DIVIDED BY

Written and Directed by Basab Pradhan

December 6th to 14th, 2019

Sunnyvale Theater

550 E Remington Dr, Sunnyvale

In an alternate version of India, Cricket is religion. It enjoys total dominance in a country that is in the thrall of sports. But other sports have followers too – like Kabaddi. Divided By is a love story between a “Cricketiya” girl and a “Kabbadiya” boy. Can their love triumph in a country divided by sports? 

Divided By is an allegory of a society riven by religious strife. After Not Equal To and Greater Than, this is the third in the playwright's Inequality Series. 

The show is double cast, with separate performances in English and Hindi.

Ages 13+ | 130 min + intermission

For the show in English:

For the show in Hindi:

Soumya Chakravorty (ALOK English & Hindi)

Soumya is a performing arts enthusiast and has participated in various theatre forms – one-act plays, street plays, mimes and mono acting – right from his school and college days back in India. After an extended hiatus, he has become active again in theatre in the Bay Area over the last few years. He has performed the roles of Dharmadhyaksh in Surender Verma’s Aathvan Sarg, Junglee in Harish Agastya’s Mowgli and I, Banwarilal in Sujit Saraf’s Vande Mataram, Pakwan-e-khaansama in Sujit Saraf’s Amavasya, Dr. Pradosh Sarkar in Satyajit Ray’s Amartya, and Bohemian Baba in Lord Dunsany’s The Jest of Hahalaba. 

Sindu Singh (KAMINI English; BIMLA Hindi)

Sindu is an actor and director. Her favorite roles include Roma in Basab Pradhan’s Greater Than, Malini in Anupama Chandrasekhar’s Free Outgoing, Naina in Basab Pradhan’s adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House, Damyanti in Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Party, Bagheera in Harish Agastya’s Mowgli and I, Sarita in Vijay Tendulkar’s Kamla, and Hamida Begum in Asghar Wajahat’s Jis Lahore Nahin Vekhya O Jammyai Nahin.

Her directorial credits include Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast, Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand, Vijay Tendulkar's Kanyadaan, Rahul Varma's Counter Offence, Girish Karnad's Wedding Album and Mahesh Dattani's Dance Like a Man. She founded 'Rangmanch', a South Asian theater group for the Stanford University community, and for its maiden outing, directed Yoni ki Baat, the South Asian version of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues.

Sindu is Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Bay Area Drama Company.

Anjali Kirloskar (BIMLA English)

Anjali recently played the lead role of Sahana in BADCo’s production of Rahul Varma’s State of Denial and Deepa in A Widow of No Importance, both of which were very well received. She was actively involved with theater in school and college. After being a stay-at-home mom for many years, she recently rediscovered her passion for the stage. Since then she has done play readings and one-act plays for many theater companies in the Bay Area. Anjali was a nationally ranked tennis player in India as well as a competitive swimmer. She is also a certified scuba diver.

Tannistha Mukherjee (CHHAVI English & Hindi)

Tannistha is an actor and a dancer. This is her first production with BADCo and she is thrilled to be a part of the Divided By cast. Some of her prominent roles in the Bay Area include Draupadi in Mahabharat, Nazneen in the Indian adaptation of Arsenic and Old lace and Tara in Tanika Gupta’s Waiting Room. She has trained in acting, movement, voice, and clowning at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

Piyush Upadhyay (DEEPAK English & Hindi)

This is Piyush’s first Mainstage appearance. He is delighted to make his debut with BADCo.

Rita Bhatia (KAMINI Hindi)

Rita is a passionate theatre enthusiast and keenly interested in all aspects of this wonderful art form. As an actor, she has essayed roles in several BADCo productions including Dolly Iyer in Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast, Sumitra in Basab Pradhan’s Greater Than, Dolon in Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Sonata and Priya Singh in Basab Pradhan’s Not Equal To. She recently directed a Low Res staged reading of Where Did I Leave My Purdah? by Mahesh Dattani. Besides theatre, Rita enjoys playing Bridge and painting and is training in Hindustani classical music.

Anirudh Mohan (PRADEEP English)

Anirudh is delighted to be returning for a third time to BADCo having previously played Kunaal in Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast and Zohrab in Rahul Varma’s State of Denial. He has studied acting at San Francisco State University and was part of a Shakespeare Troupe that toured multiple high schools around San Francisco. He played Norik/Haro in the production of Without Clouds from NOID inc. He has also contributed to a number of roles in independent plays and short films around the Bay Area. Apart from acting, Anirudh enjoys watching movies, reading novels, playing volleyball and supporting his favourite teams – the Golden State Warriors and Manchester United.

Jai Jhala (PRADEEP Hindi)

Jai is an engineer who loves to fix broken stuff and reverse engineer anything.  He recently started developing an interest in theater. He previously appeared in a Low Res staged reading with BADCo. This will be his Mainstage debut he is very excited to be a part of the cast for Divided By.

Kartic Bhargav (JYOTI English & Hindi)

Kartic is a budding actor, an avid reader of plays and a theater enthusiast. He anchors BADCo’s Low Res series of staged readings.

This is Kartic’s third outing as an actor with BADCo after having previously essayed the roles of Shankara & Constable Muniraju in Girish Karnad's Boiled Beans on Toast and Jayaprakash in Vijay Tendulkar’s Kanyadaan. Other plays include Lord Dunsany’s The Jest of Hahalabha, Oscar Wilde’s A Florentine Tragedy and Martin Mcdonagh’s The Pillowman.

Kashish Mittal (SHAMSHER English & Hindi)

Kashish Mittal is an actor and playwright. He spent four years at National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi doing theater. His major acting credits include Joseph Sarai ke Jugnu. He was the protagonist of Sparsh, an award winning and critically acclaimed documentary about disability and autism. He also appeared in many Nukkad nataks and theater festivals in North India. He holds a masters and bachelors degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Computer Security where he regularly took part in Indian theatre.

Basab Pradhan

Basab Pradhan is a stage actor, director and playwright. His original plays are Not Equal To (2017), Greater Than (2018) and Divided By (2019). His Indian American adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was staged in 2015. All four were staged by BADCo under his own direction. Other directorial credits include Sonata by Mahesh Elkunchwar and Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar.

Basab is Founder & Co-Artistic Director of Bay Area Drama Company. 

Stage Manager

After Not Equal To and Greater Than, Michelle is excited to be back with BAD Company for Divided By. She has worked at various theatres in the Bay Area over the last 20 years. Most recently at City Lights Theater Company with such favorites as Alabama Story, Ideation, Elephant Man, Amadeus, Dead Man Walking, and Compleate Female Stage Beauty. Other favorite productions around the south bay include Matthew Briar and the Age of Resurrection (Epic Immersive),  A Midsumer Night's Dream (Silicon Valley Shakespeare), Carmen (Opera San Jose), and On the Verge (Bus Barn Stage Co.). Michelle has an MBA from University of Phoenix, and a BA in Technical Theatre from U.C. Santa Barbara, and is the author of "A Stage Manager's Survival Guide: From Callbacks to Closing."

When not backstage, Michelle can be found in the online advertising world at Adobe.