MISSION STATEMENT
Rasaka Theatre Company is based in Chicago and is the Midwest’s first South Asian American ensemble. Our goal is to increase diversity among artists and audience by engaging and illuminating the South Asian American experience. We are particularly dedicated to providing a platform for the artistic expression of South Asian artists.
Our vision encompasses the production of theatrical projects – newly created, adapted and already established. We aim to broaden, strengthen and enrich the experience of the theatre going audience thereby enhancing the local, regional, national and international reputation of Chicago theatre.
Beginnings
The Founding Members were informally brought together in January 2003 when Anjalee Deshpande was looking for South Asian actors to read scenes from her play Tamasha, a South Asian-American adaptation of Anton Chekov’s The Three Sisters. It quickly became apparent that we had the artistic merit, focus and vision to present interesting and compelling works of theatre. Anita Chandwaney paid 5 valuable visits to the Lawyers for Creative Arts and drafted the founding incorporation and IRS documentation in November 2003, resulting in the official incorporation of Rasaka Theatre Company on February 4, 2004. Barnali Das was responsible for our logo, website and business cards, ensuring Rasaka it’s distinctive presence in the Chicago theatre community!
Launched!
Rasaka Theatre Company’s public launch was our benefit party on December 11, 2003 at The Fizz Loft. The hypnotic sounds of Karma Sutra enchanted the guests as the timeless mystery of the East mingled with the modernism of the West. The launch party was followed on December 16, 2003 by a reading of Act I of Founding Member Anita Chandwaney’s play-in-progress, Gandhi Marg, at the Tony award winning Victory Gardens Theatre.
International Voices Project
In the summer of 2010, Rasaka Theater collaborated with Premiere Theatre and Performance for The International Voices Project. Rasaka presented one of five U.S. staged readings at the Indian Consulate. Rasaka’s Artistic Director, Lavina Jadhwani, directed the Shakuntala – one of the crown jewels from Indian theater.
Yoni Ki Baat
Winter 2008 and 2009, Rasaka Theatre Company presented two successful productions of “Yoni Ki Baat” (the Chicago premiere), a funny, heartfelt and thought-provoking monologue cycle, loosely inspired by Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues”. By combining spoken word, music and dance, Rasaka created an exploration of female sexuality, seen through the lens of diasporic culture. Like a chain letter passed through the theatrical community, “Yoni Ki Baat” features contributions from female writers across the country, including new monologues by local writers, including ensemble members Anita Chandwaney (finalist, Chicago Dramatists’ Many Voices Project) and Mary Anne Mohanraj (author of Bodies in Motion and several erotic novels), plus choreography by Alka Nayyar (Jeff nominated for her work on “The Masrayana”).
Page to Stage – the nation’s first South Asian playwriting bootcamp
In August 2008, Rasaka held a weekend-long playwrighting workshop, facilitated by Will Dunne. With the help of Dunne’s guided writing exercises, ten South Asian-American writers each created a 10-minute play. Shortly thereafter, the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs (supported generously by the Kiran Bavikatte Foundation) invited Rasaka to further develop these plays via a month-long workshop. This included an additional critique session with Dunne, rehearsals with professional actors and a director and finally a staged reading performance for a public audience and panel of theatre professionals.
After three more months of development and 6 weeks of rehearsal, Rasaka presented culture/clash: three plays about the South Asian diaspora. We decided to call this project culture/clash because each play featured a South Asian protagonist interacting with a non-South Asian culture. Each piece was representative of the diasporic experience, in which we saw one group’s traditions and values mingle and mix with another’s, ultimately leading to cross-cultural understanding and social change.
Rasaka hopes to once again present new and powerful South Asian voices allowing Rasaka to further our goal of sharing the rich and bountiful stories of the South Asian community.
Rasaka’s Inaugural Production – The award-winning “Masrayana”
Rasaka, in conjunction with the Prop Thtr Group, produced the world premiere of William Kovacsik’s The Masrayana. We are proud to have provided for the professional directorial debut of Founding Member Anish Jethmalani. The production team for this critically praised and JEFF RECOMMENDED show was lead by Ensemble Member Kern Wasan, who served as Production and Marketing Coordinator.
2004 to 2007
Rasaka Theatre Company’s proposal for a Staged Reading Series at The Storefront Theater was granted and inaugurated with Founding Member Anjalee Deshpande’s Tamasha, directed by Cecilie Keenan. The next performance was of Mausi (which became an HBO film!), an original screenplay by Sarthak and Sarba Das. The year was closed out with Gandhi Marg written by Founding Member Anita Chandwaney and directed by Cecilie Keenan.
2005 staged readings were also hosted by The Storefront Theatre, featuring: The Waiting Room by Tanika Gupta; Women of the Dust by Ruth Carter; the first ever all South Asian female version of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross (allowing our South Asian actresses an opportunity to shatter stereotypes; Rasaka closed out 2005 with Pat Rahmann’s The Opposition.
2006 and 2007 staged readings were hosted at the Chicago Cultural Center Studio Theater. 2006 featured: Light in the Village by John Clifford; 27 Wagons Full of Cotton by Tennessee Williams; Martin Sherman’s stage adaptation of E.M. Forster’s “A Passage to India” in collaboration with Lifeline Theatre; the 2007 season closed out with a presentation of the stage adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children.”
In addition to our staged reading series, Rasaka developed a show in collaboration with Remy Bumppo’s ThinkTank series entitled ‘Desi Women of the Diaspora.” The show featured a series of original works written and performed by Rasaka artists, discussing various topics related to immigration. The show was also presented at this years Kriti Literary festival.
Rasaka Theatre Company is 501©3 not-for-profit corporation.
OUR MISSION...
“Rasa” means the essence or inspiration of a work of art, and adding “ka” behind a word makes it “of” that, as in �of the essence of art.� Rasaka’s goal is to increase diversity among artists and audience by engaging and illuminating the South Asian American experience, with particular dedication to providing a platform for the artistic expression of South Asian artists.
Rasaka Theatre Company is based in Chicago and is the Midwest�s first South Asian American ensemble. We are dedicated to providing a platform for the artistic growth and development of South Asian American actors, writers and directors.
Our vision encompasses the production of theatrical projects, (newly created, adapted and already established), with a South Asian American cast and production team. We aim to broaden, strengthen and enrich the experience of the theatre going audience, enhancing the local, regional, national and international reputation of Chicago theatre.