AHON GOOPTU
Playwright | Actor | Producer | Scholar
ITEM
More than a drag show
Written, designed, and performed by Ahon Gooptu
with Jaisheej Paul as DJ Darling
Development - Ninad Samaddar, Sangram Mukhopadhyay
Original makeup - Abhilasha Das
Journeying across cultures, homes, and nightclubs, Zizou finds belonging in various places through Zenia Fauxbia Darling—his drag persona— with a little help from some queens he’s grown up admiring in Bollywood films. Be it watching Madhuri Dixit for the first time or learning to dance with Saroj Khan on TV, Zizou pieces together moments, memories, and jhatkas that feel familiar and comforting to find Zenia anew in every home.
Item was incubated and premiered at The Urban Theatre Project, Kolkata in December 2024.
Following further development, new iterations of Item have performed...
in April 2025 at Anuchintan Art Centre and The Creative Arts Academy,
in August 2025 at the 13th Chennai International Queer Film Festival,
in September 2025 at Skinny Mo's Jazz Club.
A special anniversary performance is scheduled to perform on 29 December 2025 at The Urban Theatre Project.
Photo credit: Abhilasha Das and Nayantara Mazumder
