A New Play About South Asian Immigrant Experiences Brings Out the Funny and Irony of ‘Our Stories’
- Produced by the Bay Area Drama Company in Sunnyvale, Calif., the collection of short stories is directed by Basab Pradhan and Sathish Sattanathan.
The Bay Area Drama Company’s new play, “Our Stories,” is a well-acted collection of short stories about the South Asian Immigrant Experience in America. The play is directed by the very talented Basab Pradhan (for the English version) and Sathish Sattanathan (for the Tamil version).
The stories, funny and lighthearted as they may seem on the surface, are, laden with the shocking realization of some Indian values that are now archaic and frozen in time in today’s contemporary world, regardless of whether one is living in India or any other part of the world.
The stories highlight everyday issues like marriage, sexuality, the stigma of mental health, and the undue importance of social standing and acceptance,
even at the cost of the happiness and safety of one’s own children.
The “Tiger Mom” story is a typical example of a South Asian mother, whose sole focus is on her children’s admission into an Ivy League university, regardless of the children’s interest or aptitude. The young 12-year-old girl’s narration of her mother’s unrealistic expectations and helicopter-parenting methods was both impressive and funny.
The “5150” story surfaced the stark reality of a parent’s denial of his child’s mental illness. His fear-based mindset of risking societal shame back home showed a complete lack of empathy for his son’s happiness and well-being.
The “Lighter” story plays like “Suprabhatam,” “Bobbi & Bobby,” or “Indian matchmaking,” while funny and entertaining, had their underlying messages highlighting the hardships in relationships, the emotional expectations of Indian parents and visiting in-laws, and the pressure to marry a son or a daughter within one’s community.
Stories like “Bridge” and “Athrangey” brought to light universal topics like sexual harassment and the fear of coming out about one’s sexuality, especially with the traditional Indian mindset and community.
“Faceless, Invisible” is almost every H1 visa holder’s spouse’s struggle, putting their career on hold or on the back burner, even if they had thriving careers back home, and the depression or feeling of being worthless in this country as a result of that.
It would be unfair to pick any one shining voice in the face of 40 outstanding and talented actors, who seamlessly switched their roles and characters between these short plays with as much comfort and ease as changing clothes.
The camaraderie and close-knit bond of the actors shone through in their performances and, as part of the audience, one came away feeling like one had witnessed something special, almost reverent, and culturally re-immersed in the all-too-familiar South Asian upbringing and values system.
This play is definitely worth watching, whether in English or Tamil. The everyday stories depicted are fantastic and everyone can relate to one or another, or at least know someone who has experienced the same.
The shows run Dec 3-11 at Sunnyvale Theater, I highly recommend checking it out while you can.
The cast of the English Version:
Suprabhatam
- Divya Joshi
- Anirudh Mohan
- Vaishnavi Sridhar
- Paul Costello
- Roshni Datta
Bridge
- Paul Costello
- Ahana Dave
- Carissa Ratanaphanyarat
- Rita Bhatia
- Vibeka Sen Sisodiya
- Divya Joshi
- Anjali Kirloskar
Athrangey (Rainbow Colored)
- Havish Ravipati
- Roshni Datta
- Vibeka Sen Sisodiya
- Anjali Kirloskar
- Dinesh Rao
Tiger Mom
- Pranaya Rishi
- Vibeka Sen Sisodiya
- Neil Shenoy
Faceless Invisible
- Dhananjay Motwani
- Pawan Kumar Suresh
- Rita Bhatia
- Richa Garg/ Roshni Datta
5150
- Pierre Gopal
- Dinesh Rao
- Paul Costello
- Anirudh Mohan
Bobbi and Bobby
- Havish Ravipati
- Carissa Ratanaphanyarat
- Rita Bhatia
- Pierre Gopal
Indian Matchmaking
- Rita Bhatia
- Vibeka Sen Sisodiya
- Divya Joshi
- Roshni Datta
- Dinesh Rao
- Havish Ravipati
- Anjali Kirloskar
- Ahana Dave
- Pawan Kumar Suresh
- Paul Costello
Sangeeta Mehra, a vacation specialist, has spent the last couple of decades visiting museums around the globe, organizing and hosting cultural programs in her community, and supporting local theaters. She is an avid reader and a part of many different book clubs. In her spare time, she enjoys tending to her garden, volunteering at the senior center, arranging luxury vacation travel for friends and family, and exploring/reviewing restaurants all over the world.