The Short Plays of OUR STORIES (English)
Suprabhatam
A sweet, funny take on visiting parents. If adjusting to a new country is hard for us immigrants, imagine what it’s like for our aging parents. On top of that, we, their children, don’t seem to follow social norms… from back home!
Cast: Divya Joshi, Anirudh Mohan, Vaishnavi Sridhar, Paul Costello, Roshni Datta.
Athrangey
Our attitudes to social issues are often frozen in time - to the time when we first left our home countries for the US. We will happily pay for our childrens’ college education, their weddings even. But god forbid that the apple of our eye should ever want to open up about certain “taboo topics”.
Athrangey - the travails of a gay desi man who is trying to come out to his parents.
Cast: Havish Ravipati, Roshni Datta, Vibeka Sen Sisodiya, Anjali Kirloskar, Dinesh Rao.
5150
A Pakistani student at Stanford goes into deep depression and ends up in the hospital. His father arrives from Pakistan, with very little empathy or understanding of his son’s struggle with mental health.
Cast: Pierre Gopal, Dinesh Rao, Paul Costello, Anirudh Mohan.
Bobby & Bobbi
Desi boy meets a girl at Starbucks. They get chatting and then start dating. The only problem is that the girl is, ahem, Chinese. Inevitably, the boy's parents get involved and then something unexpected happens.
Cast: Havish Ravipati, Carissa Ratanaphanyarat, Rita Bhatia, Pierre Gopal
Faceless, Invisible
Pratibha had a career in Finance in India before she came to the US with her husband. But now she can’t get a job because she can’t get a work permit. And her husband keeps busy with his work. Pratibha’s story explores how talented women can find themselves trapped at home when they follow their husbands on dependent visas.
Cast: Dhananjay Motwani, Pawankumar Suresh, Rita Bhatia, Richa Garg/Roshni Datta
Indian Matchmaking
Respectable South Indian family invites suitable match for their beautiful, FAIR daughter (26/5’3) U.S born, doing medical residency from a well-educated, handsome, fair, well-established professional, ages 28-31, settled in U.S. Looking for teetotalers. Please respond with recent photographs, biodata, and horoscope.
– a real matrimonial ad
Indian matchmaking is world famous. Netflix even made a reality show out of it. For practical reasons, it has had to adapt to its new environs in the US. Results from matrimonial ads can be iffy. But there are other ways to get them hitched - like a Sindhi cruise!
Cast: Rita Bhatia, Vibeka Sen Sisodiya, Divya Joshi, Roshni Datta, Dinesh Rao, Havish Ravipati, Anjali Kirloskar, Ahana Dave, Pawankumar Suresh, Paul Costello.
Tiger Mom
Rohan’s mom is single-mindedly focused on getting him into Stanford. His sister Anika is wise to her designs. And she knows she’s next.
“Being an Indian kid in the Bay Area? That's like the Hunger Games or... Survivor.”
Cast: Pranaya Rishi, Vibeka Sen Sisodiya, Neil Shenoy.
Bridge
Four Indian women are playing bridge when the hostess’s daughter arrives with bad news.
Sexual harassment and assault in India and the US. Then and now. Is it any different?
Cast: Paul Costello, Ahana Dave, Carissa Ratanaphanyarat, Rita Bhatia, Vibeka Sen Sisodiya, Divya Joshi, Anjali Kirloskar.