Alter Ego Blog

A First Class Man, has everyone talking about how good this play is. For those who have seen it, you know how compelling the story is. For most, this play has us diving for the Wikipedia entry on Srinivasa Ramanujan, GH Hardy, and boning up on partition numbers. In the next year or so, Srinivasa Ramanujan should become a household name, as there are already two films in the making, one by Hollywood and the other by fellow Cantabridgian and Trinity man, Stephen Fry and co-producer Dev Benegal. We could have hardly done a better job of publicizing their films. By the time their films come out, the US audience should be primed and ready.

Martin Denton has given A First Class Man a rave review. We thank Martin for this magnificent review and also thank Srinivasa Ramanujan and GH Hardy for giving the world a relationship, satisying in its extent of mathematical collaboration but equally so of the human condition.

nytheatre.com review
Martin Denton · October 7, 2006

Our pick of the week is David Freeman's A First Class Man, currently being staged by ALTEREGO Productions at the 45th Street Theatre. It tells the story of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, and what happened after he was invited to study at Cambridge.

A First Class Man is the most compelling, smart, and intellectually stimulating play I've seen so far this season. This world premiere production from ALTEREGO Productions, directed by Kareem Fahmy, is magnificent. Kudos to everyone involved.

The subject of this beautiful play is Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian man who taught himself mathematics (from a century-old obsolete textbook) and discovered (or re-discovered, for much of his work in India had already been done, unbeknownst to him, by Europeans) an astonishing amount of advanced math and number theory. Ramanujan eventually came to the attention of a Cambridge professor named G.H. Hardy who recognized the genius of this untutored but extraordinarily intuitive mind. Hardy brought Ramanujan to England to collaborate. A First Class Man tells what happened when East met West. It's a story of culture clash, and of the tragic results of a Pygmalion/Elephant Man experiment. It's also, unexpectedly, a love story.

Playwright David Freeman does a number of really remarkable things in this play. First, he takes arcane mathematical research and makes it not only accessible, but downright thrilling. In order to convince his skeptical Cambridge colleagues that an uneducated (by their standards) Hindu from India belongs at the university, Hardy sets up a contest of sorts, in which Ramanujan will determine the partition of the number 200 while a team of students work together to do the same task. Now, the partition of a number is the number of different ways it can be expressed as the sum of integers (e.g., the partition of 4 is 5: 1+1+1+1, 1+1+2, 1+3, 2+2, 4+0); partitions become very large very quickly (e.g., the partition of 10 is 42; the partition of 20 is 627; read more about partitions here.) So this assignment is no small feat. Freeman makes its successful completion the breathtakingly exciting climax of his play's first act, allowing Ramanujan a suitably theatrical demonstration of his prowess that brings the curtain down triumphantly.

Second, Freeman looks beyond the content of Ramanujan's genius to explore how it affected him as a man and also how it affected others. There are two significant relationships developed in the play. Through another Indian scholar at Cambridge, Ramanujan meets a lively, bohemian young English woman named Esme, who is a painter. Esme eventually falls in love with Ramanujan (and the feeling is reciprocated, though the consequences are complex for Ramanujan is already married to an Indian girl he left behind so he could study here in England). The layers and implications of this romance are examined with sensitivity and in detail.

And then there's the complicated web of feelings between Ramanujan and his champion/mentor, Hardy. Freeman presents the latter as a typically stiff-upper-lip, repressed Englishman: it's clear that Hardy's one passion is for mathematics (though he professes an affinity for cricket as well). Hardy resists participating in World War I, which breaks out right about the time that Ramanujan arrives at Cambridge, because he doesn't want to sully his research in pure mathematics with any kind of application, military imperative or no. But Hardy's devotion to his calling allows him to look beyond the color of Ramanujan's skin as well as the unconventionality of Ramanujan's approach (the Indian says that formulae are revealed to him by a Hindu goddess, which is anathema to a strict man of science like Hardy). What we come to understand, as the play progresses, is that Hardy has fallen in love with his protégé—romantic love as well as something more spiritual. How Freeman handles this development, which was obviously fairly taboo a century ago, is especially admirable.

So A First Class Man offers a rare, incisive, thoughtful, and ultimately kind-of heartbreaking account of Ramanujan's too-brief life. It's so vivid that it made me want to learn more about this remarkable man. But it's an eminently satisfying and edifying drama, all on its own.

Director Fahmy has staged it with the grace and elegance of a Merchant-Ivory film; even on a relatively small off-off-Broadway budget, he and his design team have created a lovely, involving, briskly paced, and entirely professional work of theatre. Particularly noteworthy are Jeffery Eisenmann's spare, invaluable sets, which use a single bench and a couple of portable blackboards to thrilling effect, and Chloe Chapin's wonderful costumes (I love that Ramanujan is either barefoot or in slippers throughout—he never assimilates fully enough to wear traditional English boots). There's also a truly skillful portrait that's used here as the one Esme paints of Ramanujan; it's uncredited, but it's superb.

The actors all turn in expert performances. Bobby Abid, Chriselle Almeida, Davis Hall, Doug Simpson, Radhika Vaz, Timothy Roselle, and Vikram Somaya do fine work in a variety of supporting roles (most are double- or triple-cast). Kelly Eubanks brings great intelligence and fire to Esme. The play's two leading men—Steve French as Hardy and Amir Arison as Ramanujan—are especially impressive, conveying both the intellect and the unspoken/unexamined emotions of these two complicated characters. Both of these young actors are talents to watch, as is director Fahmy.

All that remains for me to say is that A First Class Man is a first-class evening of theatre, and I wholeheartedly recommend it; don't be put off by its subject matter, for even if you hated math in school, there's a rich emotional and psychological journey to be had in this play. Bravo to ALTEREGO for bringing this work to the stage, and for proving that without courageous and ambitious indie theatre companies like this one, our theatre would indeed be a poorer, blander place.

- Martin Denton

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"This weekend I watched the play. It truly was a fabulous production with some stellar performances, excellent writing and direction and a rather creative use of the small stage/theater space. The best $18 I've spent in a looong time. My friends, a mixture of Indians and non-Indians alike, and the rest of the audience (it was a full house) seemed to LOVE the play and left the theater absolutely fascinated by Ramanujan's life story, sparking many a loud discussion outside the theater. I'd be lying if I didn't say that many of us looked him up on Google that night just to find out more about the man and mathematician."- T. Reddy- SAJA member

"A FIrst Class Man is a wonderful show. The story is lovely, and the cast is terrific. I was transported.This show is better than a lot of other shows I've seen by BIG NAME writers. It was a real treat."- J. Faughnan, TheatreMania member

"Amir Arison, who I've now seen play a paranoid Jew (in Modern Orthodox), suicide bomber Muslim (in Ominium Gatherum), and now a devout Hindu, was a revelation as always. I think your mission of bringing Indo-American Theater to New York is an important one, and A First Class Man certainly helped moved that mission forward.I can't wait to see what you guys do next York is an important one, and A First Class Man certainly helped moved that mission forward.I can't wait to see what you guys do next and have recommended this show to a number of my friends." - J.Weiss- Producer, NYC

Thank you all for your love and support to Alter Ego Productions as we strive to bring the best of Indo- American theater to you and the great city of New York.

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Courtesy: Nick Goodey

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David Freeman: Playwright of A First Class Man

A screenwriter and the author of six books, including the story collection A Hollywood Education; The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock, a memoir about his experience writing a script with the great director; One of Us*, a novel of Egypt and England, and most recently It's All True. His play Jesse and the Bandit Queen ran for 200 performances at the Public Theater in New York, won several prizes, and has played around the world. His journalism, reviews, and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications

Kareem Fahmy: Director of A First Class Man

Hailing from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Kareem Fahmy has directed nearly twenty productions in the U.S. and Canada. Montreal directing credits include the Canadian premieres of Naomi Iizuka's Language of Angels and Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus, Patrick Marber's Closer, and Constance Congdon's Tales of the Lost Formicans . In New York: Michael Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (The Theatre of the Riverside Church), Judith Thompson's Lion in the Streets* (Abingdon Theater), Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class and Bertolt Brecht's Drums in the Night (Schapiro Theater), The Way To Begin (Horace Mann Theater), and Anton Chekhov's On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco (Schapiro Studio). Kareem is the founder and Artistic Director of The Alternate Theatre, a company which has a mission to bring the best of contemporary Canadian drama to New York City audiences. Kareem is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA Directing program where he studied under Anne Bogart. (www.kareem.alternatetheatre.com)

*CAST

*Amir Arison** (Ramanujan)

Amir most recently returned from The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England where he played King of Navarre in Michael Kahn's acclaimed production of *Love's Labour's Lost *set in India (also, at the Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.) Off-Broadway: *Beast on the Moon,*Modern Orthodox (Dir: James Lapine), Mohammed in *Omnium Gatherum* (2004 Pulitzer Finalist, Dir: Will Frears), Jitendra/Bassanio in Shishir Kurup's Indian Re-telling *Merchant On Venice*(LARK). Other NY highlights/workshops: *A First Class Man* (LARK & The McCarter), *ABC Diversity Showcase '05* , Baby Rattle (Dir: Trip Cullman), *The Cook's Tour* w/ Estelle Parsons (Rattlestick), *Morbidity & Mortality *(Cherry Lane), Hand, Foot, Arm & Face(Underwood), *Lenin's Shoes *(LARK), & *Rules *with Olympia Dukakis (Workshop Theatre). Regional Theatre: Caliban in Shakespeare Fest of St. Louis's The Tempest, PaperMill Playhouse (Allergist's Wife), Dorset Theatre Festival, & ComedySportz for 2 years, FL. TV: *Hope & Faith*, Traveller
(2006 Pilot), Law & Order, L&O: Criminal Intent, L&O: SVU, FOX's The Jury, Numerous Soaps & Commercials. Upcoming Film: *Anamorph *(opposite Willem Dafoe), *Day Zero *(opposite Chris Klein)* , & *Marieke Gaboury's *A Hard Place**.* Education: Columbia University & The Public Theatre's Shakespeare LAB. Amir would like to Thank Kareem, Bhavna, and Puja, for welcoming me into the AlterEgo family, as well as David for this long amazing journey. Also, my family (for everything else), and of course, to Srinivasa Ramanujan who led a most extraordinary existence and offered the world so much more than mathematics . **

*Bobby Abid (Manu/Gyp/Soldier)*

Originally from Edison, NJ, Bobby started his journey into the world of acting in high school and college. He is
a former Mr. India NY and his work has received rave reviews from the National Arts Club, Backstage, and the NY Times. For more information on all things 'Bobby', feel free to visit www.bobbyabid.com.

*Chriselle Almeida* (Janaki/Jaya/Pupil 3).*

Chriselle received a BFA in Acting from the University of Connecticut. She received a full scholarship towards
her MFA in Acting from UCLA and deferred it after a semester in order to work professionally. Off Broadway credits include *Raisins not Virgins*, * Abortion* and *The End of the Apurnas*. Most recent regional theatre
production was *The Tempest* for Shakespeare on the Sound. Past regional credits for The Connecticut Repertory Theatre's seasons were *Featherless Angels* (which was directed by Tony Award winning director David
Esbjornson,) also *Exit the King*, *Love's Fire*, Lover's and Executioner's and *Trojan Women*, Twelfth Night and Flattery Will Get You. Chriselle has also stared in feature films, independent shorts, TV shows, national
commercials, done stand-up comedy and voice over work, as well as, been a print model.

*Davis Hall* (Chaplain**) *

Davis Hall's career has been a journey (Manhattan, London, Amsterdam, and major theatres across America). He's
appeared on TV, in films and on stage in world premiers by Michael Weller, Hugh Leonard, and Tom Stoppard. Favorite roles include Charlie in "The Foreigner" (Theatre Virginia), Festé in "Twelfth Night" (Hartford Stage), Jane/Lord Edgar in "The Mystery of Irma Vep" (Syracuse Stage), Elwood P. Dowd in "Harvey" (Arkansas Rep), Arthur in "New-Found-Land" (British-American Repertory Co.), the Duke in "Measure for Measure" (Lark
Theatre Co.), and Garlin in the premiere of "Touch of Rapture" (The New Jersey Rep). He just appeared in the revival of Daniel Robert's darkly comic "The Beginning of the And" as Mr. Burns, a brunt-out Liverpudlian rocker,
and Ost, every Bed & Breakfast owner's nightmare. Look for him in the forthcoming film, "Racing Daylight" staring David Strathairn and Milissa Leo.

*Doug Simpson (Littlewood/Pupil 1)*

Doug was most recently seen in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and is happy to be working with Kareem and Steven again. In Chicago he worked with such theaters as Steppenwolf, Wildlife, and Moveable Feast. In New York he has performed at Looking Glass, Cherry Lane Alternative, and quite a bit with Spring Theatreworks, of which he is a proud founding member. Doug also cracked wise in two recent VH1 shows - Embarrassing Moments 2 and Awesomely Ridiculous Celeb Moments 2006. www.dougsimpson.net

*Kelly Eubanks (Esme/Pupil 2)*

Kelly comes from San Diego, California. She is a recent MFA acting grad from Columbia University. At Columbia she played a variety of roles including Alcestis, Wendla (Spring's Awakening), Masha (Three Sisters), Nina (The Seagull), Lucy (Three Penny Opera), Beatrice (The Changeling), Jacqueline (Jaques), Girl (Roberto Zucco), Parlor Maid (La Ronde). Off-Off Broadway she played Nancy in "Charlie Moose Makes His Move". Last summer, she produced "The Maids" in San Diego. This summer she toured "The Maids" in Berlin and Mainz in Germany during the World Cup. Along with "The Maids," she toured "Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights" at the Hebbel am Ufer Hau Drei theatre in Berlin. During her time in Europe, she went to Poland to participate in the Gardzienice experience. She recently finished performing in "Scapin," at the LaMAMA center in Spoleto and Arezzo in Italy. She is an active long distance runner-scuba diver-Polynesian wannabe dancer.

*Radhika Vaz (Komala/Mrs. Gopalaswami**)*

Radhika Vaz started her career onstage as a long-stemmed daisy in the school play. She has since moved on
to bigger and better things most notably as a comedic improvisor -performing in over 40 improv and sketch shows directed by Holly Mandel and Mona Mansour of 'The Groundlings' fame. A skilled player in any medium Radhika was on Comedy Central's Instant Comedy spots, in several short films and is currently shooting her first feature. 'A First Class Man' is her theatric debut in New York City. In her spare time she kick-boxes, runs, teaches improv, writes to her mum and helps take care of two dogs and a husband.

*Steve French * (Hardy)*

Steve French New York credits include Pat Garrett in The Collected Works of Billy The Kid (Alternate Theatre) and
Gunny in One Man's War (Triad Theatre). Regionally Steve has appeared as Cassio in Othello at Hartford Stage Company (Karin Coonrod, dir.) and Mike Hogan in A Moon For The Misbegotten at Long Wharf Theatre (Gordon Edelstein, dir.)

*Timothy Roselle (Sir Martyn Blake/Sr. Tutor) *

Theatre- New York: Weston, Curse of the Starving Class; Noah, Noah; The Priest, The Power and the Glory; Editor Webb, Our Town; Jake, More Fun Than Bowling; The Stranger, To Whom It May Concern; The Duke, Big River; Mazzini Dunn, Heartbreak House. Regional: Devlin, Ashes to Ashes; Dysart, Equus; Eddie, Fool for Love;
Charles, Blithe Spirit; Greg, Sylvia; Austin, Later Life; Colm, Sea Marks; Fagan, Oliver!; Treves, The Elephant Man; Frederick, A Little Night Music; Oberon, A Midsummer's Night Dream... TV - Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, The
City/Loving (Dr. Brent Black) Film - Blind Spots (Winter 06), Fater (Best Actor, First Run International Film Festival (Toronto), From Here to Where You Are Going (Winter 06), Under the Table (Fall 06). Training: London
Academy of Performing Arts and University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX. Currently student of L. K. Thompson

*Vikram Somaya (Shankar/Mr.Vishwanathan/Pujari) *

Raised by a troupe of wandering clowns deep in the forests of South India, Vikram has long been steeped in the lore of theatrical science. Tossed from clown shoe to clown glove, he managed to work with various Indian theater companies through his youth and then went on to perform throughout his time at Yale while serving as a theater reviewer at the Yale Daily News. Working primarily with Alter-Ego in New York, Vikram has brought glory to his clowns with work in various Off-Off performances. Some of his favorite episodes on the boards include - Indian Ink, Tom Stoppard; Chaos Theory, Anuvab Pal; Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare; As You Like It, William Shakespeare; Death and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman; Arms and The Man, George Bernard Shaw; The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde; and Gnarled Mack, Max Fierst. Vikram manages Corporate Strategy and Business
Development at Operative. One stop shopping for publishers with a purpose. My thanks to my family, Hima Devi, Deep Katdare, Murray Biggs, Bhavna, Kareem and the Cast as well as the patient monkeys of Alter-Ego. I love you,
wife.

**These Actors and Stage Manager (s) are appearing courtesy of Actors'Equity Association . This is an Equity Approved Showcase.

*PRODUCTION TEAM *

*Nilou Safinya (Stage Manager*)

Nilou is an undergraduate, theatre major at Columbia College. Favorite credits include stage managing and assistant
directing Caryl Churchill's "The Skriker" and the musicals- "The Baker's Wife" and "Anything Goes" as well as Columbia's spring production of Strindberg's "A Dream Play". She would like to thank this extremely
talented cast and crew for such a wonderful experience!

*Chloe Chapin (Costumes) *

In New York, Chloe has designed costumes for The Culture Project (Elliot: A Soldier's Fugue), The 2006 Fringe Festival (Hermanas, The Delicate Business of Boy and Miss Girl), La Mama (Harvest), and the 52nd St. Project. Recently, she has designed for Princeton University (Romeo & Juliet), Yale Repertory Theater (The Intelligent Design
of Jenny Chow); the Yale School of Drama (Uncle Vanya, The Lonesome West, Love's Labours Lost); and the Yale Cabaret (Ophelia, Funeral Games, The Water Engine, Phaedra's Love, Unwrap Your Candy.) A native of Santa Cruz, CA, Chloe has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA, and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. In Seattle, Chloe designed costumes for The Empty Space, Book-It Repertory Theater, the Seattle Film Festival, the Northwest Asian-American Theater, Freehold Theater Lab and Theater Schmeater.

*Jeffery Eisenmann (Sets) *

Jeffery Eisenmann holds an MFA in Set Design from California State University Long Beach. His recent designs include *The Collected Works of Billy the Kid *and *Curse of the Starving Class* with The Alternate Theater Company, Diary of a Chambermaid with Dramahaus New York. His has also assisted Danila Korogodsky on *Die Voegel *at Spoleto Festival USA and The Ring Saga with The Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. His work has
exhibited in London, St. Petersburg, the Prague Quadrennial (2003), and at the Clambake New York.

*Andrew Papadeas (Composer & Sound Designer)*

Andrew holds two degrees in music composition and writes for a variety of genres including theatre, film, electronica, hip hop, and instrumental music. Past theatre credits include Drums in the Night-Brecht, Lion in the Streets-Thompson, Curse of the Starving Class, Shepard, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel-Williams. www.andrewpapadeas.com

*Bryan Keller (Lights)*

Recent designs include Blood Wedding with Woodshed Collective, Lobby Hero at Portland Stage Co, Comedy of Errors at Yale Repertory Theatre, Trojan Women at Dryfoos, Romeo and Juliet at SP1, Arms of Baby Jesus at Abingdon, and many premiers including Dance of the Holy Ghost, Alice Eat Your Words, Mirror, Mirror, and Jesus Monnwalks on the Mississippi, Klymnestra's Unmenstionables, The Home, Pysche in Love, and others by playwrights such as Marcus Gardley, Wendy Wasserstein, David Henry Hwang, Alena Smith, Roberto- Aguirre Sacasa, Michele Rittenhouse, Bradford Louryk, and Jamie O'Brien. Bryan also has many dance credits, including as the resident associate of the Kaatsbaan Center for International Dance. Bryan received his MFA from Yale University School of Drama.

*Bhavna Thakur (Artistic Director) *

Bhavna Thakur is the founder and artistic director of Alter Ego Productions. A securities and mergers and
acquisitions lawyer at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison she has a LLM from Columbia University School of Law and a J.D. from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Theatre Experience: Acted as Martha in Joseph Kesserling's Arsenic and Old Lace, Hortense in Maxwell Anderson's Bad Seed, Hattie in Peter Coke's Breath of Spring, the Countess in Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water and participated in various inter and intra school play festivals. While at college, acted in Mahesh Dattani's Where there is a Will and was involved in various workshops and productions with him. Directed Peter Brook's Mahabharata, Jean Anouilh's Antigone and Terence McNally's A Perfect Ganesh in Bangalore. Acted in and directed various college plays like Noel Coward's
Blithe Spirit (Madame Arcati), Joyce Carol Oates's Eclipse (Mother), Ayn Rand's Night of January the 16th (Miss Svenson) and various productions of street theater for the Legal Education through Theater Enterprise. Acted as
Sunita in Anuvab Pal's Chaos Theory and directed Girish Karnad's Hayavadana" and Anuvab Pal's Chaos Theory for Alter Ego Productions.

*Nilay Oza (Artistic Director)*

An old Alter Ego hand, he is a practicing Architect. Until recently he was our Producer, graphic, set and lighting
designer. Over the years his interest in theater has thankfully gravitated from acting to production.

*Prashant Vijay (Producer) *

By day, Prashant Vijay works at Goldman Sachs in Energy Trading. His night-time alter-ego "Vijay Prashant" has been a part of Alter-Ego productions since 2002. He has acted in Chaos Theory by Anuvab Pal in 2002 and in Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard in 2003. He has been involved in various roles in the productions of both those plays, as well as Fatwa by Anuvab Pal, in 2004. He attended Modern School in New Delhi, and was a part of many productions there. He graduated from Tulane University in 2001.

*Puja Ogale (Producer) *

Puja has been a member of Alter Ego for three years and worked on props for Chaos Theory, as Stage Manager on Indian Wants the Bronx, and as Assistant Producer on Indian Ink and Fatwa. She enjoys both production and acting. Her educational background is in Communications and Business and she currently works in marketing for Apple Core Hotels in New York. She would like to thank the entire cast and crew for all their
fantastic work on this production (it has been a true pleasure working with all of them!) and her family and friends for their constant support.

*Seema Malik** (Producer) *

Seema is an architect at Robert A.M. Stern, New York. She recently received her Masters in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. She has been a part of AlterEgo Productions for the last three years. She has worked in the capacity of a set designer for "Indian Ink", production manager for "Fatwa", and acted in "Whose Afraid of Vijay Tendulkar?" This time round she has decided to add to her theatrical repertoire by co-producing AlterEgo's latest venture, "A First Class Man."

*Shourin Roy*

This is Shourin's fourth production with Alter Ego having been associated with Chaos Theory, Indian Ink, Fatwa, and now A First Class Man, and he has enjoyed them all, some less than others. He runs a blogsite
called www.soccerblog.com (if it is not obvious by now) on matters, anything and everything to do with soccer. In his spare time he pursues a doctorate in movement sciences at Columbia University.

*Reshma Patel *

Reshma is a life-long left brainer, graduated from MIT and is a Managing Director at Bear Stearns. After moving to New York, she discovered an interest in the arts and has been with Alter Ego since its formation. For Indian Ink, she was assistant stage manager and helped with fundraising. She helped with publicity for both Indian Ink and Fatwa. She dabbled as a costume designer for Chaos Theory.

*Akshay Damarla *

Akshay is a Computer Programmer at Bloomberg Financial Markets by day who likes to maximize his time outside of work experiencing the diverse culture unique only to the City of New York. This is his second tryst with Alter Ego and one of many more exciting ones to follow.

*Saad Tabani *

Saad is an underemployed actor and percussionist. Facing limited career growth prospects as (the real-life) Spider-Man he began pursuing an MBA at NYU's Stern School of Business. He juggles that with a day job at IBM Software. Saad is involved with AlterEgo to get exposure and experience with theater. He plans to use that to bring Spider-Man to Broadway.

*Tarika Daftary*

Tarika is currently working on her doctorate in Forensic Psychology from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and teaching undergraduate psychology classes. She has acted and worked on sets in a few high school productions, and this is her first year with Alter Ego. **

*Beatrice Ramnarine *

Beatrice Ramnarine is an Interior Design Graduate from Parsons School of Design and is currently working for Houses at Sagaponac, a residential development of the Brown Companies. A strong interest in Costume and Set Design has jump started her involvement with Alter Ego Productions. This is her first theatre production.**

*Mitun Sinha *

Mitun Sinha joined Alter Ego after being invited to have a one-second role strumming a tune in Chaos Theory. He works at Goldman Sachs on the Global Derivatives technology team, and moonlights as a guitarist and sound designer in the greatest band ever ..imagined

*Ashwin Gonibeed *

A native of Madras , Ashwin grew up being greatly influenced by two icons of the 20th century - Rajnikanth and Hugh Hefner. In high school, he indulged his passion for theatre by playing critically acclaimed roles such as - third guy from the right in a scene from Othello. As he got out of college and joined the work-force he began contemplating on the meaning of life. He gave up on this endeavor after joining Alter Ego - when he finally got a life. In the past, he has played numerous pivotal roles in the organization such as publicity as well as other production
related work. A trained Hindustani vocalist, Ashwin has also performed publicly at the Indian Consulate in NY and Union Square park. Currently Ashwin works at T-Mobile.

*Shetal Shah *

Shetal is an award winning artist and an educator. Shetal began her artistic career as a filmmaker working in music videos and commercials. Struck by the acting bug four years ago, Shetal's notable roles include Maya
in the psychological thriller, Arya, for which she won the SAMA Best Actress award, Geeta in The Contest, starring Shabana Azmi, and in the IAAC's rendition of Kamalabhai written by Vijay Tandulkar. Shetal is also an award winning slam poet and co-founder of If? Productions, an organization that
promotes self -awareness through filmmaking.

*Nikhilesh Rao *

Nikhilesh is with Booz Allen Hamilton in their New York offices. Prior to Booz Allen Hamilton, Nikhilesh worked as a product manager in a software start up in India focusing on internet, new media and mobile telephony
clients. He attended NYU's Stern School of Business and graduated from Melbourne Business School.

*Rita Shah *

With a background in information systems and healthcare administration, Rita is currently working as a Clinical Systems Coordinator for New York Methodist Hospital. She has a creative side with a interest in arts and writing and this will be her first theatre production.

*Katya Mehta*

Katya is an actress who lives and works in New York City. Some of her favorite roles include Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew, Hannah Jarvis in Arcadia, and Angie in Spreading the Word. When she isn't acting, Katya
does Early Childhood Literacy outreach for the Office of Children's Services at the New York Public Library. She holds a BA from Oberlin College and has studied acting with several accomplished teachers including Evan Yionoulis and James Price.

*Nikeeta Sarang *

Nikeeta is originally from Bombay and came to New York to complete her Masters in Management with a specialization in Information Systems from NJIT. She currently works as a Resource Manager for System's Task Group, an insurance software company, where she has cultivated her skills in Sales and Corporate Relations. She is very excited to utilize her experience to assist in the Public Relations and Marketing arena of this theater production as well as Costume Design. Since she has moved to the states, Nikeeta has developed a passion for the awareness of Indian social and political culture in America, so although this is her first year with Alter Ego, it will
definitely not be her last.

*Shahzad Qulbani*

Shahzad graduated from the University of Missouri and is an Associate at BlackRock in the client management role for the Data IntegrityGroup. This is his first Alter Ego production. In addition to work andtheatre, he also spends time on charity work whenever possible.

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ALTEREGO productions invites you to the world premiere of

A First Class Man

One man in pursuit of infinity. The astonishing true story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the renowned mathematical prodigy whose ideas changed the world as we know it.

Written by DAVID FREEMAN + directed by KAREEM FAHMY*

Starring:

Bobby Abid, Chriselle Almeida*, Amir Arison*, Kelly Eubanks, Steve French*, Davis Hall*, Timothy Roselle*, Doug Simpson, Vikram Somaya, Radhika Vaz

Production:

Stage Manager: Nilou Safinya, Sets: Jeffery Eisenmann, Costumes: Chloe Chapin, Sound & Music: Andrew Papadeas , Lights: Bryan Keller

At

The 45th Street Theater (354 W. 45th St)

Performances: October 5th to 21st:
Wednesday through Saturday at 8 pm (except Fri Oct 6 at 7 pm)
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 pm

To purchase the $18/- Tickets:
www.smarttix.com ; (212) 868-4444.

For Oct 6th Opening Night Tickets, please contact:

Priyanka Lilaramani: priyanka@stern.nyu.edu ; 917 715 3287

For Press inquiries, please contact:

Shourin Roy: sr240@columbia.edu; 646 662 6057

*Past Press: *

*Theater Mania* - "The professionalism, wit and daring on abundant display . . . . make AlterEgo Productions a company to look out for"

*TheaterMania* - listed Indian Ink under best of 2003 as a "Shows You Should Have Seen But Probably Didn't"

www.alteregoproductions.org

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A First Class Man - Press Kit (.pdf)
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PRESS RELEASE
September 8, 2006

For Immediate Release

ALTER EGO PRODUCTIONS BRINGS TO THE STAGE THE WORLD PREMIERE OF DAVID FREEMAN’S A FIRST CLASS MAN — THE ASTOUNDING TRUE STORY OF RAMANUJAN, THE BRILLIANT INDIAN MATHEMATICIAN

Alter Ego Productions brings together people from many different professional backgrounds sharing a common passion for theater. The company was founded in April 2002 by a group of individuals whose professional focus is not theater but who have a strong interest in theater and significant past experience in directing, acting, or set design.

Alter Ego’s current production — David Freeman’s A First Class Man — is the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a shipping clerk living in India in the 1910’s who possessed an innate genius and a full time passion for producing complex mathematical theorems and equations but who had no formal training. Was he a fraud? Not according to the eminent British mathematician and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, G.H.. Hardy, who recognizes Ramanujan’s talent and invites him to come to Cambridge. One problem: Ramanujan’s strict religious orthodoxy forbids him to travel overseas. A First Class Man explores the complex and dysfunctional relationship between Hardy’s precise world of mathematics and scientific orthodoxy that clashes with Ramanujan’s more intuitive and spiritual relationship with numbers. In the end we discover that the stripped down and sequestered world of mathematics and academia cannot keep out human frailties and cultural differences.

Alter Ego is thrilled to be presenting this world premiere production by acclaimed novelist, essayist, and playwright David Freeman, known for his critically acclaimed and widely produced play Jessie and the Bandit Queen. Director Kareem Fahmy is a graduate of Columbia University’s prestigious MFA program in Theatre Directing. His recent work includes Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Judith Thompson’s Lion in the Streets at the Abingdon Theatre. A First Class Man features a deeply talented cast of ten, led by Amir Arison who recently appeared in Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theatre production of Love’s Labor’s Lost directed by Michael Kahn.

Previously, Alter Ego produced Who’s Afraid of Vijay Tendulkar?, Fatwa, Indian Ink, Chaos Theory, and Hayavadana. Our most successful production to date — the New York premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink — ran at the Soho Repertory Theater from August 16, 2003 through September 7, 2003. It was a critical and popular success prompting us to extend it to a short Off-Broadway run and TheaterMania to list it under the 2003’s category for “Shows You Should Have Seen But Probably Didn’t”.

A First Class Man opens October 5th at The 45th Street Theater, 354 W. 45th St., with performances until October 21st.

Performances: October 5 to 21: Wednesday through Saturday at 8 pm (except Fri Oct 6 at 7 pm); Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 pm

Tickets: www.smarttix.com; (212) 868-4444.

For additional information or to schedule an interview, please contact Alter Ego’s press representative Shourin Roy at sr240@columbia.edu or call 646-662-6057. Photos available upon request. To download our press kit, please visit our website or contact Shourin Roy.

www.alteregoproductions.org

A First Class Man - Press Release (. pdf )
Download file

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Posted by Shourin Roy at 01:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Exciting news ahead! Alter Ego Productions has decided to shake off the cobwebs and emerge with renewed vigour (Old English), to present Off-Off Broadway with their production of David Freeman's A First Class Man, this fall beginning, the 5th of October to the 21st of October, 2006 at the 45th Street theater. Keep tuned!

Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920)

A First Class Man is the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a shipping clerk living in India in the early 20th century, possessing an innate genius and a full time passion for producing complex mathematical theorems and equations, without any formal training in mathematics. Quixotic fraud?? Not according to the eminent British mathematician and Cambridge don, GH Hardy, who recognizes Ramanujan's talent and wants him to come over to Cambridge. One problem: Ramanujan's religious beliefs forbids him to travel overseas.

A First Class Man explores the complex and dysfunctional relationship between a Cambridge educated don steeped in the precise world of mathematics, whose scientific orthodoxy clashes with Ramanujam's more intuitive and spiritual relationship with numbers. In the end, eventually, we discover that even the stripped down and sequestered world of mathematics and academia, cannot keep apart human frailties and cultural differences.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 03:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)