"The Incomprehensible" - This play is adapted from the Kannada play “Atheetha”, written by S.N Sethuram. The original play has been translated and adapted to English, and directed by Megha Herur. This play holds a mirror to our society and people's behavior, and reflects how the notions of justice and morality are highly blurred. While justice can be defined through legislation and codified laws, morality is more of an eluding concept that is based on faith. Laws can be amended but faith cannot be altered. The purpose of this play is to appeal to and awaken our human conscience.
Mother Nature has created the human race to exist perpetually. Nature wants humans to die when they actually die, but alas! Don’t we see a lot of living men and women walking around with dead souls? Once the human conscience is awakened, will we ever clearly see what our priority is? What's more important: the world’s perception of us or our own true self? Do we feel secure being in shackles because we are used to it? Is the freedom granted to us more of a burden than a joy? Are we actually as civilized as we claim? The measures that we have defined to call ourselves civilized must then be revised!
Playwright - S.N. Sethuram
S. N. Sethuram is a Kannada actor, director, playwright, and Deputy Commissioner (Ret.) in the Income Tax Department, Government of India. He has directed various Kannada mega-serials for television — Manthana, Anavarana, Dibbana, and Yugantara. He has also directed many highly-acclaimed plays — Nimitta, Gati, Atheetha, Ucchista, and Sthree. Mr. Sethuram was awarded the Masti award in 2017. Nimittha Gathi, Navalla, and Dahana are his famous literary works.
Director - Megha Herur
Megha Herur has acted in various Kannada and English plays in the Bay Area. Favorite ones include Yayathi, Kamalamani Comedy Kalyana, Pratibimba, Nothing like That, and Rabdi. Megha founded SoLiD theater in 2019 along with her friends Prathyay Bhandarkar and Sandeep Belliappa. Under the SoLiD banner, Megha directed "My Wife's Husband" and "The Perfect Partner" in English and "3 Humpugalu” in Kannada. She has also directed a few plays for children. “The Incomprehensible” is her first endeavor at translating and adapting a Kannada play in English.
CAST
Sumanth Shantaram
Sumanth has been active predominantly in Kannada theater in the Bay Area since 2012. He has been part of many productions under multiple theater groups in the Bay Area both on and off stage. He has worked under the direction of many stalwarts of Kannada theater including B. Jayashree, Mandya Ramesh, and Abhishek Iyengar. “The Incomprehensible” is Sumanth’s debut with SoLID.
Roshni Datta
Roshni is a stage/film actress, dancer/choreographer, and radio jockey where she goes by Mirchi Rosh. She has previously acted in various Bay Area theater productions such as Mahabharat, Rumors, Kingdom of Cards, State of Denial, and Rehearsal for Murder. She is a trained classical dancer and has acted in and co-created various short films & music videos. In her free time, she enjoys writing poetry and rapping. This is her first-ish appearance with Solid Theater and she is elated to be part of this journey
Abhiram Shivaswamy
Abhiram started theater at the age of 12 in a children's group. Since then, he has been involved in various flavors of theater from street plays to musicals. Trained under the able tutelage of stalwarts like Prakash Belawadi, Prema Karanth, Mandya Ramesh, and Srinath Vaisista, Abhiram has performed across India in more than 60 productions in Hindi, Kannada, and Sanskrit plays. He is a trained Carnatic classical violinist and an ardent admirer of Karnataka's popular folk art Yakshagana.
Anju Prakash
Anju was actively involved with theater in English and Hindi in high school and college. In the Bay Area, Anju has been part of multiple productions both on- and off-stage under the banners of all the major South-Asian drama companies along with acting in a few short films. She is a full-time technical writer by profession. In her spare time, apart from the theater, Anju passionately watches Indian cricket and movies of any genre and language, loves to travel, and practices yoga.
Pawan Kumar Suresh
Pawan is an actor and dancer trained in contemporary, hip-hop, and Bollywood styles.
He has played roles in English, Hindi, and Tamil with multiple theater groups around the Bay Area. He has also acted in a BAFA short film “Iravil” and had a cameo in the web series Not So Pink. Besides singing and acting, Pawan has also danced in a BAFA short film Meendum Oru Murai. He has been a part of various dance productions and has been a part of multiple showcases with Dance Identity and Mona Khan Company.
MUSICIANS
Shlaghya Vasista
Shlaghya is a trained Carnatic classical singer who started her musical journey at the early age of 5. She has performed thematic classical concerts in California, Texas, and Minnesota in the USA, to name a few. She has also performed at the AKKA Sammelana in the USA. She has given concerts at the prestigious Gayana Samaja, Chowdiah Memorial, Shankar Mutt, and TTD in Tirupathi in India.
Shlagya currently resides in India and continues to spread the essence of Carnatic music and Bhava Geethe by teaching students across India and the U.S.
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Akshara Raghu
Akshara Raghu is a drummer and a mrudangist from Bengaluru and has recently moved to the Bay Area. He has completed 8 Grades in Drum Kit from the Trinity College of Music, London. Akshara has performed over 500 live concerts across India in various genres of music, such as Carnatic classical, fusion, folk, and film music.
Akshara is currently working as a Solutions Consultant and continues to perform for concerts and recordings in the U.S. Apart from work and music, he is also very passionate about acting and mimicry and has performed in various stage shows.
Lights - Sandeep Belliappa
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Sound - Rahol Rajan
VOLUNTEERS
Event Day Photos - Sreenath Kalahasthi
Event Day Video - Vinay Bhardwaj
Poster, Promotion Video - Srinath Sathyanarayana
Ticketing - Samira Prasad, Prema Anand,Chaitra Sathyanarayana, Vidyalatha Jeerage
Backstage - Chaitra Sathyanarayana, Vidyalatha Jeerage
Indian Word Meaning
THINGS
Rajyotsava award : A prestigious civilian honor awarded by the Karnataka State Government in South India.
Padma Shri award : A high-ranking civilian honor awarded by the Central (Federal) Government of India.
Rajya Sabha nomination : Nomination to the upper house of the Indian Parliament (equivalent to the Congress).
Intermediate (education): Comprises 11th & 12th grades; equivalent to upper high school the U.S. In India, most schools finish high school in 10th grade, so 11th and 12th grades constitute pre-undergrad or junior college.
Paisa: Equivalent to the Indian cent or penny in currency but not value.
Rupee : India’s currency.
Convocation: College Commencement ceremony
Vedas Indian (Hindu) scriptures; has 4 parts Upanishads Indian (Hindu) scriptures; along with the Vedas, these books are said to describe and encompass all the core principles that are needed to guide the life of any human along the right path.
Sacred Brahmin thread : A thick loop of strong cotton thread worn crossbody to signify the upper caste of Brahmins among Hindus. All Hindu temple priests typically fall in the Brahmin category of the caste system.
Bungalow: A huge mansion, which is a status symbol for the super wealthy in India.
Watchman: Security guard.
Kunthi: A woman in Hindu mythology, who during her teenage years, is blessed with a magic mantra from a powerful sage that would enable her to have a child when she chose without conceiving through the natural process. Out of curiosity, the young lady used the mantra to invoke a child but had to abandon him to save herself from society.
Shah Jahan : A famous Muslim (Mughal) king in Indian history that built the world-famous Taj Mahal monument as a tomb for his beloved deceased wife.
PLACES
Karnataka : One of the 4 states in South India. The regional language of this state is Kannada.
Bangalore: Also referred to as Bengaluru, it is the biggest and most populous city in South India. It is the capital of Karnataka
State and is known for being the Silicon Valley of India.
Magadi Road, Binny Road, M.G. Road: All popular roads in Bangalore.
Basavanagudi, Okalipuram: Both are districts (similar to cities like Fremont or Santa Clara) in the Bangalore metropolitan area.
Lal Bagh : A very popular landmark - botanical gardens in Bangalore
Mysore : A metropolitan city in Karnataka State that had the Maharajah(king) ruling it. Even today, the Mysore palace (a tourist spot) has a descendant of the Mysore royal dynasty living in it. The king, however, has no administrative powers and only has historical value. All the kings lost such powers after India won independence and became a democratic Republic.
Hollenarsipur: A small village on the outskirts of Mysore.