Name, Place, Animal, Thing

Written by Annie Zaidi

Directed by Rita Bhatia

May 28 to Jun 4, 2022

Sunnyvale Theatre

550 E Remington Dr, Sunnyvale

Since they brought her to the city, the Maliks have fed, clothed and educated Nancy. For a domestic servant, she is treated very well. But Nancy aspires to a better life. A life not available to a maid servant.

Nancy rebels. She runs away. Is this the end of her dreams or the beginning of a new life? And what of the Maliks? Will they take kindly to their runaway maid? 

Name, Place, Animal, Thing is a story of family, loyalty, love and belonging.

For the safety of our patrons, entry to all performances will require proof of vaccination. You must be fully vaccinated and wear a mask inside the theatre. Please read our Covid Protocol before buying tickets.

Students get a 20% discount. Use OURSTUDENT during checkout (cannot be combined with other discounts). Students must show their student ID at the theatre.

Links

Video: Director Rita Bhatia on Name, Place, Animal, Thing

Studio photos

CAST

Vaishnavi Sridhar (Mrs. MALIK)

Vaishnavi discovered her love for the stage in 11th grade, when she realized this was the one place where she could overcome her innate shyness. She enjoys participating in substantive theater and films with themes of social justice, women’s empowerment, family drama and comedy. Apart from theater and film, Vaishnavi enjoys reading, writing, gardening, cooking and watching movies with her two sons.

Vaishnavi has acted in several Tamil, Telugu and English plays with various Bay Area theater groups and is thrilled to be part of Name, Place, Animal, Thing. She debuted with Bay Area Drama Company with the role of Radhabai in The Wedding Album. She also essayed the role of Anusuya in Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast and several roles in the short plays of Our Stories. During the pandemic Vaishnavi played the lead role in BADCo’s Zoom production, Evil Eye, as well as a video production of Sindu Singh’s short play Suprabhatam and in several other Zoom plays. She was the Producer for BADCo's last production, The Cherry Orchard.

Basab Pradhan (Mr. MALIK)

Basab is a stage actor, director and playwright. His notable work as an actor includes Chandrasekhar in The Square Root of a Sonnet, Imam Saleem in The Invisible Hand, Nath in Kanyadaan, Chairman Rao in Not Equal To, Moolchand in Counter Offence, Salman in The Domestic Crusaders and Jairaj in Dance Like a Man. He has three full-length plays to his credit – Not Equal To, Greater Than and Divided By – and an Indian-American adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House – and several short plays.

Basab is the Artistic Director of Bay Area Drama Company. 

Tannistha Mukherjee (NANCY)

Tannistha is an actor and a dancer. Name, Place, Animal, Thing is her fourth production with BADCo after playing the lead role of Chhavi in Basab Pradhan’s Divided By and roles in Our Stories and The Cherry Orchard. Some of her other 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, San Francisco. 

Anirudh Mohan (KAPDU)

Anirudh is delighted to be returning to Bay Area Drama Company for his fourth outing. He previously played Pradeep in Divided By, Kunaal in Boiled Beans on Toast, Zohrab in State of Denial and several roles in Our Stories. Anirudh studied acting at San Francisco State University and was part of a Shakespeare Troupe that toured multiple high schools around San Francisco. He has also contributed to a number of independent plays and short films around the Bay Area. Apart from acting, Anirudh enjoys watching movies, reading novels, playing volleyball and supporting his favorite sports teams – The Golden State Warriors and Manchester United. 

Namita Vakil (REHANA)

Namita has always loved the performing arts. Since the age of 6, she has been dancing and taking part in plays. She is a trained Kathak dancer and a versatile actress. She has been cast in several stage plays, staged and casual readings, short films, and Zoom plays (with theater companies across the country). When not acting, she loves to help backstage with production. By profession, she is a high school Math teacher. Her other interests include reading, painting, cooking and traveling. Name, Place, Animal, Thing is her first stage play with BADCo, and she is enjoying every part of the experience. 

Abhinay Rao (KUNAL)

Abhi is thrilled to be in the cast of another BADCo production after Boiled Beans on Toast. Prior to that he performed in several staged readings with BADCo and was on production teams for multiple productions including Kanyadaan, Greater Than, Sonata, The Invisible Hand and State of Denial. He has acted in several short films and has essayed significant roles in Telugu and English feature films, a couple of which are forthcoming.

Ram Rajagopalan (BATUA)

Ram has a great passion for theater. This is his fourth stage appearance after Buddha with Naatak and Our Stories and The Cherry Orchard, with Bay Area Drama Company.

Vandana Ramakrishnan Nathan (NEIGHBOR)

Vandana’s performing arts experience started at the age of six and continued through school and college. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and dabbles in other dance genres too. She is passionate about theater and feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to essay a wide variety of roles. She has done short films as well. This is her third outing with BADCo after Our Stories and The Cherry Orchard  in which she played the lead role of Banumathi. Vandana loves cooking, dancing, singing, hiking and of course, acting.

Havish Ravipati (NEIGHBOR)

Havish Ravipati has been an actor for the past twelve years and has done everything from stage productions, feature and short films, web commercials and voiceovers. He was recently seen in Bay Area Drama Company’s Our Stories and Naatak’s Pandemic Diaries. Look for him in the upcoming heist comedy film, Four Samosas. Havish hopes that audiences enjoy Name, Place, Animal, Thing and wants to continue to pursue creative opportunities in great productions that provide fulfilling audience engagement and quality presentation.

Ankita Moholkar (INSIYA)

Ankita is trained in Indian classical dance Kathak and some western dance forms. She was involved in theatre in her college days in Pune, India, both as an actor and backstage. She is passionate about the process of theater and is thrilled to be part of this cast, as her BADCo debut! 

Abhishek Sharma (NEIGHBOR)

Abhishek likes to think of himself as only a part-time engineer as he has always been passionate about art expressed through music, film and theatre. A self-taught musician and movie enthusiast, he is extremely excited to be part of what will be his debut as both as a backstage crew as well as an actor on stage with BADCo. He looks forward to continuing and growing in his theatre journey.

Director & Producer

Rita Bhatia

Rita Bhatia is a story-teller,  actor, director, producer, singer and playwright. After the pandemic restrictions were lifted and theatre returned, she produced and stage managed The Square Root of a Sonnet and acted in several short plays in Our Stories, both staged by BADCo.

Among her many roles on stage, her favorites are Dolly in Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast, Kamini in Basab Pradhan’s Divided By, Priya Singh in Not Equal To and Dolon in Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Sonata. 

During the pandemic, Rita adapted, produced and directed several online staged productions, some of her favorites being, Alipha, Forever, Mumbai Beats, Bobby & Bobbi, Chuckle with Chekhov and No Make-Up.

As playwright, Rita has written, directed and produced two short plays Chameli and Bhavna & Bhuvan. Recently, she took her first step into the world of short films as an actor and enjoyed the experience.

Rita is Co-founding Artistic Director of Cloud Playhouse and the Outreach Manager for Bay Area Drama Company.

Stage Manager

Divya Balu

Divya has always been fascinated with the performing arts. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and debuted with BADCo in Girish Karnad's Boiled Beans on Toast. Since then she’s acted in other theater productions and went on to become the Co-Founding Artistic Director of Cloud Playhouse, staging virtual theatrical shows. This is Divya’s first foray working backstage and she is excited to be part of a wonderful cast and crew.

Music