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OUR PRODUCTIONS

JOURNEY TO SOUTH ASIA AND BEYOND

Dance Theatre 

MULTIPLE CITIES & VENUES 

CREATED AND DIRECTED BY ROHIT CHOKHANI

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Extremely popular, A Journey to South Asia is an evening of Dance Theatre, Live music and storytelling all wrapped into one night. The production is 90 minutes in length but it can be scaled and customized to your city, festival and budget. We can present it for 60 minutes minimum and the longest presentation we have customized is an outdoor 5 hour long production. 

Presentational history: 

 

  • Vernon 2019, Vernon & District performing arts centre

  • Vernon 2018, Vernon & District performing arts centre

  • Cranbrook 2019, Keycity theatre

  • Vancouver 2019, Heart of the city Festival

  • Vancouver 2019, Transformed Cabaret Festival

  • Nanaimo 2019, InFringin Festival

  • Maple Ridge 2018, The Act Arts Centre

  • Coquitlam 2017, Evergreen Cultural Centre 

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“This is one of the most harrowing, unsettling, and mesmerizing plays I’ve ever seen. Ten hours after leaving the theatre, I’m still shaken by its uniquely poetic horror, and marvelling at the complexity of what acclaimed playwright Anosh Irani weaves in Bombay Black’s dense 75 minutes. The performances are all stellar, but Kanji is unforgettable as the diabolical Padma, who belongs in the hall of fame of horrifying fictional mothers."

– Andrea Warner (The Georgia Straight)

BOMBAY BLACK BY ANOSH IRANI 

Theatre Production 

MULTIPLE CITIES & VENUES 

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY ROHIT CHOKHANI 

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The lives of an Indian exotic dancer and her embittered mother are altered when a blind stranger visits them. Poetic, mythic, and brave, Anosh Irani’s 2006 multiple Dora Award-winning Bombay Black is a searing play set in the bitter reality of India. Funny, violent, humane, and directed by Mumbai-born, Jessie and Fringe award-winning Indo Canadian producer Rohit Chokhani. In this re-imagination, it is for the first time the play is being presented from the perspective of the blind man. An early version of this production won the Pick of the Fringe award at Vancouver Fringe Festival 2017 and had a sold-out run after the first show wowed audiences with its unique vision. It was picked by the Georgia Straight amongst the 20 best shows on Vancouver stages in 2017 and was also one of the runners-up for the Georgia Straight Critics' Pick award for Vancouver Fringe festival in 2017.

Presentational History : 

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  • December 5 - 15, 2018 - Presented at and by Firehall Arts Centre - Vancouver

  • November 15 – 17, 2018 - at VIU’s Malaspina Theatre, Presented by Theatre One - Nanaimo

  • November 8 – 10, 2018 - - Presented at and by Evergreen Cultural Centre - Coquitlam

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This production is co-presented by Vancouver Tagore Society with Mandala Arts and culture as the media partner. This show was featured as a part of the Georgia Straight Fall Arts Preview, read more here.

SHYAMA

Dance Theatre

Oct 27, 2018

YORK THEATRE

Directed and Produced by ROHIT CHOKHANI

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A Bharatanatyam interpretation of Tagore’s epic Bengali dance drama Shyama. This dance-theatre piece is a tribute to the first non-European Nobel-laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore and his magically visual poetry and music of love. The romantic tragedy of Tagore is based on the story of Shyama, a powerful royal court dancer. Shyama falls in love with a foreign merchant who is falsely imprisoned by the King’s guard. The story slowly unfolds as Shyama travels great lengths to save her love from an unjust execution. Dance artist Arno Kamolika has been collaborating with choreographer Jai Govinda, musician Shankhanaad Mallick and with director Rohit Chokhani for over three years on this production, and Diwali in B.C. will debut their fully developed production of this poetic, deep philosophical story.  

CREDITS :

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  • Original Concept: Arno Kamolika and Jai Govinda

  • Original Choreography by Jai Govinda

  • Additional Choreography by Arno Kamolika

  • Performances by an all-female cast:

    • Arno Kamolika

    • Grihalakshmi Soundarapandian

    • Jayalakshmi Ravindra

    • Malavika Santhosh

    • Vidya Kotamraju

  • Music credits:

    • Vocals: Shankhanaad Mallick, Suranjana Hoque

    • Sitar: Firoze Khan

    • Flute: M. Moniruzzaman

    • Esraj: Asit Biswas

    • Tabla: Swarup Hossain

    • Mridangam: Sayenden Supramaniyam

  • Sound Recording: Chhayanaut (Dhaka), Sajjadur Rahman, Avik Dey

Playing to sold-out houses in 2017, A Vancouver Guldasta allows you to eavesdrop on conversations otherwise reserved only for the privileged ears of living room walls

A Vancouver Guldasta

Theatre Production

Oct 2-21, 2018

Artist Company: SACHA

CULTURE LAB 

Produced by Rohit Chokhani 

Presented with The Cultch

 

A Vancouver Guldasta focuses on the Dhaliwals—a Punjabi family in Vancouver in the early 1980s—as they navigate through the experience of trauma and violence occurring in Punjab, and their daughter’s complicated friendship with Andy, a Vietnamese refugee teen who lives in their basement. The story takes place during the Indian government’s armed invasion of the “Golden Temple”—the holiest shrine of the Sikhs—in the epicentre of the Sikh diaspora, South Vancouver, BC, Canada. A Vancouver Guldasta is an examination of common experience, identifying home, and processing trauma.

CREDITS:

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  • Written and Directed by: Paneet Singh

  • Starring: Arshdeep Purba, Lou Ticzon, Parm Soor, Gunjan Kundhal

  • Co- Set and Co-Costume Designer: Lauren Jamie Homeniuk

  • Co- Set and Co-Costume Designer: Skye Dyken

  • Lighting Designer: Chengyan Boon

  • Associate Lighting Designer: Vanka Salim

  • Stage Manager: Andrew Wade

  • Hair and Make-Up: Kaeko Fujiyama

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