Dear friends,
As the metaphorical curtain goes down on KANYADAAN after two weekends of wonderful performances, I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you who came to watch the show. Nearly 600 people saw this play – which is nothing to laugh at considering the serious – though extremely engaging – drama that it is. Big round of applause to all of you.
A special thanks to the entire cast – who worked through an extremely complicated set of characters and challenging situations. On its surface, the Devlalikar family is just as ordinary as any other, but very quickly it becomes obvious how different most of these characters are from us. Not a lot of us have any personal experience with the type of social issues this play explores, nor necessarily a lot to draw from as far as the idealistic, rigid or extreme stances they take. In order to step into the lives of these characters, and to make them our own was the greatest challenge for the team – a challenge we feel we successfully met.
Without an effective crew, no cast can give their best. Our technical crew stepped up to support the project and did a terrific job. Roshith Rajagopal turned his actor hat around and took over as the stage manager. We had some fresh blood in the team with Ritika Virmani as the props coordinator and Apeksha Godiyal did an impressive job with the website. And then we had the support of our veteran lighting designer Maggie Lee – the only lighting designer I know who doesn’t shy away from designing shows in a language she does not understand! A big thank you to those who work in the shadows to make the rest of us shine in Maggie’s lights.
One of the most critical aspect of a production are the box office staff, ushers and other volunteers who are the face of the production team and welcome our guests to each show. Many thanks to each of our volunteers who managed the front lobby and the doors with professional grace and ease. Thank you.
Just as much as the cast and crew, we are thankful to their families, friends, employers, managers, roommates and hiking buddies – who too have to make a lot of sacrifices. If it wasn’t for supportive spouses and cooperative bosses, our productions would never work!
And last, but certainly not the least – all our volunteers, PR personnel, card distributors, email forwarders, word spreaders, facebook status updaters, friends and supporters – we thank you for your help. Theatre is a team sport, and without the support of a complete and dedicated team like yourselves, the Pratidhwani Drama Wing would not be able to put together the shows it has been able to, and hopes to continue to do in the future.
Thank you all for all your support to KANYADAAN. We’ll see you soon at the next production!
-Agastya
Lead, Pratidhwani Drama Wing
