Our Stories (Tamil)

Dec 3-11, 2021

Sunnyvale Theater

550 E Remington Dr, Sunnyvale

Looking for the English 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.

Tamil | 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.

Anusha Balasubramanian

An actor and an avid theatre enthusiast, Anusha has performed in several Bay Area stage productions. These include Aasayae Alai Polae, Washington Ila Vasu, Chitappa Weds Chiti and Karna, a dance drama with the legendary Madhurai. R. Muralisharan. During the pandemic she explored theatre on Zoom with a theatre group in India. This is her first time with BADCo and she is excited to be a part of the cast of Our Stories.

Athira Ajayakumar

This is Athira’s first show with BADCo. She is excited to be part of this production.

After doing theatre in India Athira recently played the lead role in a short film Sinungal. She is also a dancer who continues to train in Bharatnatyam, Hip-hop and contemporary styles.

Bala Kannan

Bala is an actor, writer, and director for stage plays, short films, and indie feature films. He is passionate about the arts and wants to make it his full-time profession some time soon.

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.

Dilip Ratnam

Dilip has been part of several Bay Area productions both on and off stage with many South Asian theater groups. This is his second outing with BADCo after essaying the diabolic uncle in 30 Days of September. His last year's stage performances included portraying multiple characters in the musical Gandhi, the grieving husband in A Waiting Room and the bumbling Vinit in an adaptation of The Odd Couple. A self-proclaimed movie buff, he loves to sing and dance to any beat, especially Bollywood music.

Jay Ganesh 

Jay has played lead roles in several Tamil plays in the Bay Area, including Vaal Paiyan and Thani Kudithanam. This is his second outing with Bay Area Drama Company after Not Equal To. He also played the roles of a 30 year old bachelor trying to fall in love in the comedy Kadhal Kalyanam Vaibogame and a 60 year old professor who transforms the life of an elderly man in Thanimai. 

Kartic Bhargav

Kartic is a trained actor, a budding voice artist and a passionate storyteller who occasionally dabbles in writing. His previous roles with BADCo include Jyoti in Basab Pradhan's Divided By, Shankara in Girish Karnad's Boiled Beans on Toast and Jayaprakash in Vijay Tendulkar’s Kanyadaan. Tamil plays (with Naatak) include the adaptations of Lord Dunsany’s The Jest of Hahalabha and Oscar Wilde’s A Florentine Tragedy.

Apart from theater, Kartic has also been actively involved in short-films, comedy-sketches and audio-story narrations. His first original (short) screenplay as a writer will go into production later this year.

Kartic is trained in technique from Atlantic Acting School, New York; in scene-study from ACT, San Francisco and in storytelling from The Hive, San Jose.

Kavitha Nagarajan

Kavitha enjoys being on stage and has had the good fortune of exploring the medium as singer and actor in various stage shows in and around the Bay Area. She has had the opportunity to essay a range of roles in various Tamil and Hindi plays - the endearing RajaMatha in Swaram's Once Upon a Time, the vengeful protagonist Durga in Avatar's Mudivalla Arambam, the ever-worrying mother of the heroine in Mission Suhani, a Nautanki style musical being some of them. Kavitha is also a versatile vocalist, trained in Indian classical music and has many music albums to her credit. She is a founding member of Bay Area based  Indian music band Thillana. She lent her voice to the movie Nanjupuram that was released all across Tamil Nadu in the year 2011. 

Kavitha is excited to be making her debut with Bay Area Drama Company with Our Stories.

Naveen Nathan

Naveen is an avid theater enthusiast. He has performed in more than 30 stage plays across USA, Canada and India. Naveen started his theater journey at the age of 29 in the US. He is the Co-founder of the Bay Area theatre company KREA and has staged various plays around the country. He has also performed in two plays staged at various sabhas in Chennai. He acted in an indie movie Achamundu Achamundu, directed by Arun Vaidyanathan. He has also directed seven musical dramas in Bay Area. This is his debut with Bay Area Drama Company and he is very excited to be back on stage acting.

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 styles. 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.

Radhika Narayanan

Radhika is a trained Bollywood and Classical dancer. She has danced on stage in over 100 performances with several film industry musicians and actors as a part of their touring performances. She has also been a dance instructor and choreographer in the Bay Area. Radhika is excited to be making her theatre debut with BADCo.

Ram Rajagopalan

Ram has a great passion for theater. Our Stories will be his second stage appearance after Naatak's Buddha.

Revati

Revati is overjoyed to be part of her first production with BADCo. She is a multi-faceted and versatile actress who has previously been in Ramanujar (double role), Ninaithale Nadakkum (an Avatars production), and SVe Shekar’s 1000 Udhay Vangiya Aburva Sigamani. Revati is trained in acting, singing, and dance and has been an avid practitioner of all from her early school days.

Shiv Jayaraman

Shiv is delighted to be making his first appearance in a BADCo production. He has previously played roles in Day in the Life of an Author, The Day Theater Died, Kalakarra Chandru Pramadam, Kadavulin Kaigal, Seeds & Flowers, Ninaithaale Nadakkum, Getti Melam and a short film Poda Mundam. Shiv directed Mudivilla Aarambam.

Tannistha Mukherjee

Tannistha is an actor and a dancer. Our Stories is her second production with BADCo – she previously played the lead role of Chhavi in Basab Pradhan’s Divided By in December 2019. 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, San Francisco.

Thryambak Vangal 

Thryambak is a third grader who enjoys staff spinning, playing the piano, singing classical music, fantasy fiction, storytelling and drawing. Our Stories will be Thryambak’s stage debut and he is thrilled to add theatre to his arts portfolio. He is greatly looking forward to being on stage.

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. 

Vandana Ramakrishnan Nathan

Vandana has had performing arts experience from the age of 6. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Her drama debut in the Bay Area was in Tholaipeyshi. She has also been a part of the musical Gandhi and recently completed a successful short film stint. This is her first time with BADCo and she is excited about her participation with this talented crew. She loves cooking, dancing, singing, hiking and of course, acting. If she is not acting, she can be found trying to run her kids lives for them.

Director

Sathish Sattanathan

Sathish Sattanathan is a theater enthusiast keenly interested in all aspects of theater. He has acted in many Tamil and English plays with prominent Bay Area theater groups. He debuted with BADCo as Mohan Hattangadi in Girish Karnad’s Wedding Album and is thrilled and proud to debut as a director with Our Stories.

Sathish will be directing BADCo’s upcoming production The Cherry Orchard, an Indian adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic, which will be staged in March 2022.

Stage Manager

Venky Kottapalli

Venky is a theatre enthusiast. He lives in constant admiration of the art of storytelling. He believes that the craft of acting can be therapeutic, as it forces you to recognize your own emotions and truly connect with fellow actors. He is smitten by Improv and the Meisner acting technique, and is currently training with the Bay Area Acting Studio. This is his first stint as stage manager with BAD Company.