MISS INDIA AMERICA 2011 Comes To Theatre Row 11/4

After playing in Chicago, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, New York audiences will have a chance to see the highly acclaimed play Miss India America 2011 (MIA) on Friday, November 4th, 2011, 9PM at Theatre ROW on behalf of the United Solo Theatre Festival, www.unitedsolo.org. Tickets can be purchased through Telecharge at www.telecharge.com.

The multi?faceted actress and writer Meera Simhan stars in this one woman performance about a girl who has to go through fire to find her authentic voice. Simhan has enjoyed roles on television shows such as The Mentalist, House, Heroes and Law and Order CI and also starred in the box office hit Date Movie.

The director of this refreshing comedy is actor, writer, composer Shishir Kurup, who has helped revolutionize community?based theater, and his own solo performances: Assimilation, Exile: Rumination on a Reluctant Martyr and Sharif Don't Like it, have all garnered public acclaim across the country. His modern verse play Merchant on Venice premiered in Chicago in fall of 2007 to rave reviews.

MIA 2011 follows the life of a second generation South Asian girl, (Simhan) who searches for identity, authenticity and freedom, in the face of strong cultural and societal values, while dealing with her blooming sexuality, finding substance in a world of pageantry, and aSempNng to integrate and ingratiate into a white middle class suburban world. Eventually, she must travel across the pond to face her fears and find her true inner voice.

Simhan delicately weaves both witty and non-sequitur humor into her stories to ameliorate the darker side of her own experiences, allowing for moments of complete surprise and ingenuity. MIA 2011 reveals its power as a comedy that cuts both ways; broad in its ability to demonstrate all sides of life in the most difficult times and deep in its thrust to create humor that ushers in voices and characters of stunning variety throughout Simhan's journey. Universal to MIA 2011 is the undercurrent theme of negotiating one's identity throughout one's own journey. Simhan adds nuance and insight revealing to the audience how someone on the inside can often feel like an outsider.

Miss India America 2011 will resonate to all as a universal coming?of?age story, a South Asian story as well as an immigrant story. The audience cannot help but identify with her as Simhan reveals a truly new American story.