BOSTON–The fourth South Asian American Theater (SAATh) Festival took place November 21–23 at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, Massachusetts. Organized by Off-Kendrik, a South Asian theater and storytelling group active in Greater Boston for 18 years, the multilingual festival featured ten plays—five from local groups and five from organizations across the United States. More than 500 people attended the three-day event.
The opening night on November 21 was designated as Women’s Day and included participation from Saheli, Boston, an advocacy organization supporting South Asian and Arab women in New England.
A panel titled “Challenges and Opportunities of Women Artists” highlighted the career paths and experiences of Manjula Padmanavan, Alison Yueming Qu, and Madhu Nene. The panel was followed by “White Linen, Red Dot,” a series of multilingual monologues written and directed by Dipali Trivedi, centered on female figures from mythology to the present. The evening concluded with “Not So Black and White,” a comedy about Gen Z dating directed by Madhu Nene. Proceeds from the night were donated to Saheli.
Saturday’s program, presented in collaboration with the Indian Heritage and Cultural Association of New Jersey, featured four plays. Guntata Hruday He (Marathi), produced by Kalashri, Boston, and directed by Durgesh Vaidya, examined the challenges faced by an aging father preparing to relocate from India to the United States.
Shiv’s Project (English), written and directed by Dan Swern of coLab Arts, NJ, used verbatim theater to depict the life of Shiv Kulkarni. Sukhi Manasacha Sadra (Marathi), written and directed by Rahul Gune, employed the traditional “vagnatya” folk-theater style of Maharashtra in a contemporary satire about a king searching for the happiest person in his kingdom.
The final play of the evening, Gotroheen (Bengali), directed by Rajarshi Bhattacharyya and presented by DFW Play, Dallas, adapted Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge to explore family hierarchy and social dynamics within a Jackson Heights Muslim Bengali family.
On Sunday, four additional plays were performed. Heer (English/Punjabi), written and directed by Sarbpreet Singh, offered a reinterpretation of the fable by Waris Shah. Park (Hindi), directed by Barkha Kishnani and presented by ICS Theatre, NJ, centered on three men disputing over park benches, leading to broader themes of displacement and personal boundaries. Paul o Vincent (Bengali), written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik and presented by ECTA, NJ, depicted the relationship between painters Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
The festival concluded with Dikchihnoheen (Bengali), written and directed by Sankha Bhowmick of Off-Kendrik, a work examining artistic responsibility in the context of political and social conflict.
SAATh presented plays in the native languages of the performers, offering audiences exposure to a range of South Asian cultural and theatrical traditions. Off-Kendrik volunteers organized and managed the festival’s activities, contributing to the smooth execution of the weekend’s program.
