It was the choice between abstract algebra or theater for a young Abhishek Majumdar – one would become his career, the other his hobby. Today, years after he made that crucial decision during his undergraduate career, he sits as the Head of Theater at NYU Abu Dhabi, using what little free time he has to solve complex math equations.
As an Associate Arts Professor of Theater, Majumdar loves the immediacy and realness of a live performance, thrives among the different types of people theater attracts, and really enjoys the limitless possibilities for expression.
Since adding the role of “teacher” to his repertoire, he said he really enjoyed the profession. He also loves being a playwright, an author, and a director. Once upon a time, he was also an actor, a good one, or so the critics said, but with all of his love for the craft, Majumdar didn’t like the one thing that draws so many people to this profession.
“There was some kind of a myth about me being a good actor,” Majumdar said. “I say that was a myth because my range was very limited. I was lucky that in my first 10 years, I got plays, which were to my strength but I hated the attention that came with it.”
Majumdar’s talents have been celebrated all over the world. He’s won awards for writing and directing. His plays have been translated, published, and performed in multiple languages. Majumdar also directs works in languages he doesn’t speak. He is currently writing his first novel, which explores the deep question of shame.
“How much of our life do we live fighting shame, as a culture, as a society,” Majumdar said. “We are continuously trying to absolve ourselves of something completely imaginary, most of the time. It’s an examination of shame and violence through the story of a society in which an old woman dies completely alone without anyone getting to know of her death for months.”
Majumdar draws much of his inspiration from life, exploring political or philosophical questions.
He takes a similar philosophical approach to his purpose in teaching NYUAD students. Majumdar says he wants to graduate what he calls a responsible skeptic, a student whose skepticism leads to a good conversation, a published paper, a new piece of technology, or a change in the world — all paths that are possible in NYUAD’s multinational, multicultural classrooms.
“The intellectual atmosphere in this campus is just extraordinary. I am completely addicted to that. You can walk out, and in five minutes, you will have a conversation that will make you go, ‘Oh, wow, I didn’t think of that.’ That is exciting,” Majumdar said. “So that is something I really look forward to every day.”