Ajay Kumar “Geetarjun” (Philostrate/Puck) Ajay started his multi-dimensional theatre career in Patna in Bidesiya (1989), an acclaimed play by the group ‘Nirman Kala Manch’. After graduating in 2000 from the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, he performed with their repertory company for two years. He has also worked under reputed directors such as Naseeruddin Shah, Bansi Kaul, Roysten Abel, Anuradha Kapur and Ram Gopal Bajaj. He received training in ‘Theatre Music’ under B.V. Karanth, Sanjay Upadhyay and Bhaskar Chandawarkar. He has worked as a music director, singer and lyricist in over 30 plays, and teaches theatre music at the NSD. He also performs in films and television serials. Ajay is currently working on a musical recitation of poetry and Katha-Gayan-Vachan—a traditional folk form where a soloist acts as well as sings the narrative. He also translates scripts, including the Hindi sections in this production.
Performance languages: Hindi, English

Aporup Acharya (Nick Bottom) Aporup is a multi-lingual actor, writer, voice over and occasional stand up comic. He inherits his artistic and performance genes from his father, the renowned Indian personality development guru Aporesh Acharya, and his mother, Vaddadi Suguna, a Kuchipudi dancer and writer. Theatre has always been important to Aporup, who chose to opt out of his Master's Program in Economics in order to work with Chingari, an experimental theatre group in New Delhi. He has since worked with directors such as Arjun Sajnani and Poile Sengupta, choreographers Tripura Kashyap and Daksha Seth, and Prakash Belawadi, in whose National award winning Indian English film, Stumble, he played a prominent role. Aporup has also acted in a Kannada film, Accident, and in Hindi films Phir Milenge, Hyderabad Blues 2, and the still to be released Doosra, a film in the unique Dakhni accent of the Deccan Plateau. Aporup does voice overs for radio and television, writes lyrics for Hindi and English music albums and is also a columnist for various press publications in Bangalore, his current city of residence. When not hunched over a keyboard, in a sound studio, or at rehearsal, Aporup can be spotted eavesdropping at a local cafe picking up accents and material for his stand up routine.
Performance languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada

Archana Ramaswamy (Hippolyta/Titania) Archana is a trained classical dancer with formative training in Bharatanatyam. However, since 2003, she has also been studying Odissi. As a dancer she has performed in India and abroad. Her theatre credits include Tamil and English productions with the groups Koothu-p-Pattarai, Chennai, Magic Lantern, Chennai and Ranan, Kolkatta, among others. She has also preformed in numerous Tamil films and television serials. Today she shuttles between Chennai & Mumbai, where she is a familiar face on the annual Prithvi Theatre Festival organizing team.
Performance language: English

Chandan Roy Sanyal (Lysander) Chandan is a nomad of sorts. Bitten by the theatre bug in Delhi at the age of 19, he moved to Bhopal where he worked with Habib Tanvir’s famed Naya Theatre. Returning to Delhi, he learned the martial dance form of Chhau and helped form a college theatre troupe, Antara. In search of broader horizons he moved to Mumbai in 2002, supporting his theatre career with a job as a lecturer in mathematics. Since then he has been a regular fixture on the Mumbai stage working extensively for Q Theatre Productions, and has also acted in Alyque Padamsee’s Romeo and Juliet and P. Dialogues. In 2004, he formed Proscenium Theatre—dedicated to rejuvenating Hindi theatre in Mumbai, directing Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder and Mohan Rakesh’s Ashadh Ka Ek Din. He has also acted in films with roles in Ananth Mahadevan’s Staying Alive and with Aamir Khan in Rakeysh Mehra’s Rang De Basanti. He has just finished working on two Hindi feature films namely Tarqashh (Quiver), Piknik and Vishal Bhardwaj's Kameene which will release in 2009. Chandan wants to direct his film one day along the lines of Il Postino or Cinema Paradiso.
Performance languages: Bengali, English

Charan CS (Spirit - Mustardseed) Charan’s connection with theatre began soon after his 10th Standard. After doing a course from Chitradurga's S.J.M Institute of Music in Dance & Drama, he completed a Diploma in Theatre Arts from the NINASAM Theatre Institute. He continued his journey in theatre by joining NINASAM's 'Tirugata' repertory company for two years, playing major roles in plays like Pataragitti pakka, Romeo & Juliet, Kesha pasha prapancha, The Tempest and Undadigunda. When not on stage, Charan has played percussion or operated lights for Ninasam’s productions like Shradda mattu hanate, Ucchalya, Rahasya vishwa, Tabarana kathe and Ba kai ta. He has also worked in children’s theatre as a resource person in theatre camps and director of plays. Charan has won various prizes in state level Yogasana competitions and is also trained in other classical forms like Yakshagana, Kolaata, Veeragaase, Bharatanatyam. Never one to sit idle, between shows Charan can be found performing magic tricks, making masks and puppets or trekking.
Performance languages: Kannada, English

Dharminder Pawar (Spirit - Glow Worm) Dharminder belongs to a traditional acrobat family from Pune, the popular Bajaniya Nat street entertainers. He was born and brought up in a slum in Delhi and learned acrobatics from his father. He started his career at an early age as an itinerant acrobat, travelling across India with his parents. He performed in Spain, too as part of JIYO Beggars’ Opera Revisited (2005), a Sarthi production. Recently he has worked in the theatre under Roysten Abel and Rajeev Sethi as well as in Vishal Bharadwaj’s film, The Blue Umbrella.
Performance language: Hindi

J Jayakumar (Egeus) JK began his theatre career in 1984. Since then he has acted in and directed plays, films and television shows. He has played lead roles in the production of Moliere’s Don Juan, Camus’ Caligula, Max Frisch’s Andorra, WE Schafer’s Mahatma Gandhi; The Last Five Seconds and Shakespeare’s Richard III. He has received training in the Tamil folk dances Devarattam and Paraiattam, Theru-k-koothu (traditional Tamil theatre), Thanjavur Kuthuvarisai, Kaniyan Koothu, the martial arts of Silambam (Tamil), Thang-Ta (Manipuri) and Tai-Chi. Educated in actor-training methodologies developed at Kooth-p-Pattarai, Western theatre, mime, clowning, gymnastics, acrobatics and yoga, he passes his knowledge down to future generations by conducting workshops for theatre groups, colleges and schools in Chennai. At present he is actively involved with the theatre group Magic Lantern, Chennai.
Performance languages: English, Tamil

Jitu Shastri (Snug) A graduate of the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, Jitu has been working in the theatre for the last 30 years. His time with the Rangamandal Repertory Company in Bhopal and the NSD Repertory in New Delhi have allowed him to work with directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B V Karanth, Vijaya Mehta, Barry John, Peter Brook, Ratan Thiyam, Neelam Mansingh, Rajendra Gupta, K Panikkar, Anuradha Kapoor and Rustom Barucha among others. He has also performed in films including Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen and Ketan Mehta’s Maya Memsaab. He currently resides in Mumbai.
Performance languages: Hindi, English

Joyraj Bhattacharya (Francis Flute) As a child actor for the Indian People’s Theatre Association (PTA) performing street theatre, Joy performed in school plays and amateur groups in his Kolkatta neighborhood. After a theatre training course under Shyamanand Jalan at Padatik, Kolkata and workshops with Richard Schettner, Satyadev Dubey and Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, he joined the leading Bengali group Chetana in 1998. He acted in their repertory productions directed by Arun Mukhopadhyay— Marich Sambad, Jagannath and M. He is also trained in several folk and martial art forms. In 2000, he performed in Suman Mukhopadhyay’s widely acclaimed Tista Parer Brittano, followed by the lead role in Mukhopadhyay’s Samay-Asamayer Brittanto (2002). In 2005, he played the young protagonist of Mukhopadhyay’s film Herbert (based on Nabarun Bhattacharya’s Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel) and in a dance-theatre production, Versedance.
Performance languages: Bengali, English, Hindi

Kriti Pant (Helena) Kriti's acting career began humbly as a last-minute stand-in for a St. Stephen's College Shakespeare Society production. Since that first taste of blood, her appetite for roles has only grown. She won numerous accolades in college and collegiate festivals. Upon graduating in English Literature, she decided to fully embrace the thespian within and has since co-headed and acted in Prospect Wide Aisle's Shakespeare Project—an interactive compilation of the Bard's most popular works for school students. She is also a repertory member of The First City Theatre Foundation, for whom she has acted in Positions, Positions #2 and Mouse. Most recently she was seen in Godspeed—a "casual monologue" about a girl finding comfort in a deceased boy's music collection. Her future plans include obtaining an M.A. in Theatre Studies.
Performance language: English

Lakhan Pawar (Boy) Lakhan is the youngest member of the company, and also his family of which two of his brothers (Ram and Dharminder) are also represented in the show. He has trained as a traditional street acrobat since he was five and has performed all over India with his family. The Dream is his first major stage project.
Performance language: Hindi

M Palani (Demetrius, Spirit - Cobweb) Palani has spent his entire performing life either dancing to a rhythm or defying gravity, mostly with Chennai-based theatre troupe Koothu-p-Pattarai. After training under his grandfather in the Tamil folk form Therukoothu, Palani went on to learn Thappattam (traditional community dance), Silambam (stick fighting), Kalarippayat (Kerala martial art), Acrosanas (acrobatic yoga), Tai-ci-quan (Chinese martial art), Thudumbu (Mettupalayam drumming), Bharatnatyam and other physical theatre styles. He is also an accomplished mask maker and has worked with groups including Anita Ratnam’s Arangam Trust and Narendra Kumar’s Anusham Dance Company.
Performance languages: English, Tamil

P R Jijoy (Theseus/Oberon) Jijoy graduated in Economics (Christ College, Irinjalakuda) and Theatre Arts (Thrissur School of Drama, Calicut University). He finished his M.A. and M. Phil in Drama and Theatre Arts from Pondicherry University and is planning to pursue his doctorate in Theatre. He is trained in various forms of martial arts, dance and music and has worked with many national and international artists including Sashidaran Naduvil, Thangappan master, Dr. Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, Abhilash Pillai, Prof. S. Ramanujam, Maya Tongbergh (Finland) and Eugenia Kangapugo (Mexico). He has also traveled to Japan with the Malayalam production, Saketham, and Bahrain, where he conducted a workshop with more than 350 children. He has also featured in a number of Malayalam plays, radio plays and films. Recently he played a leading role in the film Dhrishtantham, which was featured in the Indian Panorama 2006. He is also working with AIDS patients, orphans and old people in various theatre activities.
Performance languages: Malayalam, English, Sanskrit

Ram Pawar (Spirit - Moth) Ram is an incredibly supple and agile acrobat. He is from the same Bajaniya Nat family as his brothers Lakhan and Dharminder. Like them he too was trained by their parents and has performed in Holland. His previous theatre experience includes plays with Delhi based director Roysten Abel.
Performance language: Hindi

Reshma Shetty (Spirit - Peaseblossom) Dhanya Shetty's dancing bells were silenced because the narrow minded society she lived in believed that "dance was not respectable". She was determined not to let her daughter suffer the same fate. So from the age of five, she introduced Reshma to the classical dance style of Bharatnatyam. From those early footsteps, Reshma has blossomed as an accomplished dancer, under Guru Shri Ullal Mohan Kumar & Guru Smt. Lata Surendra in Bharatnatyam and Guru Smt. Jhelum Paranjpe in Oddissi. She has performed with legends like Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shri Balamurali Krishna, both in India and abroad. Her dancing accolades include being a graded artist from Doordarshan Kendra, Mumbai, title of Singar Mani by the Sur Singar Samsad and a recipient of the national scholarship from the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training. Her acting career began at the collegiate level, but a chance meeting with Neeraj Kabi on Salim Ghouse's Macbeth furthered strengthened her passion. Under Neeraj's Pravah Theatre Laboratory for Research and Training, she acted in Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories and even played Hamlet. When not sweating it out in the rehearsal room, Reshma uses innovative teaching techniques to introduce new generations to Bharatnatyam and theatre, with an aim to create more Rasikas for these great art forms.
Performance language: English

T Gopalakrishnan (Robin Starveling; u/s Egeus) Known as the Kerala theatre circuit as “Thrissur Gopalji” he graduated with a Bachelor of Theatre Arts degree from the School of Drama, Calicut University. He has directed and acted in amateur and professional theatre for twelve years. The many awards he has won include a Junior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, a Special Jury Award for Acting in the All-Kerala Professional Drama Competition conducted by the Government of Kerala (2002) and several awards for best director and best comedian in state-level competitions.
Performance languages: Malayalam, English

Tapan Das (Spirit - Dragonfly; u/s Puck/Snout) Tapan is a typical rural theatre practitioner—he earns his living selling fish in the local market whilst working for the Alternative Living Theatre (Probir Guha’s acclaimed Third-Theatre group, outside Kolkatta), with whom he has been performing for sixteen years. Accomplished in psycho-physical theatre, he is a specialist in various martial art forms from all over India and abroad, and has worked with theatre personalities like Bansi Kaul, Asok Mukhopadhyay and Sunil Pokhre. He has also performed in Shyamanand Jalan’s film Pantomine.
Performance language: Bengali

Umesh Jagtap (Tom Snout; u/s Bottom) After obtaining a Master’s Degree in Drama from the Centre for Performing Arts (Pune University) under Satish Alekar, Umesh has been performing on the Marathi stage for the last six years. During this time, he has worked with renowned directors like Chetan Datar, Sambhaji Bhosale, Dilip Bhosale and many others. Hailing from Tuljapur in Maharashtra but now residing in Mumbai, he has been working extensively with Chetan Datar’s experimental Marathi theatre troupe Awishkar. His most recent role was as Saddam Hussein in Datar’s Iraq in 2005.
Performance language: Marathi

Vandita Vasa (Hermia) Vandita began her acting career with television. After two years of playing lead she gave it up to study filmmaking from New York Film Academy. Having acted in several performance-oriented Ad films, she has also played the lead role in a National award-winning short film titled Cradle Song (2005). Another film where she played the title role Aditi Singh was selected for the Cannes Film Festival (2007). Primarily having done film/television, she is only 2 plays old. Starting with playing Ophelia in Hamlet, and Shakuntala and Surpanakha in Retellings for Thespo (Youth Theatre Festival) where she won the Best Actress.
Performance language: English

Vivek Mishra (Peter Quince) Vivek’s tryst with theatre began on the terrace of his Delhi home watching his elder brother and mentor Hemanth Mishra at rehearsal. At the age of nine he walked onto the stage for the first time, and has called it home ever since. He is a graduate of the National School of Drama (NSD) and was a part of their repertory company for three years, where he played in productions like Einstein Muavze; Ashad Ka Ek Din and Ghanshiram Kotwal. In 2003 he translated, acted in and directed a Hindi version of Beckett’s Endgame. His most recent production is Naat Ghar, a one man performance dealing with the plight and irony of the left-overs of any capitalist society. Spending time with his father, the renowned Hindi writer Dr Ram Darash Mishra, obviously influenced him a great deal. He has inherited his father’s flair for language, and has translated numerous landmark western plays into Hindi for performances by the NSD. Another significant presence in Vivek’s journey has been his teacher, friend and guide Robin Das. Now residing in Bombay with his family, he has recently started writing for Hindi cinema as well.
Performance languages: Hindi, English

MUSICIANS

Gagan Singh Bais (Percussion/Wind) Born in Ujjain, Gagan learned music under the able guidance of his father Guru Shri Indra Singh Bais. Since then he has been seriously involved with classical and theatre music for over 15 years. He has worked with eminent theatre directors like Late Shri B.V. Karanth, Habib Tanvir, Sh. Bhanu Bharti, Shri Robin Das, Shri Satish Dave, Shri Waman Kendre and Shri Kajol Ghosh. Gagan spent a year working with the National School of Drama’s music dept and has also contributed to the sound-scape of many of their productions. His TV experience includes 4 years in Ahmedabad with Mr. Praful and credit as music director on Mr. Rakesh Tyagi’s Telefilm Bech Behas Main. He presently resides in Delhi where he works as an independent music director.

Kaushik Dutta (Guitar/Strings/Percussion) Kaushik has been involved in music for over 30 years as performer, composer, sound designer and studio engineer. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he has designed sound for ELAN (European Live Arts Network, 2003), scored music for the Special Olympics and composed songs that were sung by 400 children from all over the world at the Festival of Joy in Bangalore (2005). He has composed for theatre, ad films and documentaries and also ran a recording studio for over 20 years. His recent work includes music direction on Pablo Neruda, T. S. Elliot, Gwendoline C. Konie (Africa), Rielke (Germany), Rabindranath Tagore’s poems and also a Hindi feature film Tarqashh (Quiver) which releases next year. He runs an organization SING-TO-LIVE for the past 20 years dealing in contemporary music and doing extensive research work on Bengali modern songs. Outside of music, his main passion remains documentary filmmaking. He has made documentaries on Ganga Sagar, street urchins and numerous social service activities.

N Tiken Singh (Wind/Strings/Percussion) Tiken is a music composer, choreographer, ethnomusicologist and director of Progressive Artiste Laboratory (PAL) in Imphal. He is also an accomplished instructor of Manipuri Dance. He has composed music for ballets, dance dramas, films, documentaries, and has even performed in UK- based productions like The Jungle Book (1994-95) and Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1998). A multi-instrumentalist, Tiken is as comfortable with the violin, trumpet and saxophone as he is with the traditional Manipuri instruments. As director of PAL, he has ensured that the legacy of classical Manipuri music and dance is passed down to future generations.