An individual voice can be a brave thing. For Versova-resident and actor Tanvi Lehr Sonigra, nurturing that voice has been the struggle of a lifetime. “Being a queer artiste in India is tough, and dealing with a highly patriarchal set-up makes it difficult to find friends and allies who are supportive of your work,” the artiste shares. This struggle inherently flowed into her latest creation, Aw, So Sad! that will premiere at an Andheri venue this weekend.

The play was first developed as a concept piece for an Indo-US collaboration with The Five Senses Theatre, Sonigra adds. “It was a play called Even Mists Have Silver Linings, for which I had created this piece called Nam Myoho Renge Crow. It spoke about a queer person living in a small apartment in Mumbai, her conflicts and sexual identity, among other things,” the actor shares. Over three years, the team performed the piece across different platforms, including the playwright Vikram Phukan’s platform for queer artistes, Inqueerable.