ARTWALLAH is back- Los Angeles, June 24th

ArtWallah 06 is now less than a month away in Los Angeles. SM readers have heard me of this organization and its annual festival before. I appreciate what they do and what they are about so much that I have been wallahnteering to help run the festival for the past three years.

This year I decided to retire and actually cool out to all the artists and just enjoy myself or so I thought. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I m the new CashWallah.

I will leave it to your imaginations what that job entails.
which made it pretty obvious why anyone within a hundred miles of L.A.

(at least) should show up. I hyperlinked to some new musicians, artists, dancers etc. This year the ArtWallah Press Team has saved me the trouble and FULL of interesting hyperlinks to artists many of you have never heard of.

It took me an hour to click through them all and appreciate what I saw. It was an hour well spent.

this year s ArtWallah festival [at the ] will present the works of over 40 artists through dance, film, literature, music, spoken word, theater, and visual arts - showcasing the personal, political, and cultural celebrations and struggles of the South Asian diaspora (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

We ve got a new inductee for the Exotica Hall of Shame. This Chicago Sun-Times review of a new Chicago pop opera called Sita Ram is out to set some kind of density record for exotica-spew on Desilandia (thanks, ):

Adding to the spicy flavor are Scott C. Neale s brilliantly colored street signs of India, Mara Blumenfeld s curry-tinted costumes (many imported from India), Chris Binder s deft lighting, plus shadow puppets and exotic instruments.

There are moments when it feels like you are watching a traveling troupe that has set up shop in the center of an Indian village, and you half expect a cow or water buffalo to wander through. [ ]

I see that is involved in this project. Say no more.

For me, was one of the theater highlights of 2005. It had the sharpest writing and the funniest set of desi and As-Am in-jokes I ve seen in ages: custom-fit culture in a . The proprietors have done well for themselves behind the counter, unveiling a bigger show in a bigger theater this year:

This year s line-up includes a kung-fu hustler, run-away teenagers, convenience store surprise reunions, a futuristic free-for-all for Manhattan, and not one but TWO original pop musicals, one of which leaves you questioning, Who really did kill Mr.

Naidu?

If you re anywhere new New York between March 30 and April 16, you have to see the musical farce, last year s was side-splitting. The show s creative constraint is a gimmick, but it works:
The intense, bald and talented returns from last year s cast.

Looking at the list is like watching a star team shed your favorite players (where have you gone, Joe , and , , ?). You hope the new faces will once again become sentimental favorites.

Featuring the ever-talented cast of Sturgis Adams, Meetu Chilana, Andrew Guilarte, , Stephen Tyrone Williams, John Wu, Alicia Ying

They were completely sold out last year, so .
A new off-Broadway play about a desi student s loss of innocence is running off-Broadway through Feb. 25.

refers, of course, to two iconic characters in American lit (thanks, SD).

Navin s story begins deceptively, as a collegiate, slapstick coming-to-America tale about a young man just arrived from Calcutta, who s as clueless about American literature as he is about sex. But as Navin (Nick Choksi) begins exploring his newfound independence, and his burgeoning feelings for the pretty young librarian Michelle (Cherise Boothe), the story transforms into one of unexpected soul and depth And, of course, there s Kali, fancifully realized here as the embodiment of chaos working to establish order, and dazzlingly portrayed by Nilaja Sun.

Her careful steps, strenuously stylized hand gestures, and ugly-meets-beautiful dance to cover Navin and Torry s fisticuffs make her a hilarious and horrifying joy to watch. [ ]

Navin s introduction to the American way of life is explored almost solely through sex, particularly as embodied in the person of Michelle (Boothe), an African-American library worker who befriends Navin while undergoing a breakup with her tough-guy boyfriend Torry (McClain).