For more than 20 years, Vijai Nathan has been performing on
stages all over the world, but she started preparing to take the microphone much
earlier than that. She’s the youngest of three sisters and they grew up
imitating their parents to each other.
Vijai draws inspiration for both her stand-up comedy and her storytelling from her experiences growing up in the suburbs of Washington, DC. The clash of cultures and struggle to fit in included racial prejudice, traditions, family expectations, and differing religions. And then in comes Eddie Murphy. Vijai started watching stand-up in the ‘80s and saw comedians like Murphy talking about hard subjects and making them funny. As a kid, she thought, “If I do this, people will think I’m not that different from them.” As an adult, Vijai is always working to find the things that connect us: “My experience is unique, but there are things in that experience that are universal, and funny. Both comedy and storytelling give opportunities for understanding, as well as to make sense of moments that are difficult or sad.”
She is looking forward to performing at the Women’s Storytelling Festival. “It’s exciting to be part of the first festival to highlight female storytellers and give us a platform.” What can you expect from her performance at the festival? You’re in for storytelling that is brutally self-honest, audacious, irreverent, and sure to make you laugh.
Vijai has performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, Ojai Storytelling Festival, and from South Africa to Singapore to Trinidad. Her stories have been featured on NPR’s Snap Judgement and Invisibilia. Around the Washington, DC area, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, Library of Congress, and Constitution Hall, had solo shows in the Capital Fringe Festival, and told stories with Story District and Better Said Than Done.
Vijai Nathan is a Featured Storyteller at the Women’s Storytelling Festival, being held March 13 and 14, 2020, in Fairfax, Virginia. For schedule, tickets, or more information, please visit bettersaidthandone.com/womens-festival.
