Jill Navarre

Artistic Director · Playwright · Screenwriter

Born in New Orleans and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Jill Navarre began writing at the age of nine, winning a New York City-wide competition for best essay. She wrote poetry for a decade, had numerous poems published in the U.S. and Canada, and co-founded a celebrated Toronto poetry coffee house, The Soft Cell.

While working on her Master's degree in English, a playwriting class changed everything. She went on to win directing awards at the Source Theatre Festival in Washington D.C. for 'Rivers of Blood', and the D.C. Arts Council Larry Neal Award for playwriting for 'The Cradle Will Fall'. Alongside Elizabeth Bruce and Michael Oliver, she was a founding member of Sanctuary Theatre in D.C., one of the early theatre groups to bring multi-ethnic casting to Washington. She spent three years as Assistant Box Office Manager at the Folger Theatre, watching Shakespeare performed every night, and directed numerous plays in the U.S. and India.

India first called in 1987, when a backpacking journey led her to Auroville — an international community in Tamil Nadu dedicated to human unity. She returned in 1991, knew immediately she belonged, and has lived there ever since. She has been Artistic Director of the Auroville Theatre Group since 1992. In 2003, she received a Government of India Development Scheme grant for directing 'Milarepa'.

Watch Jill introduce the Auroville Theatre Group, with glimpses of its work: Theatre in India, Formation and Transformation (Tube Thambi, 2021)

Reach out to Jill on Instagram: @jill_dee_navarre
or on Facebook: Jill Navarre
By email at jill.navarre@gmail.com
or on WhatsApp at +91 94864 16173