A play is a party. Acting as Priya in Sid Anand’s Diwali Play at Prime Produce. Photo by Adri Tan.
I am the co-founder and artistic director of a contemporary political South Asian theatre ensemble and incubator. Founded in Jan 2020, we create explicitly political theater, both through dismantling traditional barriers to access in theater and through the content of our performances. Our ensemble is NYC based, but with collaborators throughout India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, the UK, the Maldives, and all across the US. Since our beginning in 2020, we have produced billions (billions!) of performances, staged readings, discussions, and workshops over Zoom and in person. We are grounded in an ethic of non-hierarchical theater production; of intergenerational collaboration; of creating something participatory and chatty and conversational; of building each other up; of taking risks and experimenting; of creating community; and creating something fun.
Some hats I’ve worn in the Fresh Lime Soda ecosystem are directing, acting, producing, facilitating, outreach, and spending too much time designing colorful flyers; highlights include directing Ravayana for HowlRound, acting in Diwali Play at Prime Produce, and facilitating a critical watch party and discussion of Indian Matchmaking.
If you’re interested in joining us, send an email to freshlimesodaco@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram, or visit our site for more! We are always looking for new collaborators and friends!
TLDR: we created the community for which we were longing during and after college: a space for South Asian theatermakers to create art and also just enjoy each other’s company. As an incubator, we make shows purely from our love for theater and community-building, work with artists in various stages of play development, and encourage our ensemble members to try their hand at as many theatrical roles as possible (playwright, director, actor, etc.) We created this framework in an attempt to dismantle American theatrical exclusivity, or historical barriers of access to theater perpetuated by proof of experience and/or training.