Baruch Performing Arts Center to Present A Work-in-Process Presentation Of SIACHEN

Baruch Performing Arts Center will present a work-in-process presentation of Siachen from April 30-May 2, 2020 at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues), NYC. Tickets are $11-$26 and can be purchased online at https://ci.ovationtix.com/1091/production/1014637.

Stranded at a post between India and Pakistan, three Indian soldiers wait for a chopper extraction to rescue them that shows no sign of arriving. This play by 27-year-old Aditya Rawal from Mumbai (winner New York Innovative Theatre Award for The Queen) is set on the highest battleground on Earth. The Siachen Glacier, located in a disputed territory of Kashmir, has been the subject of a 35-year military conflict. While setting out to write an anti-war play criticizing the governments for their inability to broker a truce, after spending two weeks at the base camp, Rawal found the truth more complicated.

This play-in-development, directed by Gwynn MacDonald ("Intelligent, absorbing... a quiet but forceful call for art to alert itself to the impact of politics." - The New York Times) explores the mistrust that lies at the root of human conflict. The cast of Siachen includes Vandit Bhatt, Gopal Divan, Bhavesh Patel, and Levin Valayil. Sound design is by Chetan Davdra.

About the Artists

Aditya Rawal (playwright) is a writer and actor from Mumbai, India. After completing the Initiation Course in Devised Theatre and Performance at the London International School of Performing Arts in 2014, he went on to graduate from the Dramatic Writing MFA Program at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. His play, The Queen, was performed in New York City in 2016 and received the Best Original Script prize at the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. It will premier in Mumbai in early 2020. Aditya co-wrote the screenplay of the Hindi feature film, Panipat, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, whose film, Lagaan, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002. Multiple short films written by Aditya have been screened at festivals around the world. Also an accomplished actor, Aditya played the lead role in the Hindi feature film titled Bamfaad, which is slated for release early next year.

Gwynn MacDonald (director) has directed or produced theater, television, film and radio. Her work in television (USA Networks, MTV networks, Showtime, AMC, CBS) has received both Cable Ace and Emmy Nominations; her work in radio, the Gracie Allen Award given by AWRT. She's produced for acclaimed interactive video artist Grahame Weinbren and developed film and theater projects with novelist Gloria Naylor, as well as a children's television series for Nickelodeon. Gwynn was the assistant director for the Broadway production (and national tours) of Twelve Angry Men. She is known for her work on 17th & 18th century female playwrights, contemporary Eastern European playwrights and developing new plays some of which she's directed internationally (Colombia, Cuba).Upcoming projects include a theater event marking 50 years of coeducation at Princeton, and the short film "Girl #2" by Bekah Brunstetter based on her play which Gwynn directed for Theater Breaking Through Barriers. Additional: Drama League Directors Project; Columbia University's Arts Leadership Institute; DeGrummond Fellowship. Member: SDC; Shakespeare Society; Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab; League of Professional Theatre Women; Disability Arts NYC cohort19 advocating policy to promote Disability Arts and obstacle-free equity, diversity and inclusion. Gwynn is a mentor for Dramatists Guild Institute and studied film / theater at Princeton.

Vandit Bhatt (actor) New York: Indian Ink (Roundabout Theater Company), Harper Regan (Atlantic Theater Company), Skin, Asking For Trouble, The Unusual Life of Bed Bugs and other creatures (all at The Ensemble Studio Theater), The Great Recession (The Flea Theater), Bike America (Ma-Yi Theater Company), Romeo and Juliet (Theater 2020), The Merchant of Venice(Inwood Shakespeare Festival). Regional (select): Indian Ink and The Hard Problem (both at the American Conservatory Theater), Disgraced (Denver Center for The Performing Arts and Arizona Theater Company), Animals Out of Paper (Chester Theater Company). TV: New Amsterdam, God Friended Me, Quantico, Madame Secretary, Seven Seconds, The Michael J Fox Show, Younger, Mercy, One Life To Live. Film (select): Ripped, 42 Seconds of Happiness, The Rainbow Experiment. Upcoming: Paris in Harlem. Training: University of Central Florida. Website: www.vanditbhatt.com

Born in Hong Kong, Gopal Divan (actor) began his classical training with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and subsequently at the prestigious Drama Centre, London. He has played on stage internationally and nationally at various theaters including The Public Theater, American Airlines, Soho Playhouse & more. He will be recurring on a new Apple+ series produced by JJ Abrams and Sara Bareilles next year and has previously been seen on HBO's "Divorce" as well as a diverse range of leading roles in indies with up and coming directors.

Bhavesh Patel (actor) was most recently seen in NY on Broadway as Mo in The Nap at MTC and Roland Maule in Present Laughter opposite Kevin Klein. Lincoln Center Theater: War Horse, Hayden's Seven Last Words; New York Theater: The Public, Second Stage, Roundabout, Continuum Company, CSC, New York Shakespeare Society, Red Bull, NYTW; Regional: Westport Country

Playhouse, Shakespeare Company, The Guthrie, St. Louis Rep, The Alliance, Pittsburgh Public, Merrimack Rep, Chautauqua Theater Company, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Company, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and The O'Neill Theater Institute; TV: New Amsterdam, Little America, Bull, The Blacklist, Instinct, The Code, Jon Glazer Loves Gear, Madame Secretary, Mysteries of Laura, The Good Wife, Elementary, Hostages, Blue Bloods, Person of Interest; Film: The Sound of Silence, Gold, Wilding, Two Days in NY, James White, Maiden Heist, The Weekend, You Should Have the Body; Education: Shakespeare Certificate from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - London, and MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

Levin Valayil (actor) is from Sugar Land, TX and is now based out of New York City. He is fresh off of playing Mowgli in Jungle Book in Canada, around the U.S., Asolo Rep. and Pasadena Playhouse. He also recently originated the role of Gobind in the new musical Bhagin It with the La Jolla Playhouse, Dharun Ravi in the new musical Poster Boy with The Public Theater and the Williamstown Theater Festival and the role of Lottery in the new musical Monsoon Wedding at Berkeley Repertory Theater. In addition, Levin played Man 1/Monty in Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at Florida Studio Theater. Levin has also played Bob in the musical The Fabulous Lipitones at the New Theatre, Virginia Repertory Theater, and The Florida Studio Theater. Film credits include the short film Thoughtless. He has trained at the Steppenwolf Theater School, Boston Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music.

Chetan Davdra (sound design), AKA Chetz D of Chetz D Productions, is originally from the UK, Chetz D is an ensemble keyboard player, composer and producer. He has been playing Keyboard and Piano for over 15 years, worked with renowned artist from UK, India, US, and Canada. He has scored music for theatre, documentaries, narrative film, and has composed and produced singles and albums for artists from both sides of the Atlantic. Chetz D released his debut single in 2019 with renowned Bollywood playback singer Gajendra Verma on T-Series Panjab. Although having a deep passion for and roots in music from the subcontinent, Chetz D's style of music is cross genre from East to West, classical to commercial, with a focus on creating his own sounds and fusions. Now based in Jersey City Chetz D is part of the award-winning band Rhythm Tolee, which performs a wide variety of songs admixing Indian Folk and Sufi music with western sounds/music.

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