Find Details about the event, cast, stalls, dinner menu below
Please find more information about this play at this link
http://www.allurefx.com/Projects/SDNari/SDNari-Play.pdf.
DRESS CODE : Hollywood/Bollywood/Casual/Formal.
Phone : 858-414-5889
DINNER : 6.30 PM (Have your hand stamped for Dinner)
OPENING CEREMONY : 7.30 PM
PLAY "RAY OF LIGHT" : 8 PM
MUSIC AND DANCE : 9:15 PM
VOTE OF THANKS : 10 PM
DANCE FLOOR OPENS : 10:05 PM
PROGRAM CLOSES : 10.30 PM
DIRECTED and SCRIPTED BY PAYAL YAGNIK.
PAYAL's BIO : I regard myself as a Jane of All, Master of None, sort of woman, not knowing necessarily whether it is an asset or liability. I have a Sangeet Bhushan in Hindustani Classical Music, I have pursued Rabindrasangeet for many years, I love to paint and am a connoisseur of art and I love to write poetry. I am also a CPA, but my F/T job right now is that of being a mom to our 4 year old lovely boy.
CO-DIRECTOR and CO-SCRIPTED BY VANI NEELAKANTAN
Vani Neelakantan is thrilled to be working with SDNari with its first
play. She has been involved in acting, singing, and dancing from an
early age, from plays to performances. This particular venture was
special since she was able to co-write a portion of the script. Vani
is currently a second year grad student at SDSU, specializing in
Children's Literature. She will pursue teaching at the community
college and high school level with multiple subject teaching. Vani's
passions lie in the performing arts, and she also aspires to establish
herself as an entertainer. In her spare time, she enjoys reading,
writing, performing and listening to old school music.
BIOS OF CAST -
GAURAV GUPTA - When he is not pretending to work or vegetating in front of the TV, Gaurav likes to spend his time acting, scripting, reading … or simply coaxing his friends to invite him over for dinner. He enjoys teaching, and has been a volunteer with Junior Achievement for the last three years. He considers himself a traveler as opposed to a tourist, and has a laundry list of places around the world he wishes to experience. Donations towards his travel plans are always welcome.
MANSI ASHTEKAR-ACHARYA - Mansi is a BharatNatyam Dance Visharad (B.A in Indian Classical Dance). She has been teaching private lessons in San Diego for Classical dance as well as Folk dance and Bollywood Dance.
Mansi has been in the acting field since childhood. She has won couple of national awards as Best Actress. She won the Best Actress award in Los Angeles, Maharashtra Mandal's One Act play Competition. She has also acted and directed couple of plays here in San Diego including the play by Hamid Daudani June 2009.
Mansi believes that whatever you do just do it with passion and world is yours.
Mansi's Hobbies are Dance, Acting, Choreography, Dress Designing, Volunteering, and she loves to meet new people.
PREETHIKA ADYANTHAYA is a Hardware Engineer at Qualcomm.
‘Ray of Light’ is her return to the stage after a very long time.
She enjoys travel, good food and good company and can’t wait for her next tropical getaway!
VYJAYANTI P. MURTHY is a San Francisco/Bay area native who has enjoyed different avenues of the arts since she can remember. While this is Vyjayanti's first acting performance, she is not a new comer to the stage. She has been part of several indian classical/fusion dance performances, and musical shows in the US. Amongst her other interests include painting and jewelry design where she has been part of successful exhibitions. She received her Technical Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University and currently works as a Program Manager for an AT&T company.
She resides in La Jolla, CA with with her husband.
MONICA BHATIA has a Ph.D in Alternative Medicine and is an Ayurvedic Practitioner based in Escondido. She has a successful business www.ayurvedayogatraining.com and will open a Spa next year. Monica teaches at colleges and also runs her own consultancy. She is available for consultation, massage and Ayurvedic Therapies. She can be reached at 760-707-3184 and 858-427-4908.
Dr.HEMA SRINIVASAN has focused the last 15 years of her career to studying and perfecting advanced techniques that enable her patients to regain the quality of oral health they desire. She is a member of the American Dental Association, California Dental Association, and the San Diego County Dental Society. She is a strong advocate of patient education and takes the time with patients to make them feel at complete ease with her treatment plan. Dr. Hema loves treating both adults and children and is experienced in preventive, restorative, and esthetic dentistry.
KARUNA KHERA was born and brought up in Kolkatta. Karuna completed her degree in Food and nutrition with a post grad in Preventive and promotive health care. She moved to delhi and worked as a nutritionist and a food consultant for three years before she got married and moved to the US.
Right from school Karuna enjoyed acting and did a number of plays right through her college years. She acted in two plays at the interstate levels for Wham Theaters in Kolkatta and for Loretta College of girls Kolkatta.
She presently volunteers in the food and nutrition department of the Scripps Memorail hospital and with a Cardiologist. She works part time with a local nutritionist, developing Nutritional workshops. She works on her own as a food and recipe consultant and has her own tea company called Nutrichai.
Visit www.Nutrichai.com
myluvforfood.blogspot.com
VANI NEELAKANTAN : See Above.
HIREN BHINDE a techie by profession but an actor by heart is passionate about movies and acting. He loves traveling, hanging out with his friends and listening to music.
***********************
OTHER PERFORMERS
NEHA PATEL : Neha is the Director of Antarnaad, a Dance School in San Diego. Neha is a star performer, an excellent choreographer, a composer… but the most important role she is playing today for the future generation and for the future of her chosen art form, is that of a ‘Guru’ … a teacher and to nurture this goal she has founded ‘Antarnaad – the School of Dance’. To learn more go to : www.antarnaad.com
SANGAM (UCSD) was founded more than a decade ago here at the University of California at San Diego, with the intention of providing a common place for people to learn about the Indian Subcontinent. The club's major purpose is to educate the community on the various aspects of Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Bangladesh culture. Though we target these various communities, we are by no means an exclusive organization. Anyone with an interest in culture, community service, or social activities, is always welcome. Artists : Kavan Sabnani, Amar Chatterjee, Asha Vergis, Shreha Jain.
The Bhangra Team at UCSD is an award-winning and dynamic group of students performing this traditional Indian dance incorporated with modern techniques. Founded in 1998, the UCSD Bhangra Team is popular for its up-beat choreography and entertaining style, which has `Wow-ed` audiences all throughout the country. As well as competitions, the UCSD Bhangra Team does a variety of non-competitive stage performances. Officially titled the "The People`s Bhangra," this team doesn’t dance for the judges, doesn’t dance for the money, doesn’t dance for the glory, but dances for the PEOPLE. Artists : Shikha Sanjiv, Nima Bhakta, Kanvar Panesar, Hasit Khullar.
CHIHOE : Chihoe Szeto is a professional dancer, choreographer, instructor. He dances primarily in the genres of hip hop, club dance freestyle, and salsa. This "clubaholic" has spent over 8000 hours in nightclubs across North America, Asia, Europe and has trained in dance for 10 years. To learn more go to www.ClubDanceLessions.com
Shwetha Menon : Shwetha is in the 12th grade and will be off to college next year. Shwetha enjoys singing Karnatic and Western music alike with equal passion. She is also a versatile Bharatnatyam dancer. She aspires to teach math and continue her passion for music.
Harsha Vishwanathan : Harsha graduated from University City High School last year and is now a freshman at UCSD. Harsha enjoys singing both Carnatic and Western Music. She also has passion for learning Bharatnatyam.
HEAL THE WORLD CHORUS :
Shwetha Menon, Vani Neelakantan, Geeta Garg, Harsha Vishwanathan, Uttara Vengrai (8th grade), Maya Lakshman (8th grade, hobbies: poetry), Vikram Elaiyavalli (second grade, hobbies:video games, piano, swimming)..Audience.
VOTE OF THANKS:Vani Neelakantan
STALLS
Pragnya Mehta - Handbags and Accessories
Sonal Chawla - Traditional Indian and Indo-Western Clothing
Srabani Bhattacharya / Revati Subramanian - Hand Made Custom Jewellery
Bhavna Mehta - Hand Made Holiday Cards
Henna and Rangoli Kits - Snehal Bhutada
And Much more ..
DINNER MENU
North and South Indian Food.
For Kids (This menu not available for adults) - Macaroni Cheese, Cookies, Drinks etc.
SPONSORS
Rotiland, AyurvedaYoga, GoldspiritFilms, Bombay Bazaar, Nennette's Hair Salon, EmbroidMe(Sorrento Valley), Royal India, Madras Cafe, Surati Farsan, Starbucks, Infusions of Tea, Monsoon Group, Star of India,Vignesh Foods, Ashoka, Ker , Trader Joes, Ralphs, Vons, (more to come)
"
Monday, September 28, 2009
SDNARI PLAY "RAY OF LIGHT" OCT10, 6.30 PM , BRAILLE INSTITUTE
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14 comments:
Based on a spot survey of people who left the auditorium...they loved the mother in law...way to go...preethika
wish my mother in law was so cool..very nice modulation and voice creaking when the bell fell..loved the walk and the talk:)-
Overall the play was very good....script writing was spot on...brought up the sensitive issues...
I was not able to identify with the prom story...the fighting couple sounded shrill...but had good issues....the mother in law story had nice inter cultural concerns and the mother in law's acting was understated and perfect
Great script..touching a lot of relevant issues ...but most important treating them in a light not too serious tear jerking manner..great job and kudos to the director
Ganesh
The idea of the play surfaced on Oscar Night, Feb, 2009. We had invited the FRIENDS of LAFTI for a talk. We were just a handful of us as it was Oscar night. After the talk we started to discuss SDNARI. It was at that time that Sekhar mentioned about doing a play to get some publicity for the play. I jumped on the idea and rest is history. Simarjeet Sahota identified the cases for the story.
Payal and Vani both agreed to divvy up the task of writing and directing the play. Ray 1 and Ray were taken up by Payal and Ray 2 by Vani Neelakantan.
The first of the cast I contacted was Gaurav Gupta. He is one soul you can count on. He helped us with not only acting himself, but also identified other cast, helped with the sound etc.
Though I had seen bits and pieces during rehearsels, I was amazed to see how each and everyone of the cast pulled it off for "Ray of Light". Payal, the script was excellent.
Thanks to Payal Yagnik to take upon this task despite her challenges with her pregnancy.
Thanks to Hamid Daudani for mentorship.
Thanks to Krishna and Bonnie Arora for recommending us to Braille Institute, it provided us with a very flexible floor space for the event. They went out of their way to accomodate two rehearsels at the venue before the event. They accomodated all of our requests such as constructing a stage that met our requirements.
Thanks to Jay and his wife at Braille for being at the venue with us until 1 PM as Sneh, Lakshman, Geeta Garg, Maya Lakshman, Erica, Jennifer and myself we cleaned the venue after the play.
Mansi (Shonali) had to learn the Bengali accent and she was the cutest DIL.
Hiren the husband stuck in between two women caught the right essence of the role.
Dr. Hema (Shobana) portrayed the worries of a mother to a teenager realistically.
Monica (Manju) was a true confidante and well wisher.
Vani (Nisha) acted superbly as the troubled teenager. Her Dance routine was well choreographed. Music could have been louder (remember the mic next time :))
Karuna(Maitreyi) was the cool, confident and understanding friend of Anita.
Vyjayanti(Anita) played amazingly the hysterical role of a lonely H4 wife.
Last but not the least Gaurav (Arun) was great as the well meaning but badly misunderstood husband.
Thanks also to Nipul Shah (Stage Mgmt), Ram Seshan (Sound and Lighting), Tamil Sangam for letting us use their sound equipment.
Vocals by Shwetha Menon, Vani and Harsha Vishwanathan were enthralling.
Chihoe's dance and moonwalk routine to the Michael Jackson "BAD" was beyoond words. It was just plain superb.
Flamenco Fusion by Neha and Stephanias were thrilling.
Flamenco duet by mother , daughter Stephanias and Gherty Reyes capture the audience.
UCSD Sangam students put on a lively Bhangra and Jai Ho dance performance.
Thanks to volunteers such as Rishi, Lekshmi, Krishnasudha, Suraj, Nisha, Amisha, Janaki, Ankit Taneja, Edward, Geeta Garg, Soujanya, Chamu, Nuan, Lakshman.
Thank you everyone for your positive encouragement and feedback! I see this play as a huge Indian community building endeavor! People without any vested interests came together to support SDNARI and volunteered countless hours.
I would like to mention Preethika (Mother in Law) who really hit it off with the audience with her stupendous acting. She was very impressive and hilarious.
I want to specially thank Dr. Monica Groover who not only acted in Ray 2 but gave the cast a full make-up for dress rehearsal and for the actual play. Keeping on her feet for endless hours as she worked out the nuances of cast role and make-up co-ordinating, she also gave every cast member complimentary Ayurvedic massage appointments post play. She has a 4 yr old boy to boot and yet she was so gracious and forthcoming with help. She was also the only one who showed a lot of empathy and concern towards me given my 3rd trimester and I am very glad I have found a wonderful person as you. Thank you Monica.
Hamid Ji was very kind to share his background music, Gaurav shared his music ideas generously but unfortunately we werent able to use any of it because of how I envisioned the play. Thankfully the background music my husband and I picked sitting up late at nights, downloading and converting from youtube (a very cumbersome task) paid off well. I am hoping the audience enjoyed the background music.
Mamta Malhotra did a great job with organizing and advising the wardrobe. I cant thank Ajay and Rishi and Nipul Shah who helped with moving heavy props! Nipul Ji's technical mentoring and help was invaluable. Abhijit did a great job with the slide shows and backdrops.
The secondary props were handled by Nisha and Amisha who did a fantastic job of co-ordinating the details.
My sincere apologies if I inadvertently missed out anyone from my thank you. Ofcourse I am very grateful to all of you who helped.
Cheers!
Payal
Thanks also to Abhijit Kudrimoti for the last minute backdrops,
A BIG thank you also to Neelakantan, who designed a fantastic program brochure in a short time and a minimal budget.
Thanks to Bhavna Mehta for letting us use her art on the brochure.
LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST
Thank you to Sneh Bansal who was my right hand and I was hers, without this cooperation this event could not have been possible.
Thanks to the best MC Meera Kumar.
Thanks a lot to my hubby and my daughter Maya Lakshman and my parents visiting for sharing our precious time for putting out a successful event for SDNARI and I thank everyone of you and audience for sharing your precious time with us.
Thank you SO much Umaji. Thank you SO MUCH Payal. KUDOS to both of you. Uma for putting all this together.
PAYAL - for taking on a HUGE project like this during her pregnancy. It's people like you that make me believe in STREE SHAKTI!
I am already thinking of the next play. Hum log San Diego Natya Leela Sangathan ban gaye hai. :)
I will invest in professional make up kit - if you have more plays to come. :)
A good attempt but it appeared every thing is so simple in the LA LA Land. It is women who have all the issues, men are just there for the costmetic value. None of the men in the play voiced their frustration with their own lives and their doubts.
I wanted to scream I tried talking and reasoning with him in every way I could but it did not work the way you guys suggested, it ended up with battering and a miscarriage. If it were so simple my sister's mother-in-law would have left her alone during her pregnancy, no she made sure my sister never had privacy with her husband to bond with in her new marriage.
Let us just get serious about domestic violence in our community. Let us ask men to share the burden. We all know someone who is suffering at this minute.
Sumati S.
Hi Sumati,
I agree with you 100%. Its a good start indeed! Can you please write to me at uma@sdnari.org ? We would like more suggestions and feedback.
Thanks,
Uma Lakshman
Vote of thanks is where you thank people...this is the forum for the play...looks like you are in love with your own writing Uma
The play was great. Acting was good too. Wish we had more time for planning and more volunteers.
Directors could have taken responsibility of gathering props.
Want to use this forum to thank my husband Sam Bansal for helping out whenever we needed him and all the ladies who graciously helped in ticketing and food serving/handling and Uma's dad too for his support
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