Our Stories (English)
Dec 3-11, 2021
Sunnyvale Theater
550 E Remington Dr, Sunnyvale
Looking for the Tamil show? Click here.
A collection of funny and moving short plays, based on the true stories of South Asian immigrants to America. From the stigma around mental health to the role of race in relationships and marriage – the stories explore a variety of contemporary themes relevant to the community.
All the plays are original plays based on stories gathered from our own artist community.
English | Ages 13+ | 140m including intermission
For the safety of our patrons, entry to all performances will require proof of vaccination. Please read our Covid Protocol before buying tickets.
Students get a 25% discount. Use OURSTUDENT during checkout (cannot be combined with other discounts). Students must show their student ID at the theatre.
Cast
Ahana Dave
Ahana is delighted to make her mainstage debut with Bay Area Drama Company.
She recently wrapped up an independent short film The Order. She has acted in several film projects at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and has been a part of three BADCo staged play readings. She has trained in acting at the Bay to LA Actor’s Network and the San Francisco Acting Academy.
Anirudh Mohan
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 and Zohrab in State of Denial. 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.
Anjali Kirloskar
Anjali was actively involved with theater in school and college. She recently rediscovered her passion for the stage and returned to acting with the lead role of Deepa in A Widow of No Importance. This is her third outing with BADCo after playing Sahana in Rahul Varma’s State of Denial and Bimla in Basab Pradhan’s Divided By.
Anjali was a nationally ranked tennis player in India as well as a competitive swimmer. She is a certified scuba diver.
Carissa Ratanaphanyarat
Carissa is honored to perform with the Bay Area Drama Company for the first time. Having discovered a love for acting during the COVID-19 era, her credits consist of independent productions, commercials, and theater work. Recent stage appearances include multiple roles in The Late Wedding (Pear Theatre) and Jesse in All the Dazzling Colors (More Más Marami Arts). Carissa is also a lifetime musician, having undertaken classical piano training through the Peabody Conservatory of Music Interdivisional Program and San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College. She holds a B.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins and an M.S. in Communication from Northwestern University.
Dhananjay Motwani
Dhananjay is a theater enthusiast who calls acting his reset mode. This will be his first outing with BADCo. His acting credits include - Night of January 16th, Disconnect, Mahabharat, Gandhi and Noor, among others.
Dinesh Rao
Dinesh Rao has had a long-standing passion for theater. He has performed in Marathi, Hindi, and English plays in the Bay Area and back home, in Mumbai, India. Most recently Dinesh was in the cast of The Odd Couple and before that featured in Chinta Chod Chintamani and Khare Sangaycha Ter. After Rahul Varma’s State of Denial, this is his second outing with BADCo. When not a part of a cast, you will find Dinesh working on the production team or ushering at a theater production. He sees this as a great opportunity to make new friends and meet new “characters”. He fills the theater gap in his small but artistic family, where his daughter has a passion for indian and western dance, and his wife for singing.
Divya Joshi
Always passionate about dance and theatre, Divya started performing again after a long hiatus. Recently she essayed roles in the musicals - Genie (an adaptation of Aladdin) and Roarr (an adaptation of Lion King). After Girish Karnad’s Wedding Album in 2017, this is her second outing with BADCo. As a dancer, she choreographs, teaches and performs in various events. By day she is a Human Resources professional.
Havish Ravipati
Havish has been acting in the Bay Area for the past decade. He has been in everything from stage productions (recently BADCo’s June 2019 production, State of Denial and Kingdom of Cards in October 2019), short films, voiceovers and local web commercials. Being a creative talent (whether on stage or film) is his life's passion and he looks forward to performing Afsaaney with the rest of the great cast and crew.
Neil Shenoy
Neil is excited to make his debut with BAD Company in Afsaaney. He is currently a senior at Evergreen Valley High School and has been acting in school plays since he was in 2nd grade. Past roles include Police Chief in Annie Jr, Lefou in Beauty and the Beast Jr, Tweedle Dee in Alice in Wonderland Jr, a Pirate in Peter Pan Jr, Flying Monkey in Wizard of Oz Jr, and Iago in Aladdin Jr. His most recent role was as Announcer/Guard in Satyajit Ray's Gopi Gayein Baga Bayein, featured at the opening ceremony of the Bay Area South Asian Film Festival.
Paul Costello
This is Paul's fourth production with Bay Area Drama Company after Bhopal, Counter Offence and Greater Than. A communications executive by profession, Paul has been acting since he was a child in his native Chicago. He follows in the footsteps of his father who was a stage and commercial actor. Paul was intending on a professional career as an actor but got waylaid in another form of theater, politics. When he's not acting or working, he can be found in a swimming pool doing laps or on his bike cycling around the Bay Area. He and his wife, journalist Rita Beamish, live in San Mateo.
Pawankumar Suresh
Pawan is an actor and dancer trained in contemporary, urban-hip-hop and Bollywood. His prior credits include Mohammad Ali Jinnah/Balasundaram (Girmitiya) in Gandhi, Lloyd Andrews in Rehearsal for Murder, Lakshmanan in Sri Thyagaraja – A musical Drama (US tour vy T.V Varadarajan and crew) and an acting credit in a short film Iravil (BAFA 2019). Pawan acted, sang and danced in Bhishm Sahni’s Muavze.
This is Pawan’s first outing with BADCo.
Pierre Gopal
Pierre Gopal grew up in Chennai, India and came to the US to do his graduate studies at Oklahoma State university. Pierre has been involved in theater all through his school and college days. He recently played the role of the Magician in Jest of Hahalaba. This is his debut with Bay Area Drama Company.
Pranaya Rishi
Pranaya is a middle schooler in Fremont. Her recent reading for Cloud Playhouse’s Will got her an invitation to audition for Our Stories. Pranaya has acted on stage since she was 4. Theatre is her dream. Apart from acting, she is passionate about music and is currently learning Carnatic vocal music, the Veena and the flute.
Richa Garg
This is Richa’s third show with BADCo. She made her Bay Area theatrical debut as Ismat in State of Denial and then played Vimla in Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast. She is thrilled to be back working with BADCo again as part of a terrific cast.
Apart from theatre, Richa enjoys dancing and has received training in Indian Classical dance, Jazz and Belly dancing.
Rita Bhatia
Rita Bhatia is a story-teller, actor, director, producer, singer and playwright. In March 2021, she produced and stage managed BADCo’s first post-Covid, in-person theatre production - The Square Root of a Sonnet - which played to sold-out audiences.
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.
Roshni Datta
Roshni is a film and stage actress, dancer and director based in California. She has acted and directed with various Bay Area theater companies and has also been part of several Hindi and English language short films, sketches, TV shows and commercials. She likes to write poetry & compose parodies and music videos in her free time. With BADCo, she has previously essayed the role of Sinam in Rahul Verma’s State of Denial. Now, with Our Stories, she is looking forward to bring some grounded and beautiful tales about the South Asian diaspora to life.
Vaishnavi Sridhar
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 Our Stories. She debuted with Bay Area Drama Company when she anchored the trailer for Free Outgoing followed by a memorable role as Radhabai in The Wedding Album. She also essayed the role of Anusuya in Girish Karnad’s Boiled Beans on Toast. COVID 19 created the Zoom theater phenomenon. Vaishnavi played the lead role in BADCo’s Evil Eye, as well as a video production of Sindu Singh’s short play Suprabhatam and in several other Zoom plays. She has also acted in a few short films in Tamil, Telugu and English.
Vibeka Sen Sisodiya
Vibeka is a communications professional, and in her spare time, a writer, singer, and actor. This is her third outing with BADCo. She played Angela in Forever (Zoom) and then Lalitha Chandrasekhar in The Square Root of a Sonnet, her first staged production, in Aug 2021.
She is thrilled to be part of the talented cast of Our Stories.
Director
Basab Pradhan
Basab is a playwright, director and stage actor. His original full-length 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. He has written several short plays as well, including four of the plays in Our Stories.
Other directorial credits include Sonata by Mahesh Elkunchwar and Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar. In directing Our Stories he picks up the baton from Sindu Singh, who was the original director of the same show that was canceled in March 2020 because of the pandemic.
Basab is the Artistic Director of Bay Area Drama Company.
Stage Managers
Chaitasi Majmudar (Chai) is making her debut in the world of theatre as ASM and is finding it exciting and deeply fulfilling. She hopes to continue being part of the BADCo family for future creative pursuits.
Shashank Divekar is an avid theatre enthusiast. As an actor he has performed in Indian regional theatre productions in the Bay Area. He is thrilled to be in the Stage Management team of Our Stories and looks forward to being a part BADCo’s upcoming shows.