Samyuktha Viswanathan
Performance Studies Alum Samyuktha Viswanathan (M.A. '18) performed in the play Broken Dolls as a part of the She's a Brick House festival at Zeiders American Dream Theater in March 2021. The inaugural She's a Brick House festival was presented during women's history month this year and is a Performing Arts Celebration of Stories about and by Women.
"Earlier this year, when the pandemic had forced us to stay inside and artists began to look for new ways to put themselves and their stories out into the world, we decided to be part of this new age of 'virtual plays'. After all, performance is constantly evolving. A logistical challenge considering the cast and crew were distributed across the world; various parts of the USA, one in Vietnam and one in India, but not a challenge that we were glad to embrace. The message of 'Broken Dolls' was too important to be left to uncertainty. Directed by June Prager of Mirage Theatre Company, Broken Dolls tells the fictional stories of women - both international and domestic - who have been trafficked for sex work, domestic labor, hotel work, and agricultural work. Taking place in a waiting room at a social service facility, the play revolves around five female survivors of human trafficking who cross paths. The stories created were based on real research. In March of 2021, a pre-recorded virtual presentation of the play was co-produced with Zeiders American Dream Theater as part of its "She's a Brick House" series for Women's History Month. The featured actors, Stephanie Chloe, Yanzi Ding, Ashley Taylor Greaves, Vilma Hodo, and Samyuktha Viswanathan were invited back from the workshop and NYC staged readings from 2019. It was presented as part of 'She’s a Brick House' by Zeiders American Dream Theater. - a full month of FREE performing arts offerings & panel discussions celebrating art & stories by and about women. After many rehearsals, a few recordings and a good amount of post-production, Broken Dolls was completed and presented followed by a panel discussion. It received positive feedback and left the audience with the hard-hitting message through the stories we spoke of. We hope this play will have a full production on stage at some point in the future."
Samyuktha Viswanathan is an alumnus of the MA Performance Studies (Class of 2018). She has since worked in plays and readings in and around New York. Displaced due to the pandemic, she is currently in India and has worked in feature films, short films and her own written work. She is an actor, poet and dancer. Samyuktha uses performance art pieces imbibing her poetry in the hope of helping bring about change that is necessary and urgent. She uses her artistry and expression especially for causes such as mental health awareness, child abuse and sexual trauma healing.