Madeeha Gauhar of Ajoka Theatre Passes Away

Ajoka Theatre’s founder and Artistic Director Madeeha Gauhar passed away in Lahore today after fighting a three year long battle with cancer.

Gauhar, 61, was well known for her passion for theatre and the untiring capacity she worked with. She had set up the well known Ajoka Theatre in 1984, as a modicum of social change and promoting peace between India and Pakistan.

For more than three decades, the Ajoka Theatre has regularly collaborated with Indian artists under Gauhar’s direction and has addressed hundreds of human rights issues. Bulha, Letters to Uncle Sam, Mera Rang de Basanti Chola and Kon Hai Yay Ghustakh are few of the well known plays to have been performed at Ajoka.

The theatre group has also performed around the world including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Oman, Egypt, US, UK and also in Norway to name a few.

Madeeha Gauhar also happened to be the recipient, the first Pakistani, of the honorable Prince Claus Award for her role as the founder and director of Ajoka. Gauhar was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize from Pakistan in the year 2005.

Oye Yeah plays for the departed soul and the family. Madeeha Gauhar is survived by her husband, Shahid Nadeem, veteran writer and director and also two sons, Sarang and Nirvaan.