SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, September 3, 2022 (San Francisco Chronicle): Musicians, performers, props and a table of food are all crammed into Indian theater company Naatak’s modest rehearsal space in Santa Clara. It’s small enough that performers sometimes trip on water bottles, and actors frequently run out of space on the makeshift stage. On a recent Sunday, the 27-year-old company made up of South Asian immigrants working in the tech industry had more than 50 people packed in for rehearsal of its 100th production, a rendition of the sweeping Hindu epic Ramayan which runs through September 25. The humble Naatak House serves as a stark contrast to the company, which boasts that it is the largest Indian theater in the country, and the magnitude of the story the troupe plans to bring to life onstage. The approximately 2,500-year-old Ramayan tells the story of Rama, an embodiment of the Hindu God Vishnu, saving his beloved wife Sita from the demon Ravana.
Naatak was founded in 1995 when director Sujit Saraf was a mechanical engineering doctorate student at UC Berkeley. Inspired by fond memories of doing theater in the eastern state of Bihar in India, Saraf and friend Sanjay Rajagopalan, who was then working on a Ph.D. at Stanford University, wanted to bring their love of performing to the Bay Area. “We do not give it the time somebody who uses theater for their livelihood will,” said Saraf, who runs a small software company and works as a tech consultant. “On the other hand, we are freed from the constraints of finances that theater artists are always consumed by. … We are professionals in all but name. We don’t get paid.” Over the course of nearly 30 years, Naatak has provided the South Asian community with an outlet for creativity so people like Neeraj Chawla, who plays Rama’s devotee Hanuman in Ramayan, can reignite their love for theater. It also provides the community — from child actors and first-timers to veteran performers — an opportunity to fully immerse themselves in their culture.
More at source including ticket information.
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