Theatre and Ritualistic Storytelling: Performing Faith in Modern World
Garg, Renu
Research Scholar, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur, (RJ)
Abstract
In the age of spiritual pluralism and digital change, theatre has become a dynamic platform for ritual storytelling that performs, re-envisions, and reaffirms religion. This article explores how new theatre makers in India and the Indian diaspora stage ritual dramaturgy to articulate sacred belief systems and negotiate socio-political anxieties and economies of creation. Taking a qualitative, interpretivist stance, the research is informed by case studies of three theater collectives through digital ethnography, interviews, and portfolio analysis. The findings highlight that ritual in performance now serves not merely as spiritual expression but also as aesthetic resistance and entrepreneurial innovation. The article presents the idea of entrepreneurial ritualism and suggests a Sacred–Performative Spectrum to situate hybrid sacred performances in the post-secular era. Through the synthesis of performance theory, affect studies, and cultural entrepreneurship, this research contributes to the reconceptualization of the intersections of religion, art, and identity in the 21st century.
Keywords: Ritual Theatre, Performing Faith, Cultural Entrepreneurship, Post-Secular Aesthetics, Digital Ethnography
Impact Statement
This work provides a new and sensitive understanding of the way that contemporary theatre appropriates ritualistic storytelling to enact faith in ways that are spiritually resonant, socially conscious, and culturally entrepreneurial. Through analyses of various Indian and diasporic theatre groups, the work determines how ritual, once reserved for sacred contexts, is presently being translated into immersive, multisensory performances that address hybrid identities and post-pandemic fears. Such performances not only maintain religious symbolism but resist traditional binaries between the sacred and the secular, tradition and innovation, and devotion and commerce.
The development of two central concepts entrepreneurial ritualism and the Sacred Performative Spectrum is new to analysing the changing role of faith-based theatre in a media-saturated world. This book places ritual as a source of creative capital in the cultural economy, where belief is not commodified but stretched into new forms of participatory and aesthetic experience.
Methodologically, the research advances performance ethnography through the combination of digital observation, portfolio analysis, and thematic coding to trace the way audiences access ritual theatre in virtual and physical realms. Strategically, it demands arts policy, curriculum change, and digital platform responsibility that is more favourable to plural, sacred performance. This study is a timely, effective contribution to performance studies, religious expression, and creative industries scholarship.
About the Author
Prof. Renu Garg is a seasoned theatre practitioner, educator, and scholar, currently pursuing her PhD in Journalism and Mass Communication at Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur. She holds an M.A. in Theatre and Television and is an alumna of the prestigious National School of Drama, where she received a full national scholarship. With over two decades of experience in theatre, media, and education, she has worked extensively across performance, pedagogy, and academic leadership.
Her creative and scholarly work explores the intersections of ritual, storytelling, identity, and performance in contemporary contexts. She has acted on stage and television, trained in multiple dance and martial arts forms, and is certified in Film Appreciation from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. Prof. Garg currently serves as the Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Indira University, Pune, where she drives interdisciplinary education rooted in the liberal and performing arts.
Her academic research focuses on post-secular theatre, cultural entrepreneurship, and the evolving aesthetics of ritual storytelling. She has published on theatre pedagogy, technology in performance, and value-based education in the arts. Passionate about bridging traditional narratives with contemporary practice, her work contributes meaningfully to the future of performance studies and arts education.
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