Over 50 South Asian Artists To Perform Under One Roof

Hypokrit Theatre Company, in association with The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation, is pleased to announce the second annual Tamasha: Festival of South Asian Performing Arts. The festival will spotlight over fifty South Asian performers from various creative disciplines (theatre, dance, music, comedy, and poetry), making it one of the premier South Asian performing artists' festivals in New York.

Tamasha takes place September 26th through October 2nd, 2016 at The Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, NY, NY 10003).

Festival highlights include dancer Swarali Karulkar from So You Think You Can Dance - India; the 2016 New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award Solo Performance winner, Honour: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan by Dipti Meta; and a new musical celebrating traditional Indian music, The Music in My Blood by Hypokrit Theatre Company's co-artistic director Shubhra Prakash.

Tamasha is a Persian word, meaning "to walk together," which traveled to Maharashtra and Deccan through the Mughal dynasty. The word then evolved as the name for a popular folk theatre form, which melded dance, poetry, music, comedy and theatre, and drew from Hindu and Muslim culture. In contemporary Hindi, Tamasha means a grand show or performance, a fun-filled play, or simply entertainment.

Groups and individual artists participating in this year's festival include:

Tamasha Theatre:

Always Love Lucy Theatre (Tennessee Williams' Outcry), Mayadevi Ross (Hiding Kayne), Dipti Meta (Honour: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan), Hypokrit Theatre Company (How to Succeed as an Ethnically Ambiguous Actor, and Eh Dah?: Questions for My Father), Shubhra Prakash (The Music in My Blood), Nalini Rau (Intelligence and Self Transformation), SAPAN Institute (FORCES), Susheel Ratan (Two Texts in Solitude), Ginou Lilavois (Story Time), South Asian Women's Creative Collective (Yoni Ki Raat), Rohan Bhargava/Rovaco Dance Company (3-2-1), and Jacqueline Pereda (TheJacqueline Pereda Sketch Show).

Tamasha Dance:

Swarali Karulkar, Manhattan Andaaz (Traditional South Asian Dances - Kathak, Bharatnatyam - and their evolution over time), Dance Drama Dramatic (Awakening and Sur), Junoon Performing Arts (3 lives, An epic Love triangle, An Impossible ending - Judai), Bollywood Funk NYC (Bollywood Dance), UDAVIS Performing Arts Company (Anu Sahasrabudhe), and Shivani Badgi (Suffocation).

Tamasha Music: Xiomara Rolon (Celebration of life), Radha Thomas (Indo-Jazz Fusion Music), Sumona Roy, Rhythm Tolee (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), Aya Aziz, Manas, and Eventually Epic.

Tamasha Comedy: Ratnesh Rai, Jerry Matthews, Tushar Singh, Anisha Dadia, and Gibran Saleem.

Tamasha Poetry: Briana Mathew.

Individual tickets range from $15-25. Festival passes are available for $50. For more information visit www.tamashanyc.org

About Tamasha: Festival of South Asian Performing Arts:

Is the annual celebration of the diverse perspectives, ideas, and imaginations of artists from the South Asian subcontinent and/or who belong to the South Asian diaspora. Tamasha was created by Arpita Mukherjee, Shubhra Prakash (both former chairs of the South Asian International Performing Arts Festival), and Nikita Chaudhry to provide opportunities for up-and-coming artists of South Asian origin to connect and collaborate. Tamasha's mission is to create a platform for up-and-coming South Asian artists and professionals involved in all aspects of performing arts (creative and technical); Encourage cultural exchange and dialogue; Showcase a plethora of works from the South Asian subcontinent as well as the South Asian diaspora; Provide mentorship, marketing know-how and financial support to artists; Move the conversation forward on diversity and inclusion in the performing arts. www.tamashanyc.org

About Hypokrit Theatre Company:

Congressional Award Honoree Hypokrit Theatre Company's mission is to encourage artistic inquiry by providing artists from minority communities a platform to showcase their talents while assisting them in marketing their work. The company's inaugural production Romeo and Juliet celebrated a sold-out run and in 2015, the company started the first and only South Asian performing arts festival in Manhattan. Hypokrit Theatre Company has also been involved in readings for the Broadway-bound Monsoon Wedding. www.hypokritnyc.org