Sep 3, 2007 ... Good Girls Don't , But Indian Girls Do written and performed by Vijai Nathan.
Performances: September 28 & 29 at 8:00 PM and September 30 ...
PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release
September 3, 2007
Contact: Lesley Greene, Kitchen Counter Culture Producer, 607.272-0403;
[email protected]
KITCHEN COUNTER CULTURE 2007-08
September 28-30, 2007
Good Girls Don’t , But Indian Girls Do written and performed by Vijai Nathan Performances: September 28 & 29 at 8:00 PM and September 30 at 4:00 PM (see calendar page 2) Tickets: $14-$16 (senior, student, and subscription discounts available) and may be purchased in person at the Ticket Center located in the Historic Clinton House, Downtown Ithaca near the Commons, 116 N. Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY (corner Cayuga and Seneca Streets), by calling (607) 273-4497 or online at www.kitchentheatre.org Photos available upon request. Artist available for interview. The Kitchen Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Kitchen Counter Culture Series sponsors New York State Council on the Arts, Foster Custom Kitchens and CSP Management and hospitality sponsor Hilton Garden Inn. This funding helps the Kitchen bring bold, intimate and engaging theater to life.
2007-08 Kitchen Counter Culture series begins with a laugh Kitchen Theatre welcomes Indian-American comedienne Vijai Nathan ITHACA, NY: The Kitchen Theatre Company’s KITCHEN COUNTER CULTURE series, featuring cutting-edge, outside-the-box work by guest artists from around the country, begins this month with a very funny show. Vijai Nathan will perform Good Girls Don’t, But Indian Girls Do for three performances only: September 28, 29, and 30. All performances will be followed by a talkback with the artist. In 1997, Vijai Nathan mortified her traditional Indian parents by giving up a career in journalism, canceling her wedding, and becoming a stand-up comedian- and she hasn’t looked back since! Good Girls Don’t, But Indian Girls Do is a funny and poignant exploration of the struggle to discover, create and claim an Indian American identity. Vijai breaks every taboo as she exposes the underbelly of an Indian American family. She takes you through growing up Indian in a Jewish community; her discovery of sex in a repressed Hindu household; and how she finds herself along the way. As Vijai puts it, “It's Gandhi meets Pretty in Pink.” Vijai’s irreverent humor springs from her experiences of growing up as a “foreigner” in America—despite the fact she was born and raised in a suburb of Washington D.C. Much of her stand-up comedy is about growing up as an Indian in America, cultural clashes with her parents, dating, politics, and racism. Today, Vijai Nathan is the leading Indian American female comedian, making people laugh across America and internationally too. She has performed in South Africa, England and Canada, and was recently featured at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. NBC chose Vijai as one of its top 10 comics in the Nation for their Stand-Up for Diversity Showcase in Los Angeles, Sept. 2004, Back Stage Magazine named Vijai one of the top ten stand-up comics in 2003, and she was chosen as one of two comics to represent America at the Smirnoff International Comedy Festival in Cape Town, South Africa in September
of 2003. TV appearances include: ABC News’ 20/20, PBS, The Oxygen Network, and the BBC. She is currently adapting Good Girls Don’, But Indian Girls Do into a screenplay. Kitchen Theatre Company’s KITCHEN COUNTER CULTURE series brings Central New York the cutting-edge, outside-the-box, bold, uncensored work of writer/performers who are fearless in their convictions and daring in their presentations. The series celebrates new voices and diverse approaches to the act of performance with artists who are breaking rules and breaking new ground. This season the series highlights five artists of color. Coming up next in the series is NYC actor/writer/poet Darian Dauchan with Media Madness in November. The series continues in February with actor/teaching artist Vickie Tanner’s new play Running Into Me and acclaimed performance artist Denise Uyehara’s Shedding Light, and concluding in April with playwright/poet Lenelle Moise’s EXPATRIATE. Funded by New York State Council on the Arts and sponsored by Foster Custom Kitchens, CSP Management and hospitality sponsor Hilton Garden Inn. Performance Dates: September 28, 2007, Friday at 8:00 pm September 29, 2007, Saturday at 8:00 pm September 30, 2007, Sunday at 4:00 pm Bold, intimate, engaging…Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC), now in its 17th season, is downtown Ithaca’s critically acclaimed and nationally recognized year-round professional theatre with four performance series (Main Stage, Family Fare, Kitchen Counter Culture, Kitchen Sink). KTC is the first not-for-profit recipient of the David R. Strong Memorial "Small Business of the Year" Award from the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. KTC provides an engaging mix of regional and world premiere plays and musicals to Central NY in an intimate 73-seat theatre that encourages a bold relationship between audience and actor. The theatre is located in the historic Clinton House, a renovated hotel in Downtown Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is located on the southern tip of Cayuga Lake in central New York. Kitchen Theatre Company receives public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency and the Tompkins County Room Occupancy Tax Fund. For the 2007-08 Season the Kitchen Theatre Company is receiving support from the Shubert Foundation and the New York State Music Fund.
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