Tanuja Devi Jagernauth is an Indo-Caribbean abolitionist, writer, operations geek, and yoga educator who believes in the necessity of creation during times of destruction.
Tanuja is one of four co-founders of Sage Community Health Collective, which served Chicago’s community of freedom fighters and co-strugglers from 2011 - 2016. To honor the mission of Sage Community Health Collective, Tanuja continues to explore and share frameworks for collective liberation and wellness through yoga and the creative arts.
In her writing, inspired by healing justice, caste abolition, and PIC abolition, Tanuja employs comedy, magical realism, the fantastic, and the absurd to raise questions about how we live, heal, and fight back against the prisons, police, and oppressions that occupy our bodies, hearts, minds, and communities.
You can find some of Tanuja's plays in process on the New Play Exchange.Tanuja is currently a part of Playground Chicago and is working on a 7-play series that traces Indo-Guyanese history from the time Indians were taken to British Guiana into the future.
When she's not writing, Tanuja can often be found walking her dog, Wellington, studying and practicing yoga, co-organizing mutual aid projects, and working for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) as their Just Culture and Operations Director.
Tanuja was honored to have her play, HOW TO PICK A LOCK, presented at RhinoFest 2019 in Chicago. Her short play, BATTLEGROUND, was recently part of Revolutionary Acts, the 6th National Asian American Theater Conference & Festival, and her short play, SKIN, was recently part of the Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. It has been workshopped and produced by The Pulp Stage in Portland, OR.
In 2021, Tanuja wrote SUN ON ICE, Episode 4 of Jackalope Theatre’s Living Newspaper Festival, inspired by this opinion piece. She also had the honor of workshopping and presenting her short play, WOMEN WHO TAKE LIMBS, as part of The Pulp Stage’s Pulp Factor: a workshop presentation.
Dramaturgy credits include LITTLE WOMEN, adapted by Heather Chrisler; Olivia Lilley's DIARY OF AN EROTIC LIFE, an adaptation of the Frank Wedekind LULU plays; Kristin Idaszak's STRANGE HEART BEATING; Olivia Lilley's NEVERLAND; Pegasus Theatre's production of ECLIPSED, 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.
