SEX ONLY, NO ROOM FOR LOVE

Suswana Chowdhury is obsessed with love. The first poem she wrote in first grade was called Love is. She is now in her final semester of college and has produced Sex Only, No Room For Love, a play about modern romance in the digital era starring two women who are definitely going to be talking about sex. Her work has evolved and become a lot more complex since that first poem. Suswana’s projects include video, poetry and live performances centered around making commentary on cultural and social issues prevalent in today’s society particularly for women. In the past few years, she has observed her peers become more and more attached to their phones and screens, making in-person communication a rarity. At the same time, her social consciousness was growing and she realized it was more taboo for women to talk about sex and their own pleasure than it was for men. Sex Only, No Room For Love combines digital elements like live feed and the use of the cellphone and texting throughout the entirety of the play. Natasha and Sarah who are the lead women, and also best friends, have a very candid relationship and engage in conversations that to some might feel more familiar if they were men. However, this is a friendship based off the real relationships I have with my friends. Suswana’s past work includes video art pieces questioning society’s beauty standards and also theater pieces with similar new media integration exploring relationships between people who have different mental illnesses.