South Asian Theater Festival brings Desi art to NJ stage

For the 19th year running, New Brunswick hosted The South Asian Theater Festival (SATF) on July 13 and 14. The festival featured a wide range of performances, covering topics from refugees and abortion access to classics like "The Sound of Music." 

Over the years, SATF has grown into a celebrated space for South Asian theater lovers in the Garden State. Founder Dipan Ray began his journey with the launch of the Epic Actors Workshop in 1988, which later evolved into SATF. 

SATF has faced numerous challenges over the years but has always stayed afloat thanks to the dedication of its volunteers and artists. During the pandemic, the festival shifted online, streaming performances on Facebook and YouTube. In 2021, they returned to live stage performances.

The event hosted at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center saw nearly every one of the 220 theater seats filled. The opening ceremony celebrated a collaboration with Crossroads Theatre, a theater company focused on African diaspora and American-African artists. It also acknowledged the struggles of second-generation immigrants through a multisensory play called “Melodies of Identity,” which explored the challenges and triumphs of growing up in a South Asian immigrant family in America while confronting racism.

The rest of the day featured a lineup of three English plays and one Hindi play. Among them was "Refugees," penned by Rafaela Sepulveda, a freshman at Churchill Junior High School in East Brunswick and a winner of The Emerging Artists Program of the Indian Cultural Society Theater. Inspired by the true story of Afghan refugee Maeda Hussaini, the play follows Maeda’s dream of becoming an astronaut, which fueled her daring escape to Turkey to get on a refugee boat.

"Na Nahaye Bahadur,” a satire about India’s judicial system, closed the lineup on Saturday with a powerful performance. Presented by the Prayog Theater group, the play also drew inspiration from real events. It told the story of a man who refused to bathe in protest of the water shortage in his village. His wife's frustration led her to file for divorce, a bold move that ultimately pressured village officials and politicians to address the critical water issue.

The next day featured four plays, some of which tackled themes related to bureaucracy and politics. "Shambo," a play by the Tri-state Bengali Cultural Association, explored the journey of a politician's entitled son who embarks on a path of self-discovery, mirroring the life of Hindu deity Krishna. 

Another standout performance was "Didi IAS" by the Epic Actors Workshop themselves, a thought-provoking play about regulating art. 

While the SATF has reached this stage of being full of life, diversity and reputed performances, there is an interesting story behind how the festival reached this point.

From Kolkata to New Brunswick

The foundations of Dipan Ray's love for theater began early in his life in Kolkata, a city renowned for its deep affection for the performing arts. 

"From my childhood, I was involved in theater, and actually I say that this is a kind of addiction, but it's a good addiction to have in life," Ray said.

Although Ray’s passion for theater ran deep, he chose a career in industrial pharmacy to achieve his financial goals. He moved to the US for his education, earning a doctoral degree in industrial pharmacy. He believed he could continue his passion for theater without having to monetize it, but rather amplify it by giving South Asian artists in the U.S. a platform to express themselves. 

In 1988, Ray transitioned from acting to directing by establishing the Epic Actors Workshop, a group dedicated to South Asians with a passion for theater. With a heavy focus on Bengali theater, the Workshop earned acclaim in the early ’90s as a key venue for South Asian talent in New Jersey and New York.

During this period, New York began hosting one of North America’s largest multi-arts events, the New York Fringe Festival, also known as FringeNYC. The festival showcased over 200 theater companies from around the world. In 1997, the Epic Actors Workshop was invited to join the festival. They produced “Ballabhpurer Roopkatha,” a play by one of India’s most celebrated dramatists and theater directors, Badal Sircar. The Workshop continued to participate in FringeNYC each year until it ended in 2019.

Ray noticed the festival’s incredible diversity and realized that theater could transcend languages. He saw that theater’s true power lies in its ability to connect people across cultures. 

“During that celebration, I realized that people are coming from all over the world and are living together like a family. So many diverse communities coming together and flocking together in two weeks, with just theater as a medium,” said Ray.

Inspired by this insight, the Workshop gradually evolved into a community space for South Asians from various regions, including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal.

When Ray moved to New Jersey in 2002, he brought the Epic Actors Workshop with him and set his sights on something bigger. He dreamed of creating a festival like FringeNYC to celebrate the immense talent he had gathered. Despite warnings from colleagues that the idea was too ambitious, Ray founded the South Asian Theater Festival in 2006. 

"My co-actors all told me oh, it's crazy. You won't be able to continue it for more than a few years. But here I am," Ray said.

Collaboration and innovation

Ray felt particularly excited about this year’s festival due to its expanded reach beyond the South Asian community. 

In addition to the collaboration with Crossroads, the festival also featured collaborations with Hispanic directors and included neurodiverse actors in the plays. A standout performance was “Refugees,” a play that highlighted the experiences of children with disabilities. Despite Ray’s initial worries about filling the seats, the play achieved a full house on July 14, while Saturday’s attendance reached 90 percent.

Throughout its history, SATF has enjoyed a range of notable collaborations, from working with The Present Company to Shakespeare Theatre Company and even traveling worldwide, including visits to Kolkata to perform with local theater groups such as Natya Anan. In 2008, Indian theater legend Amol Palekar came to SATF and directed “Pagla Ghora.” 

SATF has consistently worked to broaden the scope of theater beyond English as a standard language for plays. A key innovation they have built over time is a software developed by a SATF technician that provides real-time English subtitles for all performances, from Bangla to Hindi and more, ensuring accessibility for audiences.

Tehsin Pala is the associate editor of Central Desi.

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