In 2011 the Grassrooted Trust performed V Day, A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer – Writings to End Violence against Women and Girls, part of the global V Day movement, championed by Eve Ensler, who authored the Vagina Monologues. In 2012 Grassrooted began work on original scripts, based on and inspired by our interaction with survivors of violence in Sri Lanka. Productions have since included Daddy in 2013, an exploration of incest in Sri Lanka; V Day 2014: Elephant in the Room, an insight into sex workers and their lives in Sri Lanka; V Day 2015: Our Stories, which called for stories of violence and exploitation from the public which were then scripted and performed; V Day: From The Cloud, which was a look at Sri Lanka’s “nude” culture that manifests online, performed at the Galle and Kandy Literary Festivals in 2016; V Day 2016: Tenderness, a telling of far from tender relationships – our most violent production yet; V Day 2017: Resolutions, a look at the real and ridiculous solutions to rape and violence parroted by a pseudo-conservative society; V Day 2018: Patria(AN)rchy, an examination of how patriarchy in Sri Lanka perpetuates violence, again, and again… and again; V Day 2019: Colombo 7, stories that underpin how violence is real for everyone, no matter from where they come. In 2020 V Day: Lankawane – An intended V Day Finale in Colombo never made it to production due to COVID19.

In 2020 Grassrooted moved our base of operations to rural Sri Lanka, working mainly in the Ibbagamuwa Division of the Kurunegala District. Since then, we’ve worked on a short film series to support the ratification of C190 – International Convention on Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, and also a three-part series on cyber exploitation and violence in rural settings using giant puppets. We have been fortunate enough to identify a team of young performers and puppet artists in Ibbagamuwa, with whom we intend to begin the next phase of Grassrooted’s theatre interventions both online and offline.