choton, a Bengali American PhD student, and Raheem, his Black American cinematographer boyfriend, on an extended visit to Choton’s family home in Kolkata. They have come to India to film interviews with locals they meet through queer hookup apps, as part of Choton’s research. Choton relishes being the translator, toggling nimbly between Bangla and English, Grindr and acadamese. But when Raheem discovers a roll of undeveloped film in Choton’s grandfather’s old camera, unspoken secrets surface, leaving Choton at the limits of language. In this examination of queer intimacy and longing through an inter-cultural lens, film and photography crack open questions about how we remember and document our lives—across generations and even through death. Soho Rep and the NAATCO National Partnership Project present the world premiere of this bilingual play from writer-director Shayok Misha Chowdhury.

Performed in Bangla and English