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South Asian Theater Festival To Take Place December 11-12

originally published: 11/22/2021

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Epic Actors’ Workshop, will present the 15th South Asian Theater Festival December 11-12 at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The two-day festival will explore the artistry and diversity of South Asia through theater, music, dance works and spoken word examining South Asian social and cultural issues and traditions at home and around the world, and features theater participants from India, Bangladesh, California, and New Jersey.

Schedule for Saturday, December 11th:

The Naked Line (English) presented by Navarasa Dance Theater (California). Written by by Aparna Sindhoor, Anil Natyaveda and SM Raju, is a show about women, dance, colonization, fight for the survival of art, poetry and love. It is directed and choreographed by Aparna Sindhoor and Anil Natyaveda. Music by George Brooks.

Dance Like A Man (English) presented by ICS Theater (New Jersey). Written and directed by Mahesh Dattani, it tells the story of Jairaj and Ratna, two Bharat Natyam dancers past their prime, is contrasted with that of their daughter Lata, who is on the brink of establishing herself as a brilliant dancer. Her imminent success creates tension and jealousy, and the audience is drawn into the dark secrets of family relationships and conflicts between generations. The play probes the surface of the characters to question their deeper motivations, but the mode is comic rather than tragic, even though the concerns are serious, and you are never sure whether to laugh or cry.

Agnes (Bengali with supertitle in English) presented by ECTA (New Jersey).  Written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik, it tells the story of Agnes Smedley who was involved with the Indian nationalist movement, was married to Barindra Nath Chattopadhyay the father of Indian communist party, and later closely associated with the Chinese communist party and personalities like Mao Tse Tung, Lu Shun etc. The play will be in 3 acts. In act 1, we will see Agnes's association with the Indian nationalist movement in America. Act 2 will follow her to Germany and her tumultuous life with Barindra Nath Chattopadhyay, and act 3 will follow her in China. 

Theater in Life (Anasi's Stories) presented by ReThink Theatrical and Epic Actors' Workshop. The play tells the story of Agnes Smedley who was involved with the Indian nationalist movement, was married to Barindra Nath Chattopadhyay the father of Indian communist party, and later closely associated with the Chinese communist party and personalities like Mao Tse Tung, Lu Shun etc. 

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Schedule for Sunday, December 12th:

Radha Bina Ranade (Hindi with supertitle in English).  Written by Chetan Datar and directed by Vidula Mungekar, Ranade sans Radha is a play about an upper-middle-class Ranade family. Radha, the mother, the wife, the social worker, the lover has kept her flawed family bound together but now in her absence, she is curious to find what values will guide her sons and their wives and her husband and her lover.  Chetan Datar, the writer, constructs an innovative form for the play to depict the disintegration of the Ranade family in absence of Radha and ultimately poses a larger question of modernity sans values.

No Man's Land (Bengali with supertitle in English) presented by Epic Actors' Workshop (New Jersey).  Based on a short story by Mojaffer Hossain and adapted for the stage by Golam Sarwar Harun and Shamita Das Dasgupta. Directed by Golam Sarwar Harun and Gargi Mukherjee, this is a play about the absurdities of bureaucracy, red tapism and how in conforming to such methods, atrocities are committed, and humanity is compromised in an unforgivable way. The play tells the story of a destitute, injured woman lying helplessly on a rock in the no man’s land between the borders of India and Bangladesh and for whom no one comes to the rescue. 

Theater in Life (Money - Funny Money) presented by Epic Actors' Workshop (New Jersey). The concept comes from Subhasis Das.

Tickets are $35 each day and available for purchase online. New Brunswick Performing Arts Center is located at 11 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

PHOTO: Navarasa Dance Theter by Manoj Panicker