Whisper in the Wings Episode 1524

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What is this, your first date?

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Hello everyone and welcome back into a fabulous new whisper in the wings from Sage Whisper.

What a fabulous show we have in store for you today and we've got two wonderful actors joining us today.

On our show today, we're joined by Vavhov Taparia and Vish Shukla.

They're here to talk to us today about guards at the Taj which is playing now through April 19th at next stop theater in Herndon, Virginia.

And if you'd like tickets or more information, head on over to ovationtakes.com.

We are so excited to get to feature this incredible piece by one of our favorite playwrights.

I'm so excited to have these two wonderful actors on our show. So please join me in welcoming them in.

Vavhov, Vish, welcome into Whisper in the wings from Sage Whisper.

And I have it.

It does.

I am so excited that you're here and I'm so excited to talk about this show.

I'm going to butcher the playwright's name, but I am a huge fan of his. He's got so many great works out there.

And this is one of them. I mean, let's be real. The guards at the Taj is just one of those great works of his.

Vavhov, I'd love to start first with you and have you tell all the listeners a little bit about what guards at the Taj is all about.

Yeah, so guards at the Taj it is.

It is based on the Taj Mahal, of course, in India, Agra.

The main point of the play is it leans into the myth that when Taj Mahal was created, it was created by the Emperor Shah Jahal of that time.

And he made this for his queen that had just passed away.

And it is an honor of her. And he was so mesmerized by the beauty of the building that he created. He wanted it to never be built again.

So he said that every person that built it, their hands will be chopped off.

So nothing so beautiful as Taj Mahal shall ever be built again.

And it's a myth.

So it's just a legend. I don't know where developed from. I think it was the British.

Yeah, so it's pretty much just two guards, two pals and they're on guard duty on the day that the Taj Mahal is unveiled.

And then it is pretty much their story, their friendship.

One guard is super strict. The other is carefree. He's a dreamer and he believes that anything is possible while the other guard is stuck and stringent and rules, rules, rules.

And that's what the play pretty much follows. It's about friendship. It's about betrayal. It's about choices.

The play is very much about choices. And it has the beautiful structure of the story of the Taj Mahal to accompany it. So yeah.

I love this. Oh my gosh, this is amazing. So this tell us how did you come upon this production.

Right. Yeah. I was familiar with next stop before I auditioned. I had friends who worked at shows there.

And I was sending out my Hachon resume emails after graduation. They were high up on my list.

And then when there's seasonal announcements and they were doing guards at the Taj, I was like, I got audition for this. So I sent in a tape.

And there aren't many of us Indian men in the DC theater scene. So anytime I go to a theater event, there'd be other theater people there and they'd be like, they go up to my friends and say, hey, is your friend an actor?

You should audition for this show. And they go, you already did it. Send in the tape. We're good. So yeah. And Heather, I think Heather lands our artistic director over at next stop.

She had seen me in a reading at theater alliance and sent me an email and was like, hey, show audition for this thing. It's like, yes, I'm on it. So the self tape and then an impression call back.

And now we're here.

I love to hear that. What a fun. What a fun, slightly chaotic path to getting to the show.

Well, sticking with you, I mean, at the time of a speaking tomorrow, you start previews ahead of your opening on Saturday, the 28th.

Excuse me. Yeah, the 28th. So what has it been like for you developing the show so far and getting it up on its feet?

Right. Yeah.

Rajeev has written a difficult show to put on. Our director, Michael is either who is a genius, had a lovely pep talk with us.

I had a tech week saying that this show is supposed to be difficult. That's why we're doing it. We have to embrace the difficulty.

And we have been so lucky to have such a talented team working on this sound design, lighting design, our stage management team.

Everyone has been so well prepared for us to take on this challenge. So it's been very supportive, very collaborative.

We've been in rehearsal for about three weeks now. This is our fourth week. And we have three weeks of shows coming up.

I think three weeks, something like that. So yeah, it's been a long time coming. We got cast back in the summer.

So yeah, excited that the day's finally here.

That is fantastic.

Vav, what about you? What's it been like for you developing this piece?

It's been insane, but in like the best way possible. It's been so much fun.

So literally like I also got cast during the summer and stuff. I'm based in New York City.

So I'm actually from South Africa. So it's been like awesome doing this production. It's like my first proper piece here in the States,

which has been so much fun. But as Vish said, it has been a difficult show, but it has been highly rewarding in terms of something doesn't work.

But we literally as a team, everybody puts their heads together to fix something up. And it has been good in terms of time as well,

because we have about a three week development phase where we got to work really, really closely with the piece.

Vishmi and director Mekola, who's been absolutely amazing. And we have been really able to kind of do the piece with a devising approach, which has been awesome,

where we all get to collaborate and ideas are welcomed and possibilities are an option.

So that has been really great. And we've been able to develop our characters in our way as well, which has been great.

So it doesn't feel too far apart from ourselves. And as I was saying, difficult show.

We have a blood component, which has been so much fun to do, but also a nightmare to perform. But we're figuring it out.

And I think we finally kind of locked it in yesterday. So literally two days before preview. So it has been a roller coaster, but it has been incredible. Yeah.

That is incredible. That sounds incredible. You know, and wow. All the fun blood. We love a good blood component.

Well, Bob, I was sticking with you. I'd love to know, is there a message or a thought you're hoping audiences will take away from this work?

Yeah, yeah. So what I the message that I want the play to give audiences would be of choices of dreams.

I would think that your dreams matter and to believe in something and what you believe in to really hone in on to that.

I think that's one of the messages as well. And I think the biggest message that this play also promotes and it's in the text and it's just how the story is is that history repeats itself.

And I genuinely believe it's our choice to make sure that history does not repeat itself because it just keeps happening and happening and your choices can really determine the outcome. So yeah.

That is wonderful. Vish, what about you? Is there a message that you're hoping audiences take away?

Right. They have a beautifully said history repeats itself. This piece is very relevant.

Women, Bob or at the top of the show find themselves in a system where in a world where the cruelty of the empire is very prevalent.

And I think when we look around the world right now, cruelty seems very prevalent.

I've been thinking about a lot over the process of the show when I got cast in June.

It was around the time when the National Guard had been deployed in DC where I live.

And the months following communities in DC and nationwide were targeted by ICE and federal agents working on behalf of the government to cause immense harm to innocent people.

And then the day where we started our rehearsals, America and Israel had their joint attack on Iran and the war began.

So yeah, and I think around the time when Epstein files were released, I was personally having this feeling of dread around what are part in all of this is.

I think a lot like Kumayun and Babur, we as a society have found ourselves going past the point of being complicit in the Empire's actions, the American Empire's actions.

And I say that not as to say that you were I am malicious or anything like that, but it is just our reality.

We know our tax dollars go, we know what they fund wars that no one really agrees with us.

But here's where the hope comes in. I think that Babur when faced with this reality in his world has as Vibov said a choice to make.

He could continue to serve the empire, the emperor and get what he's always wanted out of life to serve alongside his best friend.

To be in the imperial harem to get promotion upon promotion.

Or he could do the hard thing, which is to rebel and revolt.

And I think many of us in our time are at that cross road. I've been at that cross road for a while now.

So I hope that when people come see this show, they see Babur's rebellion spirit.

They see it and think about what their own version of fuck the king, butishah live is.

They internalize the belief around deconstructing the system and building something new, inventing something new and wonderful.

And I would like to point out that there are many, many people who have been doing this for decades, such important work.

But I think if people come to see the show and get a few more people who decide that they want to make a change in their life, I think that is a huge win for us.

I love those ideas and that inspiration behind those ideas.

This is absolutely wonderful.

I want to kick off my final question for this first part with you.

And I'd love to know who are you hoping have access to the show.

Right.

My guttural response to that is everyone. Everyone should come see the show.

But my more serious answer, even though my answer everybody is a half joke.

Everyone should come see it.

I have a lot of Indian uncles and aunties coming to watch this show.

From the community that I grew up in, I grew up in Geithersburg, Maryland, which is about an hour drive from next stop.

So I'm very fortunate to have people who saw me grow up coming to see the show.

But herndon itself also is a very strong Indian population and wonderful community that we've gotten to see bits and pieces of.

But I hope that they show up to the show.

And I've noticed something in my parents generation of Indian immigrants who have come to America where.

Because of complicated experiences out of love, they see the world around them right now.

The same one that we see and as they think about how they want to prepare their families for it, how they want to protect their kids.

The basic responses, hey, when you go out, be careful because you never know what people will do to people who look like us.

And it's so much out of love.

And by do you think that argument then goes down the road of don't get into discussions in public, don't discuss your opinions about political things in public.

Don't ruffle too many feathers, keep your head down.

But I hope that when Indian uncles and aunties come to see this show and see that there's two Indian actors up on this stage in a production that's been directed by an Indian person.

Written by an Indian person that we are sharing our opinions proudly in a way that is constructive and effective and necessary.

And I hope that encourages them to share their opinions.

I also hope that they see this story, this very particular story.

And they see that being a rebel is not just something that their immigrant kids picked up in the West.

Being a rebel is something that is in our people innately.

It's in our instinct, whether it is protesting against the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of India or the Prime Minister of England.

Or even so far back as the Mughal empire wanting to fight for a better life is part of who we are.

And that advocating is something that I hope they take away from this story and reconnect with because it's so much a part of what it is to be an immigrant as well to fight for that better life.

And I hope that they bring some nice Indian sweets with them as well.

Yes.

I love it.

What about you?

Who are you hoping have access to the show?

Pretty much same, same answer like everyone.

That's like the one right there, everyone.

But I, I really hope I would say I would love the Indian community to come through as they said that is going to be absolutely fantastic to be supported by our people and see

our being put on by their people because it is a huge thing.

It's a very Indian people driven production, which is awesome and all of us are either first generation outside of India or second generation.

But it's just really incredible to kind of do this production and tell a story that's so close to us and something that's known so well across the community as well.

And to kind of put this on and the beauty of this as well is that it kind of it shows that it's possible like these pieces of art are possible and representation matters and it's right there.

So I would actually say I would love for the younger generation of Indian kids or kids of color to be able to pull through to the show.

I would say 13 plus those so like teenager kids and stuff because they are some things that are mentioned that I don't think of five year old should see.

But to inspire them and to also show that art is very much alive theater is alive and these types of pieces should be supported and seen.

And besides that I would love people of all races, genders all across the board to also come through and hence I say everyone because I think it is an incredible story.

It is a part of our culture and what we grew up with that I would love to share with everyone and to peak interest of the myths and the architecture and all of these different things down to the indigenous birds of India as well.

Because birds are a big topic in this play as well but to peak interest and provide this experience for everyone.

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And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

Hey everyone check out this guy and his bird. What is this your first day?

Oh no we help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married.

Need a human, him to a bird.

Yeah the bird looks out of your league anyways. Only pay for what you need at Liberty Mutual.com.

Well on the second part of our interview is we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a bit better. Pick your brains if you will.

And Vish I'm actually going to kick the second half off with you and I'd love to know what are who inspires you.

What playwrights, composers or shows have inspired you in the past or just some of your favorites.

Right. Rajeev is a big one. I think for any South Asian actor the plays that he's brought for the role stage brought for it.

So have so much steps to them. I'm personally very inspired by Indian cinema.

That's what I grew up with as an immigrant kid. That's kind of how you learn about your home country.

So many actors from there. Irfan Khan is one that I go to a lot for inspiration.

This is actor named taboo who's absolutely brilliant.

Yeah. And I saw this show when I was in London about two years ago at the national called the father in the assassin.

Forgetting who the playwright is at the moment. If you could help me out with that. I think it's under by much under a shaker.

Yeah. Yeah. But that's a story about assassin sort of a bio play about him.

And there were so many brown people on that stage it was kind of insane.

And seeing that kind of representation, which you don't really get to see much in the American theater.

Unfortunately, was so reinvigorating for me at a very formative time in my life.

So yeah, those are a couple things here and there. Yeah.

I love it. Those are some wonderful inspirations. Some great stuff that I need to go check out too.

Bob, what about you? What are who inspires you?

Yeah. So for me, so let's start with like the theater part, right?

So as they said, Rajeev, Joseph, his material is incredible.

And as a South Asian artist actor, that is the work that you kind of naturally gravitate to.

And I think this is an artist itself because his plays are so amazing with the human quality and the conversational quality that it has.

It really is two people having conversations or multiple characters, but it is so seamless.

Like it, it really feels like real life.

I also absolutely love Steven Adley-Gurgis. His plays are fantastic.

So when I get back to New York, hopefully I can catch dog day afternoon. That would be absolutely incredible to see.

Another play that I really liked and I drew the, it inspires me because it was so true.

And the actors had embodied it so well was there was a musical in London for the curious case of Benjamin Button.

And it was incredible. It was absolutely beautiful by the end of it. Like we're all sobbing and nobody's looking at each other because we're like,

I'm a thug still like no ways, but it was absolutely beautiful.

So I think what really doesn't inspire me when it comes to theatre is just the human aspect.

I do love it to obviously not be completely like real life as well.

And that's where these stories are so great. Like the myth of the Taj Mahal and what these two characters can do.

But just how like there's a magic to it.

And there's a magic of the scenario being unrealistic, but the characters and the people being so human and so true.

Another play that I absolutely love was grew some playground injuries recently that I saw.

That was absolutely fantastic, a brilliant performance in the way that they staged it. Incredible.

And for me as well, Indian cinema, Bollywood, massive inspirations, absolutely love Shahrukh Khan.

He's one of my like acting idols. Absolutely love him. And then Hollywood always always grown up watching movies, love Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt.

Recently Ryan Gosling, I think he's absolutely incredible. Barbie movie and not Project Hail Mary. Incredible.

But yeah, I can keep on going on Viola Davis, Jennifer Aniston, absolutely incredible actresses. It's just the list goes on and we'll be here forever.

So I'll end it right here. These are all the inspirations for now.

Those are wonderful inspirations as well. Both of you. I mean, I could just sit and listen to YouTube like Vali back and forth.

These great works that you've seen where you've heard of. This is wonderful.

Bob, I'd love to know what is your favorite part about working in the theater?

I think my favorite part of working in the theater would be the developmental process when we first start out the table reads, figuring out the character, making new discoveries.

Like at the beginning, there's so much space to play. And I absolutely love the initial part because we got to play and explore so much about these different characters.

And then one day you do something and you let it marinate throughout the night and the next day that you arrive all of a sudden, there's a new discovery and you're like, actually wait.

I think my characters motivated by this and not that.

And I would say the tech element, but I would say the end of tech because tech for actors is.

I don't know how it goes, but for me personally, it's just a lot of sitting around waiting, holding.

But I do love the end part of tech because it's this weird stressful pressure cooker where everybody's all over the place and you're trying to figure out things.

And as soon as and things usually always come together, but when they do it's these massive light bulb moments and you're like, wow, this is incredible.

And just seeing it at that end point where the lights kick in and the sound kicks in and the effects and it's us with all of the work that we've put in.

And it really at that moment does feel like magic to create this piece.

So those are like my favorite parts. I would say the beginning and the end just before the performance obviously.

So yeah.

That is a fabulous answer.

Vish, what about you?

It's probably the same thing from when I got into theater.

I used to do sports as a kid, but I was not a sports kid.

I was the guy who was picking grass while everyone else was playing soccer.

And you know, being on those teams when you're not good at the sport, those kids do not want to be friends with you.

But in the theater, it doesn't matter how good you are, everyone's so warm and kind and inviting.

And that collaboration and communities intoxicating.

And I think that's the theater bug that most people catch.

And when you see a good production, the hallmark of it is usually like you can tell that the cast is having fun with each other.

They're playing with each other. They have each other's backs.

So I think even the audience gets to be part of the family for a bit too.

And then to echo what Veva was saying about tech.

Yeah. I mean, as an actor, you kind of just get to like see all these amazing people.

Just bring their A game every day during tech.

Sounds are getting more inventive.

The lights are getting more mesmerizing.

It's such a cool part of the process.

And getting to admire other people's artistry is so cool.

And that's why you love to go to the theater.

Yeah.

That is wonderful.

And that is a brilliant setup to my favorite question to ask us, which is what is your favorite theater memory?

I would say I think my favorite theater memory is currently happening now.

This is incredible to do this production.

I've always wanted to do this play.

I did this when I was doing my Masters at Pace University at the Actor Studio Drama School.

So we have seen work.

So I brought a scene in from this because it was a lot of emphasis on what's your type or what are the plays that really intrigued you.

And I found this that had the representation for South Asian actors.

So I brought it in and I did a scene from it.

And my dream was I'm like, I hope one day I can produce it or it's getting put on somewhere.

And then literally I auditioned for this and I got this.

So my favorite theater memory is literally this right now getting this done.

But pre this it had to be the first time I think I acted on a professional stage, which is back in South Africa.

At the Joe Brook Theater.

And it was more I think a bit traumatizing in the moment.

But now when I look at it, I'm like, I would do it again.

And it was just there wasn't a real structure to it.

So tech was insane.

But what made it fun was the director was great guy, but he was just a bit agitated.

So it was like insanely strict and shouting and screaming and all of that.

But I was with an ensemble of another 20 actors.

And all of us were going it's going through it together.

And the thing about South Africans are we'll make fun out of a horrible situation.

So everything is going to shit.

But we're just cracking up jokes, laughing, having fun, sweating, crying.

And just being together during that moment was one of my favorite theater memories.

I love that.

That's a great memory to close this question out on both of you.

Those were wonderful memories.

Thank you both so much for sharing those.

As we wrap things up, I would love to know.

Do either of you have any other projects or productions coming down the pipeline that we might be able to plug for you?

Yeah. After this show, I'm working on a fellow at the Shakespeare Theater Company starring Wendell Pierce.

I'm going to be in the ensemble.

I don't know who I'm playing it.

But I'll be there.

Which would be cool.

So if you're in DC at the time, May, June, come on by.

Yeah.

And for me, I'm going to be part of a festival.

I have forgotten the name of the festival.

But do keep your eyes out for a short play called Flacco.

It's written by Dakota Solvi.

I think you know him very well, Andrew.

So it's a little piece by him about Flacco the owl that had escaped the Central Park Zoo.

So that will be happening in June.

And yeah, for now, those are all the projects.

And I'm going to be starting to create some short films with friends of mine in the cohort.

So keep an eye out.

Hopefully we'll be starting to create those short films and submitting it and have viewings.

So yeah.

We've got a great reason to keep tabs on the two of you, which is a great set to my final question,

which is if our listeners would like more information about guards at the Taj or about either of you,

perhaps they'd like to reach out to you.

How can they do so?

Yes.

So for guards of the Taj, you can literally Google Next Top Theatre company and go to the website.

And there's a link right there to buy tickets.

And you'll be able to also see all the work that Next Top is doing, which is absolutely fantastic.

I think our artistic director there, Heather is doing an incredible job curating the season.

It's her first year there and she's done an absolutely amazing job to have diverse works all across the board.

So that's for Next Top.

So do support them.

Amazing theatre company.

They have been nothing but welcoming to Vision Eye and it has been a really incredibly experience.

Not once have we felt like we're lost or not supported.

So that's for Next Top.

And then for me, you can follow me on Instagram to know about me and follow my works or reach out.

It's at Vibe Toparia.

So at V-A-I-B-T-A-P-A-R-I-A.

And also, you can check out my website, which is my full name surname dot com.

So Vabive Toparia dot com.

Yeah.

I want to echo what Vabive is saying about Next Top.

They do such wonderful work.

I want to plug their next show after us doing a production of once, which will be so amazing as some friends in that cast.

So, you know, it's going to be amazing.

Yeah. And for me, you can follow me on Instagram.

It is a private account, but I might accept.

Yeah.

It's at Vish Shukla.

I think it's at V-I-S-H-H-H Shukla S-H-H-U-K-L-A.

And then my website is Vish Shukla dot com.

Finally got that domain.

Yeah.

Come on by.

It worked really hard on the website.

Oh, yeah.

And I just remembered as well.

So me and my friend, we started out a DJ group as well.

So I'm a plug that.

So our handle on Insta is at soft serve centers.

So if you guys want to book DJs in the New York City area, let us know.

Reach out to us.

We're open for bookings.

And our genre is like everything.

Honestly, like we will do.

We can do almost every genre.

So yeah.

We love the support.

Fab you.

Less.

Well, Bob, I'm Vish.

Thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with me today.

And for sharing your wonderful, wonderful show.

And all your amazing insight.

This has been such a great conversation.

I really appreciate you taking the time to do so.

So thank you very, very much.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate you having us.

Really appreciate it.

It's fun.

Yeah.

My guests today have been two phenomenal actors, incredible, incredible artists.

Vabhav, Taparia, and Vish Shukla.

They both joined me today to talk about their current production, Guards at the Taj, which

is playing now through April 19th at Next Stop Theatre, which is in Herndon, Virginia.

And you can get your tickets and more information by visiting ovationtix.com.

We also have some contact information for our guests, which will be posting in our episode

description as well as under social media posts.

But run.

Do not walk to ovationtix.com if you are in the DC area or you need an excuse to go on down

there and actually find some enjoyment while you're at it.

Check out Guards at the Taj playing now through April 19th.

So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your

candies.

And keep talking about the theatre.

In a stage with spa.

Thank you.

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Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird.

What is this your first date?

We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together.

We're married.

Need a human, him to a bird.

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.

Only pay for what you need at Liberty Mutual.com.