WATER
Written by Mahasweta Devi
Directed by Ranjita Chakravarty
Dance Direction by Sanjib Bhattacharya
Oct 14 to 22, 2022
Sunnyvale Theatre
550 E Remington Dr, Sunnyvale
Maghai Dom is a water-diviner in a village in Bengal. Santosh Pujari, the village zamindar (large landowner), uses Maghai to find water underground. There, using government funds, wells are dug. But in a twist of irony, Santosh and his upper caste brethren do not share the water from these wells with Maghai and the lower caste villagers. This causes them untold misery in the dry season.
The village school teacher helps the lower caste villagers build a dam on the river Charsa to store water for the dry season. But Santosh and the upper caste villagers, supported by the SDO and the police are opposed to anything that might free the poor villagers from their yoke of tyranny.
The show has original music and dances from rural Bengal.
A compelling Indian story, Water is also an important story for the world as it faces the challenge of climate change.
Before buying tickets, please read these important announcements:
– Some roles in WATER are double cast. If you want to see a particular actor's performance, this will tell you what role they are playing on each show date.
– Masks are mandatory inside the theatre. Please read our Covid Protocol before buying tickets.
– Season Tickets, at $80, are great value and get you the best seats. Only available now!
– Students get a 20% discount. Use OURSTUDENT during checkout (cannot be combined with other discounts). Students must show their student ID at the theatre.
Program
Director
Ranjita Chakravarty
Ranjita is excited to be directing Mahasweta Devi's Water to open BADCo’s new season. This is the second Main Stage production she is directing for BADCo, after The Square Root of a Sonnet in 2022-23. She has also directed Poile Sengupta’s Alipha for BADCo on Zoom during the pandemic.
Her other stage directorial credits include two Tagore classics, Chitra – The Warrior Princess and Kingdom of Cards, and Madhuri Shekhar’s A Nice Indian Boy with Enacte. As a theatre actor, Ranjita has essayed many roles in the last two decades such as Ratan Ki Ma in Asghar Wajahat’s Jis Lahore, Marjorie in Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime, Dadi in Singh-Wadhera’s The Parting to name a few.
Ranjita has a recurring role as Nirmala paati (grandmother) in Seasons 2, 3 and 4 of Mindy Kaling's Never Have I Ever. Her other filmography includes Perfect Mismatch with Anupam Kher and Boman Irani and many indie short films.
Ranjita is forever grateful to her children Arjun and Alisha who encourage her and to Stanford University where she works during the day, so she can be a thespian by night.
Dance Director
Sanjib Bhattacharya
Sanjib Bhattacharya, recipient of President’s Awards from Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam in 2006 and Smt. Pratibha Patil in 2011 is an accomplished Manipuri Dance Exponent, Guru and well-known Choreographer of India and abroad. He has received his training under the tutelage of Guru Bipin Singh, Padmashri Darshana Jhaveri, Kalavati Devi, Manjushree Chaki Sircar and Mamata Shankar. He is currently an established performer of great repute having extensively performed across India and abroad. He is not only performing as a solo artist, but is also performing with eminent Gurus and Icons of Indian Classical dances like Padmavibhushan Sonal Mansingh, Padmashri Darshana Jhaveri, Padmashri Ranjana Gauhar, Sadanam Balakrishnan and other eminent gurus all over India and abroad. He runs several dance academies and institutions in India and Abroad while conducting Lecture Demonstrations and workshops regularly across the Globe.
Stage Manager
Vasudha Hegde
Vasudha is passionate about theater, and excited about all the different aspects that make up a mainstage production. Her dalliance with theater began in Bangalore, India, where she worked with Mad Hats Theater in various capacities. After State of Denial and Boiled Beans on Toast, and the unstaged Afsaaney, Vasudha is thrilled to be back with BADCo for WATER, as the Stage Manager.
By day, Vasudha is a Privacy Program Manager with DoorDash Inc., and holds a masters degree from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Music
The original music in Water was composed and recorded by:
Duryodhon Karmakar - madol
Bimal Kumar - flute
Arun Mukherjee - recordist
Animesh Das - lyricist and composer of Jol Bhoro
Sumit Roy - coordinator
The Cast
Abhimanyu Karki
Abhi is new to BADCo. He has previously been on stage with Enacte Arts for Kingdom of Cards, The Case of Vanishing Firefish and The Jungle Book. Abhi started acting 4 years ago and has worked on his craft through classes in American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Meisner Technique from Bay Area Acting Studio and some student films and showcases. He is extremely excited to be part of a wonderful cast and an awesome play.
Aditya Mahajan
Aditya has been a lifelong thespian. From nukkad nataak to being a member of the Shakespeare Society at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, he has essayed characters such as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Aam Aadmi in a street play with equal panache and passion.
During his personal journey across Delhi, Singapore, Dubai, London, and now the Bay Area, he has performed for various production houses across all these locations. Water is his first production with BADCo. Prior to this he was in The Sixth Pillar with Naatak.
Chaitasi Majmudar
Chaitasi (Chai) is excited to be back on stage with Water. Prior to this she played Sethulakshmi in BADCo’s adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. In 2021 she stage managed BADCo’s Our Stories which was her first step in the world of theatre.
Chai aspires to grow as an actor and leverages her graduate training in psychology to empathize with her characters. Besides acting, she has known the stage through dance and is an Advanced-level dancer with the Mona Khan Company.
Havish Ravipati
Havish Ravipati is an actor who has done everything from stage productions, feature & short films, web commercials and voiceovers. He was recently seen in Bay Area Drama Company’s Our Stories and Name, Place, Animal, Thing and Naatak’s Pandemic Diaries. Look for him in the upcoming heist comedy film, Four Samosas. Havish hopes that audiences enjoy Water and wants to continue to pursue creative opportunities in great productions that provide fulfilling audience engagement and quality presentation.
Kartic Bhargav
Kartic is an actor, writer and storyteller. His previous roles with BADCo include Imran / Bharat /Vikram in Our Stories, Jyoti in Basab Pradhan's Divided By, Shankara in Girish Karnad's Boiled Beans on Toast and Jayaprakash in Vijay Tendulkar’s Kanyadaan. Other plays (with Naatak) include the Tamil adaptations of Lord Dunsany’s The Jest of Hahalabha and Oscar Wilde’s A Florentine Tragedy.
Apart from theater, he has also been involved in a number of award-winning short-films, web-series, comedy-sketches and audio-story narrations.
Kartic is trained in acting technique from Atlantic Acting School (New York); in scene-study from The Barrow Group (New York) & American Conservatory Theater (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 - RajaMatha in Swaram's Once Upon a Time, Durga in Avatar's Mudivalla Arambam, the 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. 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.
This is Kavitha’s third outing with Bay Area Drama Company after Our Stories and The Cherry Orchard.
Luxmi
Luxmi is new to BADCo. She has done small parts in school and college plays. Water with BADCo is her debut in the Bay Area. She is very excited and has worked hard to make the debut worthwhile.
Luxmi is from Delhi and is a Sales Manager by profession. In her free time, she enjoys tennis, long drives, hiking and camping.
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 the Bay Area. This is his second outing with Bay Area Drama Company after Our Stories in 2021.
Ram Rajagopalan
Ram has a great passion for theater. After his maiden appearance in Naatak’s Buddha, this is Ram’s fourth outing for BADCo. He was in Our Stories, The Cherry Orchard as Sreekumar Varma and Name, Place, Animal, Thing as Batua.
Rohaan Rane
Rohaan got a chance to play Manoj Kumar for the song ‘Mere Desh ki Dharti’ in 4th Grade and since then has always enjoyed the performing arts. He is trained in the Meisner Technique.
Rohaan is a professional event host and regularly emcees events. He is excited to be making his debut in BADCo’s Water.
Ruchir Sutaria
Ruchir is new to BADCo. He recently played the half-horse half-human Hayavadana, in the eponymous Girish Karnad classic. On his short journey of 4 plays, 3 have been musicals! Ruchir learns Hindustani classical singing and in his free time likes to play chess. He is eagerly waiting to perform in front of a BADCo audience and is excited to be directed by Ranjita and Sanjib for Water.
Shiv Jayaraman
Shiv is delighted to be making his second appearance in a BADCo production after Our Stories in 2021. 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.
Vinata Karra
Vinata has been a lifelong theater enthusiast. She has performed in India till 1982 and with Maharashtra Mandal, CALAA and Naatak since 1989. Recently she was in Sixth Pillar, Hayavadana (vocals) and Buddha, all with Naatak.
Vineet Kumar
Vineet Kumar moved to the Bay Area in 2020 from Singapore. He has been involved with stage theatre in Singapore and Bangkok. This would be his third play with BADCo after Our Stories and The Cherry Orchard.
Vineet heads a fast growing company by day and moonlights as a theatre actor by night.