To the Academy tells the story of an eminent professor and a dancer who feel their audience slipping away during a lecture-demonstration on Indian theatre. The two must desperately draw from sitcom, song, video, and the music hall to make their wildly provocative points. This multimedia spectacle only becomes more unpredictable as the lecture goes on. 

Inspired by Kafka’s short story, “A Report for an Academy,” and the ancient Sanskrit treatise on performance, the Natyashastra, To the Academy explores the limits of identity politics and the business model of education. Third Space Performance Lab’s new play challenges its audiences with questions about the tiny world of academia and the big world around us.