Hindu Gods & Goddesses Come to NYC Off-Broadway in New Staged Reading of Indian Play ‘A Day in the Life of a Hindu God’

Hindu Gods & Goddesses Come to NYC Off-Broadway in New Staged Reading of Indian Play ‘A Day in the Life of a Hindu God’

New York – This January, the Gods of ancient India come to New York City, Off-Broadway at the Medicine Show Theatre in a staged reading of the play ‘A Day in the Life of a Hindu God’. Written by playwright David Elyha and directed by Barbara Vann, this limited two-day engagement runs only January 14th and 15th and tells the story of Shiva, the great destroyer, his true love Parvati and the plight of the Gods against the demons.

The reading is composed of a diverse cast of both Indian and non-Indian actors. Playing the Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati are Mark Gering and Nishi Rajan who both recently starred as Adam and Lilith in the Medicine Show Theatre’s production of the musical Angels Giants Monsters.

Gering is an American actor, painter and musician who has starred in such plays as The Envoy, Genet’s The Balcony and Shaw’s In The Beginning. Rajan is an Indian-American professional singer, songwriter, actress and lawyer who starred in such plays as The Centurion, Killing Time and How Raja’s Son Won the Princess Labam.

The staged reading of ‘Hindu God’ calls upon many of the actors to contribute their vocal talents and other abilities. Joyce Laoagan, Nishi Rajan and several other actors sing and have contributed original music and melodies to the production. Rajan began training in the Indian classical dances of Bharata Natyam, Kathak and Odissi to prepare for her role which requires  her to dance as Parvati in the destruction of the Gods. She is currently studying with Vaishali Chaudhari originally of Calcutta, India, who studied with India’s famous teacher, Guru N. Pandarinathan, the disciple of the legendary dance Guru and exponent of the most ancient Thanjore style of Bharata Natyam, Bharatha Vidwan Kuppiah Pillai, who is regarded today as an institution par excellence for Bharata Natyam.

Notable in the cast are Stass Klassen, who plays the Lord Vishnu and Mohini, his seductive alter ego in ‘Hindu God’, and Ward Nixon, a veteran stage actor  whose comical and hilarious take on the Lord Brahma, the God of Creation, sets the events of the play in motion. Actors to watch include singer/actress Joyce Laoagan, Jascha Bilan, Ilsa Couchot, Mark J. Dempsey, Madeline Jaye, Richard Keyser, Craig Newman, Jatin Saraf and the playwright and actor David Elyha who narrates.

The reading is directed by the Obie-award winning director Barbara Vann who is the artistic director of The Medicine Show Theatre. Located at 549 West 52nd Street in New York City, the Medicine Show Theatre is a company of professional theatre artists dedicated to offering creative alternatives to conventional theatre by creating and presenting works that experiment with language, music, movement, form and ideas. For over 40 years, it has presented over 200 productions which include  50+ New York, U.S. & world premieres of collaboratively created work, new plays and new translations of major international plays.

A Day in the Life of a Hindu God will be presented as a script-in-hand staged reading, Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 8pm and Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 7pm. For more information, visit http://medicineshowtheatre.org and the official event page on Facebook at https://facebook.com/events/261696973897060

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