Tanuja Jagernauth is a playwright and dramaturg who believes in the necessity of creation during times of destruction. In 2016, she shifted career paths from Traditional East Asian Medicine to theatre in hopes of practicing four specific frameworks for collective liberation and wellness through theater: self/community care, harm reduction, trauma-informed practice, and body positivity. Since 2016, Tanuja has had the honor of interning and eventually working at Chicago Dramatists as their Operations Manager.
Tanuja is currently employed at Chicago Freedom School and is honored to join Victory Gardens as their 2019 Marcelle McVay Management Fellow. In January, Tanuja’s play, HOW TO PICK A LOCK, directed by Tara Branham, will be a part of Prop Thtr’s RhinoFest. She will serve as the Production for Manager for Pegasus Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival is currently working with Free Street Theater as their Stage Manager and Assistant Director for their upcoming show, STILL HERE. She is also serving as an Associate Artist for Cloudgate Theatre and is the dramaturg for their upcoming production of Kristin Idaszak’s STRANGE HEART BEATING.
This Fall, Tanuja was honored to have her play, FIRST DATA GOLD, directed by Puja Mohindra and presented as part of Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings at Steppenwolf Theatre. Her short play, BATTLEGROUND, directed by Jonald Reyes, was part of Revolutionary Acts, the 6th National Asian American Theater Conference & Festival. Her short play, SKIN, directed by Jonald Reyes, was part of the Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and workshopped by The Pulp Stage in Portland, OR.
Recent dramaturgy credits include Prop Thtr’s NEVERLAND, Pegasus Theatre’s production ofECLIPSED, Sideshow’s Freshness Initiative workshop and staged reading of PRO-AM by Brynne Frauenhoffer, Stage Left’s production of Robert Schenkkan’s BUILDING THE WALL, Pegasus Theatre’s production of THE GREEN BOOK by Calvin A. Ramsey, and Cloudgate Theatre’s production of ANOTHER JUNGLE by Kristin Idaszak.