May 12 2026 to May 12 2026 7 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Across the country, volunteers are knitting and crocheting prosthetic breasts for women who’ve had mastectomies. Many of them are survivors themselves. Through the act of creation, they restore something that surgery cannot: dignity, agency, a sense of self. Knockers carries the same spirit.

Intimate. Unapologetic. Defiant.

This one-person performance is built from five monologues. A model who built her life around her body. A teacher who meets her diagnosis with Shakespeare. A survivor preparing for her first intimate encounter after surgery. A non-binary individual navigating a medical system that can’t see them. An immigrant carrying cultural silence in two languages. Together, their stories weave a tapestry of grief, rage, humour, resistance, and radical self-definition.

When the body changes, who decides what remains sacred?

The performance will be followed by a Q&A.

Artists

Neeharika Katikaneni
Actor, Theatre Educator & Archery Trainer
Neeharika Katikaneni is an actor, theatre educator, traditional archer and archery trainer. She has performed in Theatre Nisha’s Relentless, Lady of the Sea, Yayati, Exit Wounds, Binnu, Margazhi, Sordid, God’s Will, Glue and Rolla, and in several short plays. She bagged the bronze at the 2nd Open Traditional Archery Championship in India and represented the country at World Historical Championships in Hungary, August 2025. Focused, fearless, and tenderly commanding, she brings immense emotional intelligence to this one-person performance.

V Balakrishnan
Playwright & Director
V Balakrishnan is the Founder and Artistic Director of Theatre Nisha. He is an alumnus of National School of Drama, a Fulbright Awardee, and empanelled with the ICCR as a theatre director. He has been a theatre educator and acting trainer for over 25 years, has directed over 210 plays, and performed in many more. He has written over 30 plays, of which 10 have been published by Zero Degree Publications: Krishna’s Dark Son, Dwijottama, Curse of Urvashi, The Peacock Prince, Amrapali, Gallantly Fought the Queenand God’s Will; and Dhauli Books: Sordid, Margazhi and Arundhati. He is also the recipient of the Hindu Playwright Award 2019, Sultan Padamsee Award for Playwriting 2022, Brecht@2023 awardee, and winner of the Samhita Manch English Category 2023. 

V Balakrishnan is an avid traditional archer and has participated and won in several National and International traditional archery competitions. He is also the founder of Shree Archery and is an archery trainer.