Go West!

2008-11-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

Go west
19c. British idiom for "die, be killed" (popularized during World War I), "probably from thieves' slang, wherein to go west meant to go to Tyburn, hence to be hanged, though the phrase has indubitably been influenced by the setting of the sun in the west." [Partridge]

Go West is a farcical set of sketches both originally scripted and adapted from BBC's Goodness Gracious Me. It is a mockery of the pretentious, defensive, yearning, courageous, and confused sides of the immigrant Indian experience.

Cast:
Kadambari Agarwal
Megha Agarwal
Aishwarya Bharathi
Vikram Bodicherla
Payel Choudhury
Raman Grover
Ankit Gupta
Rohit Nahar
Joel Ossher
Pancham Parikh
Bharath Rajaram
Nithya Sambasivan
Ashley Vorhees

Director: Nithya Sambasivan
Props, script assistance, and sounds: Brijraj and Vrishti Gulati
When: Friday, the 7th of November, 2008
Where: Palo Verde Community Room, Irvine

What's in a name?

2008-11-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

Quite a lot. Conceptually, Katha-rasas is a coming-together of story-telling, appreciation of theater and aesthetic emotions, and cleansing tensions. Literally, it captures the spirit of our group - eastern art meets western sensibilities. Let's dig deeper into the name:
Catharsis - "the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music." [Source: Merriam Webster]

Katha - Story or story-telling. In India, each region has developed its own style and tradition of story telling in various regional languages. Epics and Purana, ancient stories of wisdom in Sanskrit, are the common story material for all or most of the regions of India. Such performances are held in temples, weddings and other religious or social functions. These are one-person performances, where the performer has to be versatile in the aspects of exposition and be able to interestingly narrate humorous anecdotes. The storyteller is looked upon as a teacher who is a scholar in ancient texts in Sanskrit and other vernaculars. They interpret the religious and mythological texts of the past to the present and future generations.

Rasi: To appreciate a rasa. In Indian performing arts, a rasa is an emotion inspired in an audience by a performer. They are described by Bharata Muni in the Nātyasāstra, an ancient work of dramatic theory. Rasas are created by bhavas: the gestures and facial expressions of the actors. The Nātyasāstra carefully delineates the bhavas used to create each rasa. Originally written for the Sanskrit drama of the age of Kalidasa, the theory of rasas still forms the aesthetic underpinning of all Indian classical dance and theatre, such as Kudiyattam, Bharatha Natyam, and Kathakali. The nine principal rasas are called the navarasas. They include Śṛngāram (शृन्गाारं) (Love or erotic), Hāsyam (हास्यं) (Comic), Karuṇam (करुणं)(Pathetic), Raudram (रौद्रं) (Furious), Vīram (वीरं) (Heroic), Bhayānakam (भयानकं) (Horror), Bībhatsam (बीभत्सं) (Odious), Adbhutam (अद्भुतं) (Wonder), and Śāntam (शान्तं) (Tranquility) [adapted from wikipedia]

Katha-rasis

Go West!

What's in a name?