It shows when one has dedicated the last decade to fulfilling a passion for telling global stories with a local flavor, building a theatrical community where performances, education and nurturing of dramatic talent has strong emphasis.
Vinita Sud Belani, the artistic director and founder of Sunnyvale based EnActe has worked tirelessly towards that goal, and now has built capacity with four in-house key personnel, freeing her time to become Director at large with Perseverence theater, based in Alaska.
She believes in changing things up… by including pieces such as “Talk Back” (a post play panel discussion); a zoomed reading of plays important to her, showcased theater companies from India on her platform and tried to expand the overall scope of theater.
The culmination of a decade’s work was brilliantly exhibited in an all-day affair at The Ranch at Silver Creek, San Jose last weekend. Throughout the day, a multicultural, multifaceted and multi-talented medley of concurrent staged play readings, cinematic screenings, live music and art displays by local creatives was offered to the delight of Bay Area art lovers.
This debut of New Works Festival, dubbed ‘When Ganesha met Shakespeare” expresses the Eastern and Western influences, embodying the spirit of film personality, Jean Claude Carriere, who has inspired and guided Belani’s foray into this domain.
The evening fundraising celebration was a bash with a treat for the senses with entertainment, keynote speeches, auction and food and libations. Snippets from past EnActe productions were a central part of the entertainment, where Antara Bhardwaj,a Kathak dancer and the lead choreographer in the play, “Conference of the birds” did a solo piece from this dance.
The commitment to nurturing young talent was evident with plenty of young costumed characters from past productions cawing and prancing on the stage. George Brooks playing his enchanting saxophone was joined by other EnActeurs in singing and recreated some of the drama from “Jungle Book”.
Additionally, Emielyn Das, the first student of the EnActe School of drama and having been part of multiple plays, is credited with having performed in the staged version of the movie, “Monsoon Wedding” by Mira Nair, earning accolades for her work.
She is also a mellifluous singer, and performed the song, “Kinnare se” written by Aalap Desai from “Chaos Theory”, who also joined her on stage in a duet.
The keynote speaker, Javed Jaffrey has ties to both Indian cinema and theater, including a lead role in “Monsoon Wedding” and expanded on his thoughts about the synergy, the gist being “art is everywhere and is the essence of creativity”. In a brief Q and A session, he informed the audience of his roots in film as he comes from such lineage, and his organic transition to theater.
No doubt the evening provided music, art and theater lovers an opportunity to express their appreciation and support the cause that Belani champions for actors, singers, artists and dancers while being thoroughly entertained with the finale of up tempo, foot tapping music and dance.
Photo Credit: Daniel Krum
Archana Asthana
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