A Nice Indian Boy

Surasree Das (u/s Megha, Arundhathi) is ecstatic to be making her debut at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. EStP: Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Midsummer (Hermia), Strand: Little Women (Jo) [2020 BITRSister nomination for best actor and award for best ensemble] Smithsonian: Seasons of Light, Free Range Humans: Jekyll/Hyde(Nellie), Imagination Stage: Hungry Caterpillar (u/s all, performed), Aquarium (Calypso u/s, performed), Princess and the Pauper (Zoya u/s, performed); BAPAC/The Tank NYC: TornKid (TornKid) [2020 BITRSister award best devised]  MET: Radium Girls (Katherine, others) Top Girls (Nijo, Shona), Click, Clack, Moo! (Hen), Cinderella (Fairy Godmother) Center Stage: Animal Farm (featured ensemble); Single Carrot: Lear (Goneril), Constellation: Arabian Nights (Dunyazade, others), Toby's: South Pacific (Liat) Other Awards: Campus Movie Fest Award: Best Performance 2017 CSM Best Actor of the year: 2015 Instagram: drag0n_mistress Tiktok: Drag0nmistress

Noah Israel (Keshav) is absolutely kvelling to be making his debut at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. DC AREA: Rep Stage: The Glass Menagerie, The 39 Steps, Sweeney Todd; Keegan Theatre: Legally Blonde; Imagination Stage: Aquarium. REGIONAL: La Jolla Playhouse: To The Yellow House; The Phoenix Theatre Company: Bandstand; Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre: Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast, Oklahoma; Busch Gardens Williamsburg: Scrooge No More. MFA from UC San Diego. @noahcisrael

Jessica Jain (Arundhathi) Favorite Credits include: Blue Bloods, Pitch Perfect, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, The Lunchbox, The Who and The What, For Steve Wozniak on His 67th Birthday, The Last Word, The Metal Children, Pride and Prejudice, and Godspell. Proud graduate of the Louisiana State M.F.A. acting program. Great lover of her dog Clifford (and all dogs), Eddie, Charles, Tom, and The Jains

Abhimanyu Katyal (Archit) is delighted to be making his OLNEY THEATRE CENTER debut. REGIONAL: Fulton Theatre: Disgraced (Amir) [2016/17 Robbie Award Best Actor in a Play]. SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Masquers Playhouse: Expecting Isabel (Nick Saraceni), Lady Windermere's Fan (Lord Windermere); Half Moon Bay Shakespeare Festival: Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio); San Francisco Free Civic Theatre: School for Scandal (Charles Surface), The Lady's Not For Burning (Richard), All's Well That Ends Well (Bertram). FILM: Music, Ladybird. TV: New Girl, How to Get Away with Murder, Saturday Morning All Star Hits, Fresh Off The Boat, Castle. EDUCATION: A.B., Stanford University. Instagram: @abhimanyukatyal

Carol Mazhuvancheril (Naveen) he/him- is thrilled to make his OLNEY THEATRE CENTER debut! BROADWAY: The Inheritance, The Barrymore. OFF-BROADWAY: To My Girls, Second Stage. NYC: Song of Joy, a self-authored solo show at The Tank. REGIONAL: Kate Hamill’s Pride & Prejudice, Virginia Theatre Festival. FILM: Last Laugh by Paul Lewis Anderson.TELEVISION: Russian Doll (Netflix), FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), The Last O.G.(TBS), The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO). EDUCATION: MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College. Instagram: @carolmazzz

Lynette Rathnam (Megha) Lynette is thrilled to be making her OLNEY THEATRE CENTER debut! Previous projects include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival: It’s Christmas, Carol!; Mosaic Theater Company: Bars and Measures, Shame 2.0, When January Feels Like Summer; Washington Stage Guild: Memoirs of a Forgotten Man; 1st Stage: The Phlebotomist; Kennedy Center: A Wind in the Door, Kid Prince and Pablo, Mockingbird, The Wings of Ikarus Jackson; Signature Theatre: 4,380 Nights; Ford’s Theatre: Death of A Salesman; Arena Stage: Our War; Rep Stage: The Fantasticks; Taffety Punk: The Trojan Women; Constellation Theatre Company: The Fire and The Rain; Rorschach Theatre: Glassheart; Virginia Shakespeare Festival: Illyria, Julius Caesar.

Shaan Sharma (u/s: Naveen, Archit) is thrilled to be working with OLNEY THEATRE CENTER for the first time. Previous credits include: NATIONAL TOUR: Barter Theatre: Great Expectations (Pip), The Giver (Father), The Call of the Wild (Thornton, Perrault, etc.); Nebraska Shakespeare: Othello (Lodovico, Duke of Venice); Virginia Rep on Tour: Hugs & Kisses (Jacob) REGIONAL: Barter Theatre: Sally McCoy (Johnse Hatfield), The Tempest (Caliban), The Neverending Story (Bastian); Theatre at Monmouth: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lysander, Quince, etc.); Nebraska Shakespeare: Hamlet (Guildenstern); Birmingham Children’s Theatre Bunnicula (Harold). EDUCATION: BS in Physics, Theatre from The College of William & Mary.

Taylor Witt (u/s Keshav) is a D.C. based actor happy to be working with OLNEY THEATRE CENTER for the first time. Credits include The Keegan Theatre: Shakespeare in Love, An Irish Carol. NextStop Theatre Co: First Date. Signature Theatre: The Upstairs Department. Studio Theatre: Admissions. Virginia Repertory Theatre: Tuck Everlasting. Toby’s: Newsies (Helen Hayes Nomination, Supporting Actor), The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Ghost. Imagination Stage: Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, New Kid. Adventure Theatre MTC: Make Way for Ducklings. Education: BM, George Mason University.

Madhuri Shekar is a playwright and screenwriter of the 2020 Amazon/Blumhouse feature Evil Eye produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and starring Sarita Choudhury, based on her Audible original audio drama. She is currently writing the screenplay for Sister Act 3, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Tyler Perry, and directed by Tim Federle. Her TV credits include the upcoming series adaptation of Three Body Problem for Netflix, executive produced by Benioff and Weiss, Alex Woo, and Rian Johnson, and the HBO fantasy epic The Nevers. She is writing a new epic drama pilot for Hulu, ABC Studios and Nisha Ganatra. Her play A Nice Indian Boy is also being adapted into a film by Levantine Films.

She received her MFA from USC and graduated from the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard. Her play House Of Joy first premiered at California Shakespeare Theatre in 2019, and will have its next production at St. Louis Rep. Her other plays include Queen (2019 New York Innovative Theatre Awards, Outstanding Original Full Length Script; Edgerton New Play Award), In Love and Warcraft (Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award), A Nice Indian Boy, Antigone: Presented By The Girls Of St. Catherine’s and the TYA play Bucket Of Blessings (Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Original Work – TYA).

Zi Alikhan (Director) is a queer, first-generation South Asian-American, culturally Muslim theater director. DIRECTING: Sanctuary City (Pasadena Playhouse, LA Times 'Best of 2022'), On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages), Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage Company), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), Manik Choksi’s The Ramayan (currently in development at Ars Nova), Ragtime (Playmakers Repertory Company). UPCOMING: RENT at Paper Mill Playhouse. Zi was named one of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color in 2021.

Emma Deane (Lighting Designer) is a NYC based Indigenous lighting designer, and a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Credits include OFF-BROADWAY: Confederates (Signature Theatre), In the Southern Breeze (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). REGIONAL: Three Sisters (Two River Theater); BAKKHAI (Baltimore Center Stage); Queen of Basel (TheatreWorks Hartford); Jane Eyre (Geva Theatre Center); Manahatta (Yale Repertory Theater) and associate design on Dreaming Zenzile (NYTW, St. Louis Rep). Other credits include work with Lincoln Center Theater, Yale School of Drama, Yale Cabaret, The Fisher Center at Bard, Court Theatre, The Goodman, Albany Park Theater Project, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. EDUCATION: MFA - Yale School of Drama.

Kenny Neal (Sound Designer) is a Helen Hayes Award recipient (The Royale at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER/1st Stage) and seven-time nominated sound designer, composer and arranger. DC AREA: Olney Theatre Center (Dance Nation, The Royale, Oil); Studio Theatre (English, Straight White Men, Jumpers for Goalposts, Choir Boy); The Kennedy Center (She a Gem, Digging Up Dessa); Signature Theatre (The Upstairs Department, Daphne’s Dive, Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes, Heisenberg, John, The Gulf); Prologue Theatre (Recent Tragic Events); Constellation Theatre Company (The Master and Margarita); Theater Alliance (Klytemnestra); 1st Stage (Airness, columbinus, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Well, Floyd Collins, Old Wicked Songs, Bat Boy); Factory 449 (Agnes of God); Taffety Punk (Pramkicker, Mom Baby God); as well as production for NextStop Theatre, WSC Avant Bard, The Welders, Rorschach Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Adventure Theatre MTC.

Frank J Oliva (Scenic Designer) is Cuban-American Stage Designer. OLNEY THEATRE CENTER Debut. Recent work with Weston Playhouse, Geva Theatre, Two River Theatre, The Shed, Ars Nova, Cherry Lane Theatre, Miami New Drama, Kitchen Theatre and The Cincinnati Symphony. Associate Designer on the recent Broadway productions of The Collaboration, Hangmen, Oklahoma!, and West Side Story. Frank received Silver Palm and Innovative Theatre Awards, as well as nominations for Carbonell and Audelco Awards. His work was exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial in 2019, and he won the Opera America Director/Designer Prize in 2022. Member of Wingspace and United Scenic Artists. Proud graduate of New York University. Instagram/Facebook/TikTok/LinkedIn: @frankjoliva

Danielle Preston (Costume Designer) is a costume designer based in Washington DC. Her theater credits include The Joy That Carries You at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. Off-Broadway credits include Where Words Once Were at the Lincoln Center. Recent regional credits include Locomotion at Children’s Theater Company, Clyde’s at Studio Theatre, Schoolgirls; Or The African Mean Girls Play and The Realness at the Hangar Theatre, Quamino’s Map at Chicago Opera Theater, and B.R.O.K.E.N. Code B.I.R.D. Switching at Berkshire Theatre Group, The Till Trilogy and Private at Mosaic Theater Company. Preston received the 2023 Opera America Tobin Director/Designer Prize. She holds an M.F.A. in Costume Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. daniellepreston.com @danielleprestondesign

Ambika Raina (Associate Director/Choreographer) is a choreographer and performer based in Lenape territory / New York City working in theater and concert dance, and excited to be here at OLNEY THEATRE CENTER. She choreographed The Jury (NYC), and assisted Camille A. Brown on the revival of For Colored Girls (Off-Broadway). Ambika’s stage works have been presented by NYU Skirball, The Chocolate Factory, Issue Project Room, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Center for Performance Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, and more. BFA Dance, University of Michigan.

Mallory Shear (Intimacy Choreographer) Previous OLNEY THEATRE CENTER credits: Dance Nation.  Some credits include: DC AREA: Keegan Theatre: Shakespeare In Love (Intimacy Choreographer); Arena Stage: Seven Guitars (Asst. Fight Choreographer), Jubilee (Asst. Fight Choreographer);  We Happy Few: La Llorona (Upcoming: Fight & Intimacy Choreographer); CSC: 12th Night (Upcoming: Asst. Fight & Intimacy Choreographer); St. Mary’s College: Head Over Heels (Fight & Intimacy Choreographer), The Lost Girl (Fight & Intimacy Choreographer), Macbeth (Fight & Intimacy Choreographer).  TEACHING:  Signature Theatre; Shakespeare Theatre Company; Camp Arena Stage, Levine Music; Landon School. Mallory is a proud Associate Member of SDC.

Hope Villanueva (Production Stage Manager) Based in the Washington, DC area, Hope’s credits include PSM on The Day You Begin (Kennedy Center), Little Shop of Horrors (Idaho Shakespeare), WILD: A Musical Becoming (A.R.T., dir. Diane Paulus, feat. Idina Menzel, Javier Muñoz), The Rock of Ages All-Star Reunion Concert (streamed) and Rock of Ages Hollywood (Kristin Hanggi, original Broadway director), BLKS, directed by Nataki Garrett (Woolly Mammoth Theatre), Hand to God, Choir Boy, and The Big Meal (Studio Theatre), Singles in Agriculture (Bristol Riverside Theatre), Private, Marie and Rosetta, The Vagrant Trilogy, Paper Dolls, Queens Girl in Africa, Milk Like Sugar, and The Gospel of Lovingkindness (Mosaic), A House of Glass (Arena Stage), Awake and Sing and Our Town (OLNEY THEATRE CENTER), Escape from Peligro Island (Imagination Stage), Endgame (Baltimore CenterStage), as well as PSM on the National Tours of Rock of Ages (National and International), My Fair Lady and Young Frankenstein. NYC credits include Who’s Your Baghdaddy (Off-Broadway) and Once Upon a Pastime (WPPAC). She was previously Resident and Touring Stage Manager for Honolulu Theatre for Youth and Associate Production Manager on Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey’s Bellobration. Hope is also a playwright whose work has been seen at the Women’s Voices Festival, Kitchen Dog Theatre, The Wayward Artist, Rapid Lemon Productions, Nu Sass Productions, Ally Theatre Company, The Black and Latino Playwrights’ Conference, and at NextStop Theatre Company, among others. She was a 2020 O’Neill Conference Finalist for her play The QoL Mandate and holds a BA in playwriting from UC Santa Barbara. Hope is the current Literary Manager for Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY (artistic director, Scott Schwartz) and is working on a second master’s degree in writing for stage and screen at Lesley University.