Alumni 2018-19

Aaryan Tandon

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  A media and communication student from Manipal University, Aaryan Tandon has been practising theatre for the past 5 years. He has worked as a Director, Assistant Director, Actor, Light Designer, Sound Designer, Writer and Production Manager for 18 stage plays and a dozen street plays.

  He has worked under eminent theatre personalities like Mahesh Dattani, Sunil Shanbag, Atul Kumar and Padma Damodaran. He was a part of the Tughlaq production that opened at the Prithvi Festival and went on to tour Chandigarh and Pune with the theatre group BeTaal.

  He has been a part of a foreign collaboration project within Thespo with Canadian director Kathleen Duborg for a platform performance at Prithvi Theatre. He is seen currently in the new play written and directed by Mahesh Dattani, Snapshots of a Fervid Sunrise in the capacity of a Light Designer and Production Manager. He is also working on Mountain Language that is being curated by Atul Kumar.

  Along with theatre he is keen on exploring his own self as an artist on screen as well.

Abhijeet Singh

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  Abhijeet Singh is an actor and a theatre-maker. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Ramjas college Delhi University.

  As an actor, Abhijeet has worked with prominent theatre companies like Saanjha Sapnaa and LTG repertory in Delhi. Abhijeet also appeared in two short films. He was also seen performing in Betaal’s Tughlaq, Aranya’s Chuhal and Two Soldiers.

  Two soldiers was performed at InQueerable Happenings, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. Abhijeet is currently working with Manav Kaul in his new production Giving up on Godot. He is also working towards pursuing a career on screen.

Anmol Oberoi

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  Anmol Oberoi is an actor and a theatre maker and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. As an actor, Anmol has worked with prominent theatre companies in Chennai like Crea-shakthi, Madras Players and Stage Fright Productions.

  He has travelled and performed in many cities with these productions. Right after graduating from Drama School Mumbai, Anmol worked as an assistant director and production manager under Mahesh Dattani and later went to Pondicherry to work with Indianostrum Théâtre on their latest production, Flying Chariots.

  He was also seen performing in Two Soldiers, a piece which was written and directed by his DSM batch mates. Two soldiers was performed at InQueerables, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. He was a part of Bone of Contention in a Cosmopolitan CHS, written and directed by Faezeh Jalali which premiered at the Prithvi festival 2019.

  He was recently seen performing in ‘ Even Mists have Silver Linings’ a devised play based on LGBTQ+ stigma in our society. which premiered at the G5A in March 2020. Anmol is actively working with theatre groups in Bombay and working on creating work of his own. He is also working towards pursuing a career on screen.

Apeksha Vora

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  Apeksha Vora is a researcher, educator and recently turned theatre maker based in Mumbai. She completed her Masters in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex in 2012. Since then she worked as a researcher with various organisations and movements. For the past 6 years she has worked with Nirantar Trust, a feminist organisation based in New Delhi, on experimenting with feminist research methods, capacity building and advocacy around issues of gender, sexuality and education. During this time, she worked on using Theatre tools as a research method.

  After graduating from DSM, Apeksha has been coordinating a theatre course run by Studio Tamaasha with students from Salaam Bombay Foundation. She performed in Graduation Day, a short piece written by Vikram Phukan. She has also co-written and co-directed Two Soldiers which was performed at InQueerable Happenings, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. She was also involved in organising the show.

  Apeksha is currently working on a facilitators toolkit on using Theatre tools in workshops for NGO community workers. She is interested in applications of theatre in research, education, therapy and community building and working as a facilitator and applied theatre practitioner.

Dhiraj Wadhwani

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  Dhiraj Wadhwani was an eletronics engineer before he quit his job at Price Waterhouse Coopers to pursue a career in theatre. He has been practising theatre for almost 8 years now. After graduating from DSM, Dhiraj acted in a cineplay for Zee5 under the direction of Mahesh Dattani. He also acted in an experimental take on Girish Karnad’s Hayvadan, curated by Atul Kumar. He was part of the Queer Ink’s Short+ Salty Theatre Fest, where he acted in Two Soldiers. He also designed and operated lights for the remaining shows at the festival. He was also a part of ADRAK – a play by NOW Productions, in its recent run. He was part of reading original plays at Tamasha Theatre and adapted Yuki Ellias’ play, Roxy, for staging in Hindi. He also conducted an acting workshop called Improv 101 for beginners in his hometown Indore. He has been managing stage for FATS Thearts. He assisted in light design and execution for Bone of Contention in Cosmopolitan Housing Society and toured with the production. Dhiraj founded Offbeat Circuit, a platform for the arts that has been hosting live sessions, workshops and discussions.

Mallika Shah

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  Mallika Shah is a trained actor and theatre-maker based in Mumbai. After discovering theatre in a stroke of luck at the State University of New York where she was pursuing a degree in Biology, Mallika decided to follow her new found interest in theatre and literature by spending four years studying and taking part in various faculty and student-led productions. She worked at an NGO called Antarang Foundation where she was a communications associate.

  At Antarang, she developed a keen interest and skill in media and design, and eventually joined the Drama School Mumbai. At the Drama School Mumbai, Mallika was enthralled by the culture of the theatre and found an inclination towards theatre-making that she didn’t have before.

  Since graduation, Mallika has worked with various theatre companies in varied areas. With the Bhasha Centre for Performing Arts in Bangalore, Mallika worked in dramaturgy, direction, and production.

  She has operated sound for Patchworks Ensemble’s shows of Shikaar, and has participated in a Bunraku Puppetry workshop conducted by Anurupa Roy. Mallika is currently co-writing plays with her peers and pursuing acting.

Manasvi Sharma

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  Manasvi Sharma has been actively involved in theatre for the past 5 years. He started his theatre journey in Jaipur with Artistic Director of People Media Theatre; Ashok Rahi and continues it in Mumbai with theatre-maker and clowning practitioner, Rupesh Tillu. After moving to Mumbai, Manasvi toured as a performing clown. He manages production for Clowns Without Borders, Sweden and Rednose Entertainment, Mumbai. With Rednose, Manasvi has acted and handled production for plays like Madbeth, Panchtantra and The Lover. After graduating from DSM, he did an internship with Abhishek Majumdar at the Bhasha Centre in Banglore. He worked as a student trainer with Tamasha Theatre under Sunil Shanbag for a collaboration with the Salaam Bombay Foundation. Manasvi had acted in Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, directed by Abhinav Grover and Sharmishtha Saha’s Shakespeare adaptation Romeo Ravidas Juliet Devi. Most recently, he has been working with Lakshika Pandey on an adaptation of Vijaydan Detha’s short stories. He is also recording a collection of his own poems and songs while working as a voice-over artist.

Mati Rajput

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  Mati Rajput is a theatre maker, an actor and a designer who is finding her voice in the field of theatre. She has been working for the theatre since the past 6 years.

  She began her journey with Amygo Productions’ ‘The EQ’ where she worked as an actor and a production assistant. At a very young age she bagged IPTA’s Balraj Sahni Award for Outstanding Performance in 2015-16 and 2016-17 for Saavar and Khar-Khar.

  Mati’s knack for design began at Thespo – A youth theatre movement where she worked from 2014-18. She was the festival manager of Thespo 19. After graduating from Drama School Mumbai, she went on to work with Indianostrum Theatre in Pondicherry. She has acted in their new productions Flying Chariot(s) and Chandala Impure.

  She has returned to Mumbai after touring in Belgium, France and Tunisia with Indianostrum’s Chandala Impure. While touring in Europe, she received and opportunity to attend a couple of workshop. ‘Answers to Reality’ conducted by Armel Roussel a renowned Belgian theatre director and ‘Teru koothu workshop’ conducted by Purusai Sambandan master in Paris. After coming back to India, she attended ‘Ecole Nomade’ – a theatre workshop conducted by Ariane Mnouchkine and the actors of Theatre Du Soleil in Pondicherry.

  Mati is now creating a new play along with her peers.

Nihir Jain

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  Nihir Jain is an actor and a theatre maker. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Insurance. As an actor, Nihir has worked with prominent theatre directors like Sunil Shanbag, Mahesh Dattani Nadir Khan and Arghya Lahiri. He has also done a couple of short films and a music video with Eros that was directed by Krishika Lulla.

  Right after graduating from DSM, Nihir worked as a production intern on an Aadyam produced play called ‘A Few Good Men’ directed by Nadir Khan. He was also seen performing in Two Soldiers, a piece which was written and directed by his DSM batch mates. Two soldiers was performed at InQueerable Happenings, a queer theatre fest organized by Queer Ink. He is currently working on theatre group Betaal’s new production ‘Tughlaq’ that will be opening at the Prithvi Festival on the 10th of November. Apart from this, Nihir has worked as an Assistant Director on an unreleased feature film directed by Shashilal Nair. He has worked as a Casting Assistant at a casting company called F The Couch and was one of the finalists of the Bombay Times Fresh Face 2017.

  Other than being an actor, Nihir is also a trained dancer and a martial artist. He is now actively working on creating work of his own. He is also working towards pursuing a career in modelling and on screen.

Nikita Kumar

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  Nikita Kumar is an actor and a theatre maker. She also holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from JNU.
  As an actor, Nikita, has worked with prominent theatre personalities like Sunil Shanbag, Arvind Gaur, and Shilpi Marwaha.

  Right after graduating from DSM, Nikita worked in the funds team of The Aagaaz Theatre Trust in Delhi.

  Nikita is now actively working with theatre groups in Bombay and is also working on creating work of her own. She is also working towards pursuing a career on screen.

Nitya Mathur

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  Nitya’s journey with theatre started in school and continued into her college days. While pursuing her Bachelor’s degree from Sophia College, Mumbai, she was an active part of the theatre association, Sophia College English Dramatics Association (SCEDA), and even headed the society for one year.

  She’s been a part of multiple fringe performances for Thespo – a youth theatre festival, and has worked with companies like QTP and The Company Theatre as an actor. Post her graduation, she spent a year studying theatre at The Drama School, Mumbai (DSM), as part of the PG Diploma Course in Acting and Theatre-Making, batch 2018-19.

  She has acted in ‘Bone of Contention Housing CHS’ by FATStheArts (Faezeh Jalali) which opened at the Prithvi Festival. She is pursuing projects for screen.

Sanket Aggarwal

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  Sanket is an actor-theatremaker. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Delhi.

  As an actor, Sanket did street and stage plays with his college’s theatre society, taking part in around 300+ street and 50+ stage performances spanning over 3 years.

  After graduating from Delhi University, he did television commercials for Ceat Tyres, along with a number of online advertisements for HP, Manforce, Brandfactory and Flipkart.

  Post DSM, he directed an adaptation of Woody Allen’s play ‘God’ and is working with Abhinav Grover in his play ‘Tughlaq’ which is to be performed at the Prithvi Theatre Festival.

  Sanket is now pursuing his acting career on screen as well as theatre in Mumbai.

Shimli Basu

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  Shimli Basu is an actor-singer who hails from Kolkata but is based out of Mumbai currently.

  Prior to DSM, she has been part of 12 plays and 3 student films. Currently, she is part of 3 running productions and is also involved as a Voice and Acting Trainer for school annual productions.

  Apart from exploring herself as an actor-singer-theatremaker, Shimli wishes to be a performance conservationist.

Shubham Chaudhary

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  Shubham Chaudhary has appeared in over 15 theatre productions in Delhi and Mumbai. He was part of Drama School Mumbai’s Rakth Kalyaan directed by Sunil Shanbag, Snapshots of a fervid sunrise directed by Mahesh Dattani.

  Shubham has worked in the Delhi University theatre circuit for 3 years. Also trained professionally in Chhau and Thangta, he has a keen intrest in martial arts. As an actor and director his work has been recognised by eminent professionals of the Delhi theatre circuit. Shubham studied Acting and Theatre making at Drama School Mumbai. A native of Ranikhet in Uttarakhand, Shubham now lives in Mumbai.

  After graduating from Drama School Mumbai he trained in Thangta in Manipur (Imphal) at the Huyen Kaling Thangta Association. He worked with Faezeh Jalali as a production incharge.

  His on-screen work is under development.

Vrinda Kacker

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  Vrinda Kacker is an actor and theatre maker from Delhi. She graduated from Delhi University with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature in 2018. She then completed PG Diploma course in Acting and Theatre Making from the Drama School Mumbai. Presently she works as an actor, designer, production assistant and assistant director in Mumbai.

  She has been working as a part of the production team with Akvarious Productions on their newly premiered project The Kite Runner for Aadyam’s 5th Season. She has also been performing with Dur Se Brothers in their production “Hello Farmaaish” at the Hindu Festival in Chennai and Hyderabad and also in Bangalore. She is currently performing with Patchworks Ensemble and is simultaneously working on a project as an assistant director for a project at Serendipity.

  Apart from making theatre and acting, Vrinda is professionally trained in Kathak from Kathak Kendra, New Delhi and often travels for the same with a troupe based in Delhi. She has also received professional training in ballet, jazz and modern dance.