Pratidhwani to Present Mahesh Dattani's DANCE LIKE A MAN

Pratidhwani - a Seattle area based organization of South Asian performing artists - will present Dance Like a Man - a play in English by Mahesh Dattani, produced in collaboration with ACTLab, in the Bullitt Cabaret at ACT Theatre in downtown Seattle. The production will run July 24th through August 9th with performances at 7:30PM on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:00PM matinees on Sundays.

This production marks ten years of plays produced by Pratidhwani including the 2011 hit Mother in Another Language performed at ACT Theatre in collaboration with ReAct Theatre and CHL, a Bollywood-ized version of The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) in 2012, and two world premiere productions - The Banyan Tree by local playwright Tulika Kumar in 2013, and Everything but the Paper by Sonal Champsee in 2014.

A brilliant - sometimes hilarious - study of human relationships framed by the age-old battle between tradition and youthful rebellion, Dance Like a Man has been hailed as one of the best works of the dramatic imagination in recent times.

Jairaj and his wife Ratna - aging Bharatnatyam dancers - are focused on their daughter Lata's upcoming performance at a high-profile dance festival. Meanwhile, Lata nervously awaits the meeting between her parents and the man she wishes to marry. In the conversations that follow, fissures in Jairaj and Ratna's relationship explode into high-strung battles, stemming back to their own youth. The younger couple has their own issues to contend with, as Lata attempts to balance her ambitions with those of her parents.

Dance Like a Man stars Jay Athalye, Tanvee Kale, Abhijeet Rane and Meenakshi Rishi. The play is directed by Agastya Kohli.

Tickets: Available online at http://www.acttheatre.org/Tickets/OnStage/DanceLikeaMan

Or at ACT Box office in person or by phone at 206.292.7676.

General: $15

Pratidhwani/TPS members, and Students: $10

Design Team and Crew:

Scenic Design: David Hsieh

Scenic Construction: Gerard Menendez

Lighting Design: Steve Cooper

Props and Costumes: Pallavi Garg

Props and Costumes Assistant: Swati Srivastav

Sound Design: Tushar Sugandhi

Stage Manager: Dheeraj Mehta

Assistant Stage Manager: Akshay Johar

About the Playwright

Described as one of India's best and most serious contemporary playwrights writing in English, Mahesh Dattani is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi award. He received his early education at Baldwin's High School and then went on to join St. Joseph's College of Fine Arts and Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka. In 1984 he founded his playgroup 'Playpen' and in 1986 he wrote his first play Where There's A Will. Since then he has written many plays including Tara, Night Queen, Final Solutions and Dance Like A Man. Apart from theater Mahesh Dattani is also active in the field of film making. He teaches theater courses at the summer session programs at Portland University. He also imparts training in the field of acting, directing and play writing at his own theater studio in Bangalore, India.

About the Director

Agastya is a Seattle based actor, director and producer. He has been leading the Drama Wing of Pratidhwani - a local South Asian performing arts organization - since 2005 and has directed and produced many shows in Hindi and English for Pratidhwani. He holds a certificate in Directing for Stage and Screen from University of Washington, and in addition to Pratidhwani, he has directed locally for 14/48, Live Girls! Theater, Infinity Box and SIS Productions, and has served as Assistant Director for ReAct Theatre. A Telecom Engineer by day, Agastya proudly serves on the board of ReAct Theatre and Theatre Puget Sound.

About ACTLab

Launched in 2007 as The Central Heating Lab, ACTLab serves as an incubator and catalyst for new works. Uniquely positioned to provide the space and resources to the development of projects in a collaborative environment, ACT partners with emerging and seasoned local artists, giving them the sustenance and pressure required to experiment, grow, and transform their work and reach new audiences. ACTLab presents artists working in all performance genres and provides an artistic home for a variety of local performance groups and artists like Azeotrope, The Seagull Project, UMO Ensemble, and Endangered Species Project. With year-round ACTLab and Mainstage programming, ACT offers its patrons a unique opportunity to maximize their theatre experience the ACTPass: all you can see for only $30 per month. ACTPass Members can attend nearly all ACT produced performances.

About Pratidhwani

Pratidhwani is a non-profit cultural organization based in the Seattle area, with a mission to promote and cultivate performing arts of the Indian subcontinent, by empowering the performing artists. We do this by creating, discovering, and encouraging performing opportunities for artists of South Asian descent, and by providing infrastructure artists need to take advantage of performing opportunities. Pratidhwani is organized in four wings - Classical Music, Light Music, Dance, and Drama.

For more information, visit Pratidhwani's website at http://www.pratidhwani.org/dlam

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