“Muthaland” by actress and playwright Minita Gandhi comes to Ithaca College

From IC News by David Maley, 4/20/2017
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The original one-woman show “Muthaland” will be performed by Indian-American actress and playwright Minita Gandhi at Ithaca College on Saturday, April 29. The 5 p.m. performance in Clark Theatre, Dillingham Center, will be followed by a talkback with the artist. The show is free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of $5.

Inspired by Gandhi’s own personal journey, “Muthaland” tells the story of a young woman whose life is forever changed on a trip to India, where she unearths family secrets, encounters a prophet and ultimately discovers her voice within a culture of silence. The familiar and the foreign swap roles in this dark comedy about culture, identity, spirituality and sexuality.

Gandhi was born in Mumbai and raised in the United States. In 2014, while foraging through her parents’ basement, she discovered her father’s worn suitcase from his very first journey to the U.S. This sparked her curiosity and led to interviews where her parents shared stories from their history they had never spoken of before. Gandhi realized that by weaving their stories with her own life-changing journey to India in 2009 for her brother’s arranged marriage, she had a powerful story she had to share with the world.
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The performance is sponsored by the Department of Theatre Arts and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. 
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"Muthaland" will have its official world premiere later this year at Chicago’s 16th Street Theater.

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