Cast members of White Plume Productions' Naga-Mandala. Provided photo.

This weekend, a special production is making its Sarasota premiere. Staged at the Circus Arts Conservatory’s Sailor Circus Arena, White Plume Productions is producing Naga-Mandala by Girish Karnad. The play is the first ever production of White Plume’s, a nonprofit company created by Salil Singh, director of the Suzuki Institute School of Music in Sarasota.

“White Plume Production’s mission is to create a platform to bring together creative people in the performing arts in our region that otherwise may not ever meet with each other or collaborate,” says Singh. “I am trying to create the kind of theater that normally would not happen, unless a certain set of people came together and expressed the desire to collaborate across cultures.”

For Singh, the production of Naga-Mandala is a project that is close to his heart. Originally published as a play in 1988 by Karnad, a legendary Indian playwright, Naga-Mandala is a fantastical tale of love, loss and moral reckoning steeped in South Indian folklore. “In post-independence India, Karnad is seen as a groundbreaking, very sophisticated visionary. He’s like the Arthur Miller of India,” says Singh, who is directing the production. “He writes in a very beautiful way, taking mythology and folklore and then giving it a contemporary twist that speaks to our own time, our own proclivities and dilemmas.”

Much of Naga-Mandala takes place in a village square—staging the play in the Sailor Circus Arena, in which the audience is on two sides with the performers in the middle—enhances that perspective. Singh wanted to also add to the locality of the production, by incorporating a largely local cast of dancers and actors. “I have a composer writing original music for the production in an ensemble that’s a combination of the sitar, cello, violin and percussion,” says Singh. “We have local actors, including contemporary dancers and the circus has its own history within Sarasota’s evolution, which adds to it.”

Naga-Mandala, White Plum Productions, March 13, 14 and 15, Sailor Circus Arena, 2075 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota.

Cast members of White Plume Productions' Naga-Mandala. Provided photo.

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