Nautanki Bazaar to Present Virtual Theatre Production STORIES OF A DISH

Toronto based theatre company, Nautanki Bazaar will present its debut virtual theatre production STORIES OF A DISH, as a part of the Next Stage Theatre Festival from January 19-30, 2022.

A global pandemic may have struck, but here is a person who's just stuck! He wants to win the world over with his cooking, but will he be able to? He's got to face isolation, earn acceptance and, most importantly, get groceries delivered. Will he find the secret recipe to happiness? A culinary theatrical journey awaits, in this delightful solo show inspired by the popular Stories of a Dish video series on the company's Instagram and Facebook page.

The play premiered at the first ever 'Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival', as part of their digital series, in August 2021. That same month it was presented at 'The Edinburgh Fringe Festival'. Since then, the show has been performed in-person in London, UK for the 'Little Lion Theatre Festival' and virtually in Mumbai, India for the 'Tata Literature Live Festival' and 'Thespo'.

After their debut play was postponed due to Covid-19 in March 2020, Nautanki Bazaar took the opportunity of the lockdown to showcase their love of food by launching Mustard Tempered Dreams, a YouTube cooking channel, where they share how to make delicious, India and global vegetarian (mostly) recipes that they love to eat and cook! Through the comments and feedback on the channel, they found supporters sharing their own unique stories behind liking their favourite dishes, and the underlying racism they sometimes faced due to their choices, which inspired the idea of the video series where viewers were invited to share and reminisce their favourite dish and what truly made it special for them. The series provided a place for viewers to come and share, in the comfort of a safe and inclusive environment, brought together by a shared interest in food. The series had 44 weekly episodes with stories coming from Canada, India, USA, UK, Bangladesh, Kuwait and Trinidad. All of this inspired the creation of this play!

STORIES OF DISH marks the debut of Himanshu Sitlani and Neha Poudval in Canadian Theatre.

Himanshu Sitlani is a thespian, originally hailing from Mumbai. Since immigrating to Canada, Himanshu's been immersed in supporting the creative arts, working as Patron Services Manager at Factory Theatre, while penning down his ideas towards his goal of creating a bridge between creative artists in Canada and India.

Neha Poduval is a trained actor, with several feathers in her creative hat, having performed in various theatre plays, corporate films and TV shows across India. A post-graduate in Acting from the reputed Film and Television Institute of India, she continued her association with the performing arts since moving to Canada. Neha is also a certified Yoga Teacher and has been teaching Yoga across various studios, community and senior centres in Toronto. She started her own YouTube channel called 'Mustard Tempered Dreams' where she shares her love for food through easy to make, delicious, Indian and global vegetarian (mostly) recipes she loves to eat and cook!

Production Details:

Nautanki Bazaar

In association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

Stories of a Dish

Written and Performed by Himanshu Sitlani

Directed by Neha Poduval

The Digital Series

Opens January 19 - 30, 2022

Online at fringetoronto.com - https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/stories-dish

Tickets and Memberships: www.fringetoronto.com

Box Office: Email - general@fringetoronto.com Phone: 416-966-1062 ext. 0

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