South Asian Theatre Mela- 2023 Date :- 24th and 25th August  Time :- 7:30 pm  Total runtime 2.00 hrs with 15 minutes interval in between Venue :- Riverside Theatre, Parramatta A celebration in South Asian style, transcending cultural and geographical boundaries. Nautanki endeavours to provide a common performing platform, encouraging a cross-cultural exchange and community engagement. Theatre Mela is a homegrown concept of reimagining grassroots South Asian Theatre groups that operate in the community spaces in NSW. This flagship project is conceived and established and developed in Parramatta by Nautanki Theatre in partnership with Riverside Theatre since 2016. Both plays are presented back-to-back each night with a 15-minute interval in between. There will be a Q&A session on Friday. AROMATIC HANDS (KAI MANAM)       A prolific story writer decides to try his hands in writing a cookery book.  He sends through a manuscript to a leading Publishing house.  Though the publishing group is confident that the book will sell due to the popularity of the Author, as a precautionary measure expresses their intention to run it past a leading chef before approving to print.  The chef points out a flaw in one dish. The publishing house suggests having the dish cooked by both the recipes and decides the result.  The Chef sees this as an insult and suggests getting anyone from the streets to cook based on his recipe and get a Master Chef to cook as per the writer’s recipe.  Who are the two people that come to cook the dish, which recipe wins over and why forms the crux of the story. Tickets Writer & Director         NK Srinivasan (Srini) Actors         Akshanth Balasubramanian,          Akash Venkatraman,          Pavan Prasad, Prem Hari,          Avanthika Brahadesh,          Aditi Sriram,          Nethra Srinivasan,          Sriman Nadamuni,          Gayathri Srinivasan Presented by         Sydney Nadaga Priya NARAINI           After the abolition of slavery, the British and other European colonies turned to British-occupied India for bonded labor to replenish labor shortages in the existing and new colonies. They masqueraded this bonded labor as Indian Indenture System, now known as the Girmit system. From 1828 to 1916, approximately 1.2 million young Indian men and women were transported to some 20 colonies for cheap labor and other exploitation. Young Naraini and her husband Krishna were transported from their home in Tamil Nādu, India to the British-annexed Australian colony of Fiji in 1910. A pregnant Naraini refused to submit to the brutalities of the Australian supervisor Bloomfield. What happened to Naraini? How this story signifies the abolition of the bonded labour system. Who paid the price? Tickets Writer & Director         Dr. Satish Rai Story research by         Dr. Satish Rai Actors         Andrew Marriott,          Brinda Pandya,          Chris Pali,          Eswali Nadan,          Ikky Khan,          Joseph Thomas,         Kiranpreet Singh Kohli,          Nitesh Narayan,          Parmeshwor Parajuli,          Rajkumar Ramtuhal, Presented by         Surya Khan

South Asian Theatre Mela- 2022 3rd & 4th November 2022 The South Asian Theatre Mela (SATM) is our signature annual event. We have curated this festival of performing Arts since 2016 and it continues to grow and flourish. SATM is about offering diverse theatre groups a common performing platform to help them showcase talent while encouraging cross-cultural and inter-language exchange.  In 2022, SATM brings you Theatre Mela with the theme of ‘South Asian Women Speak’. Director : Suparna Bobby Mallick and Joytsna Jyoti Venue : Riverside Theatre, Parramatta CHAINS OF FREEDOM This is a story of five women who each have unresolved issues within them. The chains that tie the five of them together somehow lead them to address issues they need to free themselves from. On a night when there is a power outage in their building the five women are forced to address their internal upheaval. While they try to search for their security guard to help restore the electricity, the guard metaphorically helps them find their own light within. YOUR CHOICE This is a story of a narcissistic man Ajay, and his wife Meera. Ajay persuaded Meera to marry him. He has strong patriarchal values along with aggression and insecurities whereas Meera, although educated and talented, is a naïve woman who in fear of social pressures, keeps trying to make her marriage work. Then comes a point when Meera realises that nothing she will do will make Ajay happy because she is not the problem.