Program Students Present NAYIKA at Festival of New American Theatre

Saturday, Mar 20, 2021

Current students Vaibu Mohan & Raiah Rofsky

Current Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program students (left to right): Vaibu Mohan & Raiah Rofsky (both Cycle 31)

Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program current students Vaibu Mohan & Raiah Rofsky (both Cycle 31) presented their song cycle NAYIKA at the Festival of New American Theatre. The song cycle will be presented in collaboration with Arizona State University’s Music Theatre and Opera Departmenton on March 27th and 28th at the Phoenix Theatre Company Courtyard.

With music & lyrics both by Mohan & Rofsky, NAYIKA is a new interpretation of an old story based on the Indian art and dance concept of the Ashtanayikas (Eight Heroines). These female characters have been immortalized through paintings, songs, and dance pieces. But they have always been seen through the eyes of men seeking to package them into eight perfect boxes. No more. Nayika seeks to bring these women into the spotlight and showcase them as who they are: three dimensional characters full of passion, desire, lust, sadness, rage, and everything in between. With an eclectic score that moves from disco to musical theatre to Indian classical with ease, Nayika pays homage to the women who inhabited these stories before us and investigates the many faces of modern femininity.

For more information and tickets, CLICK HERE.