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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India Abroad Article, October 13th

Not just the man who knew infinity

A new play on math wizard Srinivasa Ramanujan aims to bring his life out of the ivory towers of academia, discovers Arthur J Pais

Bhavna Thakur has known for a long time that few lives can be as compelling as that of the math genius
Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan. “I am not at all surprised that Hollywood has discovered him,” Thakur says, referring to the Edward Pressman film that will be shot next year in India and the United Kingdom. “Though I feel it could have done so many years ago,” Thakur adds.

Read more here and here

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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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September 29th, 2006.

What an evening it was! Room 312, Mathematics Hall in Columbia University was packed to the rafters as almost 200 people made it in for the Ramanujan Panel, A man in pursuit of Infinity. The math department had to arrange for an overflow room with an AV link, the response was overwhelming.

Nilou Safinya, A First Class Man's stage manager, resplendent in a dark blue sari, introduced the evening to the audience. The panelists included Freeman Dyson, professor emeritus at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton, spry at the age of 84, with his anecdotes of Cambridge and GH Hardy. Professor Dyson had taken Hardy's classes in number theory while studying at Winchester College. Dyson compared Ramanujan to the great experimental mathematicians of the times, including Euler, Fermat, and Poincaire. Ramanujan's forte laid in the great sweeping theorems that came to him like grand gestures unbidden from a hidden source, a wellspring; unorthodox in its origination. We can call it divine ordination. In Western rationalism, he would be considered a mystic. Ramanujan led mathematics to the mountaintop in pursuit of truth, but left the intricacies of the workings of his theorems to other mathematicians, many who have done yeoman work and earned accolades.

Dyson probably had the most personal insights into the pysche of GH Hardy, a classically trained mathematician true to the book. Perhaps Hardy's greatest characteristic was his unbending rationalism. Dyson called him "a bit of a cold fish." He loved Ramanujan for his mathematics and the intellectual companionship but failed when it came to the more nurturing aspects of the relationship. A tragic note was infused into the life of Ramanujan, when Dyson brought to the fore, the misdiagnosis of Ramanujan's ailment that eventually claimed his life. It was commonly believed that Ramanujan suffered from tuberculosis, in fact, it is now almost certain he had amoebic hepatitis, a condition common in tropical countries, and perfectly treatable. Hardy, in Dyson's eyes was culpable of not seeking out doctor's who were familiar with tropical diseases and confining Ramanujan to a TB sanitarium.

Professors Dorian Goldfeld and Peter Sarnak, number theorists at Columbia and Princeton University, elaborated the Ramanujan partitions, the Ramanujan tau function, and the general Ramanujan conjecture on infinite series. And what is an evening on number theory without the chalkboard? Goldfeld and Sarnak went to work with the chalk scribbling Ramanujan's theorems, with enthusiasm and unbridled glee. For most non-mathematicians in the audience there was an awareness at the end of the evening, what the partition theory in its basic form stood for. As Sarnak stated that Ramanujan loved sums, numbers and their interaction with other numbers. He searched those relationships, pure, and abstract, and strangely in the end, elemental. For Ramanujan was also obsessed with the specifics. Nobody can accuse him of a grand design.

It was left to Gauri Viswanathan, professor of anthropology and comparative literature at Columbia to bring context to Ramanujan's life. She drew attention to the remarkable support that Ramanujan enjoyed in retrospect, in India to carry out his passion, and the ancillary cast of characters, both Indian and British, that were involved in the discovery of Ramanujan. Remarkable given the fact, that India was a British colony, with an educational system that rewarded rote learning. Ramanujan himself was a failure in conventional education, his school performance would have never allowed any success in the clerical jobs open to Indians in those days. That in itself is another fascinating story. She made an interesting point that Hardy's aloofness and pallid nature created a barrier, a space essential for Ramanujan to remain productive, and carry out an astonishing output of work between 1912 to 1914.

There are many contentious points in the annals of colonial history, between India and Britain. In fact, we can debate the whole ' Were the Brits good for us?' and come up with something very unsatisfactory, to both sides. However, in Ramanujan's case, for a brief shining moment in history, contention was laid to rest. In large part by individuals who were willing to work outside of the institutional framework, notably GH Hardy.

The evening was moderated by Harish Bhat, professor of applied mathematics at Columbia, who brought the right touch of wit and gravitas to the proceedings. At the end of an extremely satisfying evening, the panelists and the audience repaired to the Mathematics Lounge for some well deserved beverages and food, courtesy Bilimoria Wines and Devi Restaurant.

We greatly appreciate the help and involvement of Terrance Cope, Administrator at the Mathematics Department, The CU Mathematics Department, the CU Arts Initiative, David Poratta and Anne Burt at the OPA, and the panelists and the audience for making this evening so spectacularly successful.

Below are photos of the Ramanujan evening, courtesy of Asha Divakaran. Thanks also to Andy Brown for filming the panel. We should soon have the video of the panel for those who missed the event and also for those who want to take a look again.

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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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Tom Stoppard once wrote, “Every exit is an entry somewhere else”, which is a tongue in cheek way of saying that there are opportunities everywhere. I first came across Stoppard in his wondrously zany play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and then by and by got more familiar with his work through my friend and the notorious raconteur Anuvab Pal, a staple of the New York theater scene, rotund in his grubby, coffee stained Thomas Pink shirt and spats. Pal worked ostensibly for Reuters during the day but in the twilight, in dimly lit, urine reeking hallways (he had fallen back on his rent), worked feverishly on his plays, many that Alter Ego produced and none that made money. His father visiting him on those days that Pal habited an apartment was very fond of saying that he would end up like the mad Jesus freak with wild eyes on the 1 train ranting for hours about the world coming to an end. Pal’s father had unsurprisingly chosen not to read any of Pal’s verbiage. Otherwise the similarities would have been fairly clear; both wanted annihilation of the world by different means.

But Alter Ego has made a career of Stoppard’s adage. Legend has is that Puja Ogale and Seema Malik, two Alter Ego members got a blind man to donate his Braille books (a prop essential to a play), after promising him a pair of free tickets to the play. The origin of Alter Ego grew out of a drink fueled conversation between Bhavna Thakur, a transaction lawyer and collector of rare vegetables and Nilay Oza, a toy train addict and an MIT trained architect at a friend’s loft. Bhavna performed a skit of Lady Godiva on horseback that evening, with Nilay clearing the way for her by shoving his host’s dinner table out of the way and rearranging the furniture. Bhavna instantly appreciated his set design skills. The two decided that the next play had to be a horse based one. Fortunately, Peter Schaffer’s Equus lost out to Hayavadana, the talking horse play by Girish Karnad. This was back in 2002. Since then we have been on a tear, averaging one play a year.

Along the way, we have produced Anuvab Pal’s Chaos Theory, a play about the imperfect physics of love and delusion but mostly delusion; Tom Stoppard’s NY premier of Indian Ink, a play rarely performed by theater companies and thus a treat for all Stoppard fans; Israel Horowitz’s The Indian Wants The Bronx, which featured the smarmy Dell computer kid; Anuvab Pal’s Fatwa, a play about two cranky old men eating lots of kebabs; and a reading of Anuvab Pal and Shourin Roy’s Who’se Afraid of Vijay Tendulkar?, a tribute to India’s foremost playwright, in the presence of the eminence gris himself. I have a feeling that he was not impressed by our efforts because he has never returned our calls or emails.

The NY premier of Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, produced by Alter Ego, an Off Off Broadway theater company and not by the Lincoln Center was considered a major coup in NY theater circles. It had Samuel French, Stoppard’s literary agents in a tizzy. In the end it helped that the company comprised of members of the South Asian diaspora who felt that they were equally competent in deciphering a play that was based in their backyard. A point that was driven home by Nilay Oza, Indian Ink’s producer. In the end Nilay’s persistence paid off. It took the personal intervention of Stoppard in giving us the rights to stage the play. He was supposed to have come across the pond for the opening but a bout of food poisoning brought about by the consumption of a plate of chicken tikka masala at a pit stop near Holborn kept him away. He did make it a year later but that was for a NYT sponsored conversation with the late Mel Gussow. We had gone for it but never quite screwed up enough courage to ask him about Indian Ink and what he thought of the itsy bitsy teensy weensy theatre company that had beaten back the Lincoln Center to produce it.

Such was the buzz on the play, that our publicity team thanks to the crystal clear Sprint service on their cell phones had gotten wind that Bob Dylan would be coming for the play. Bob Dylan?? Robert Zimmerman?? Was he considering a career change in Off- Off Broadway productions or Just Blowin’ in the Wind? In the end it turned out to be Matt Dillon, who is a lot easier on the eye than Bob Dylan. No offence to Bob but the last singer who tried his hand at acting was Kris Kristofferson, at present seen on ESPN late night peddling hair products amongst TV ads that promote penis enhancers.

The anecdote serves as a reminder of the pulling power of playwrights such as Tom Stoppard. You just have to mention his name and reviewers and celebrities will fall over themselves to come see the play, of course unless you are from the NYT or the New Yorker. Then it depends on the play and the theater company. In most other instances as revealed in a workshop that I attended thanks to a timely call by Reshma Patel, an unflinching Amitabh Bachhan lover, and together we were supposed to do the Bunty and Babli dance number at Bhavna’s marriage last year, till saner counsels prevailed, is that reviewers consider themselves omnipotent. Their egos need to be regularly massaged and with lesser known playwrights and smaller theater companies, it becomes almost impossible to get a Ben Brantley to review. Thus, let us not berate lawyers too much, the theatre reviewer is equally despicable in many instances. Along the way, Alter Ego has learned that you may get the play, but not necessarily, the review.

This brings us to our forthcoming production, David Freeman’s A First Class Man, a play about the Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan and widely considered one of twentieth century’s towering geniuses and his complex relationship with the Cambridge don Professor GH Hardy, his mentor and discoverer, who brought Ramanujan over to Cambridge in the early 1900’s. David Freeman had read Robert Kanigel’s book on Ramanujan, The Man Who Knew Infinity, considered the definitive biography by many mathematicians, and it provided the inspiration to dramatize Ramanujan’s life. His early attempts were work shopped by the Lark Theater Company and the play took shape through many iterations.

The story of a simple man with a genius for coming up with mathematical theorems and with little formal training is fascinating because amongst the sciences, mathematics demands the most rigorous proof that is extensively peer reviewed. In contrast, the process in biological sciences is based on empirical evidence. In the face of the overwhelming rationalism seen in mathematics, the stories of Srinivasa Ramanujan and John Nash, Jr, the Nobel Prize winning discoverer of game theory and the protagonist of Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind, stand out starkly. In Ramanujan’s instance each theorem was the result of divine ordination, the family deity, the goddess Namagiri: Schizophrenia in John Nash’s lifelong battle with the disease. The work of Ramanujan and his body of more than 3000 theorems have consumed the likes of Professor Bruce Berndt at the University of Illinois who has spent almost three decades deciphering Ramanujan’s handbooks, the ones that he scrawled his equations on a century ago. Springer Publishing, publishes the Ramanujan Journal, the foremost journal on number theory that has 25 editors on the board, representing universities from the USA to Japan. The SASTRA institute in Thanjavur recently instituted the SASTRA prize, in remembrance of Ramanujan. The prize is given to mathematicians under the age of 32 years (the age at which Ramanjuan passed away) for their outstanding contribution in number theory. Manjul Bhargava and Kannan Sounderrajan were the first recepients of the prize at a function held in Ramanujan's hometown of Kumbakonam.

For mathematicians everywhere, deciphering Ramanujan’s compendium of theorems has proved to be immensely challenging and rewarding. But what is there for the non-mathematicians? Well, the equally important task to take Ramanujan out of the ivory tower. We forget that Ramanujan was not just a mathematician, although he happens to be one of the few definitive ones, in the lines of Euler, Fermat, and Poincaire, he was also a human being of flesh and blood. Mathematics proved to be a giant source of sublimation for this apparently simple man making choices that he did not have control of; his education, work, and marriage. His unhappiness in having these choices made for him, drove him from India, much against his religious beliefs to find validity in his passion, mathematics: To Cambridge and GH Hardy, bearing miserably cold winters, starvation, and a society that understood very little of him, to sickness and finally, death. In his short span of 32 years, he lived in those days, a remarkable life. A life that apart from a few of us, know very little of, because so far we have books. And who reads those? But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. A First Class Man, spearheads a line of future productions that are coming out on Ramanujan. Next year, Stephen Fry, a fellow Cambridge alumni and Dev Benegal are bringing out a movie on Ramanujan, followed by Warner Brothers and their picture on his life based on Robert Kanigel's book. If rumors are to be believed, Johnny Depp is playing Ramanujan. I think it probably would have brought a little smile to Ramanujan’s face, to think that the hero of the Pirates of the Caribbean would be playing him.

As for Alter Ego, as we said before, we have found opportunites at every exit. Especially at exit 6 of the NJ Turnpike, where Amit Nerurkar found a discarded toy horse head that served as the main prop in Hayavadana, our first play. We have moved along and are now looking for a serving dish that holds meat, the fancy ones with a retractable cover. We still have about 12 more exits to go. Knowing Alter Ego, we will find it.

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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)
Download file

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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 )
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###

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PRESS RELEASE
September 6, 2006

For Immediate Release
Panel Discussion on the Life and Work of Srinivasa Ramanujan

Thank you for your interest in Alter Ego Productions. Our upcoming production, David Freeman’s A First Class Man, is the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, widely considered twentieth century’s most famous mathematical prodigy, and his fortuitous and successful collaboration with the Cambridge don and mathematician, Professor GH Hardy.
A First Class Man will be performed from October 5-21st at The 45th Street Theatre, 354 W. 45th St.
(between Eighth and Ninth Avenue). Tickets are available at smarttix.com or (212) 868-4444.

Alter Ego is delighted that Columbia University’s Mathematics Department along with the Columbia University Arts Initiative has decided to host an Evening on Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan: His Life and Work, on 29th September, 2006. The panel of eminent speakers includes experts on Ramanujan’s field of number theory and in colonial studies, who will examine the context of Ramanujan’s contribution in the time of British colonial India, as well as more ethnographic antecedents of scientific logic in contrast to Cartesian rationalism in vogue in western scientific discourse. The panelists include:

Freeman Dyson: Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences, the Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton.
Peter C Sarnak: Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University
Dorian Goldfeld: Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University
Gauri Viswanathan: Class of 1933 Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University
David Freeman: Playwright of A First Class Man
Harish S Bhat: Assistant Professor, Applied Science and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University

The evening will begin at 6:30 PM, with a series of short presentations by each speaker followed by a moderated panel discussion open to the audience. The evening will conclude at 9:00 PM, followed by a wine and cheese reception at the Columbia Mathematics Department.

Date: 29th September, 2006.
Time: 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM.
Venue: Room 312, Mathematics Department, Columbia University, 116th Street and Broadway.

Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan, was born December 22, 1887, in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India. He showed a consuming passion and genius for mathematics at an early age. An orthodox Brahmin and devout in his religious beliefs, Ramanujan attributed every mathematical equation to his family deity, the goddess Namagiri. In 1912, he sent his now famous letters containing his equations to Professor GH Hardy, who persuaded him to come to Cambridge. An obscure clerk at the Port Trust of Madras, Ramanujan was to become a Fellow of the Royal Society and of Trinity College, Cambridge, while proving, in association with his mentor, G.H. Hardy, results that continue to astound the world of mathematics to this day. Between 1914 and 1918, Ramanujan produced 3000 theorems, many that are still being deciphered today. However, Ramanujan fell prey to the harsh winters of England and was diagnosed with tuberculosis which was exacerbated by the rigors and stress of academic life, his feeling of isolation in an alien culture and the scarcity of vegetarian food. He returned to India in 1919, and died shortly after, on April 26th, 1920 at the age of 32.

For more information and further enquiries, please contact: Shourin Roy at sr240@columbia.edu or call: 646-662-6057

Ramanujan Panel Press Release (.pdf)
Download file

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After seeing the tip of the iceberg on Ramanujan, here are the thoughts that I have:

The story of Ramanujan is a fascinating tale of extra-ordinary happenstance, a mathematical genius, with so many what ifs, what if GH Hardy and J Littlewood had dismissed him as a quack, what if Ramanujan's mother had not had those vivid dreams of her son in Europe, what if Ramanujan had succeeded in committing suicide, what if Ramanujan's illness had been correctly diagnosed, what if GN Watson had not kept those papers in a box, what if after his death those papers had been burned, what if George Andrews had not stumbled upon those papers after 50 years, and understood their import, what if Bruce Berndt had not been inspired by spending the next thirty years pouring over those theorems, what if Richard Askey had not responded to Janaki Ammal's plea for recognition of her late husband, what if........ what if...... it is an infinite series of what ifs.

What if Ramanujan had been born in England with the mathematical abilities he had. He would have been hailed for his work but his life would have been an unremarkable life of finite what ifs. Even the famous taxi cab number incident could not have occurred.

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This article has been posted up on behalf of Deepanjana Pal

"I've always been fascinated by the Ramanujan story, hasn't everyone?" asks Benegal. Probably not. For a country credited with discovering zero (I mean the number, not the concept), our interest in mathematical geniuses isn't necessarily overwhelming. As was obvious when an interviewer was more eager to know whether Stephen Fry's "discovery" of his own homosexuality was the reason to work on a screenplay about Ramanujan (Fry blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment and then politely said that he didn't see the relevance). It would perhaps been more pertinent to ask about Fry's years at Cambridge, which was when he first came across Ramanujan. He had been thinking about writing the story of 'the man who knew infinity' since then but had held back because he hadn't
found the right Indian to co-script and co-produce the project. Along came Dev Benegal.

Benegal, Fry and Gina Carter (of Sprouts Production) were in India to talk about the film, which begins shooting next year. Benegal said he was hoping to meet the Prime Minister (a Cambridge alumnus) and the President (who was born near Erode where Ramanujan was born) with Fry. I'm not sure how they can help with Ramanujan's story but Benegal looked immensely happy at the prospect of meeting them and contactmusic would have us believe that President Kalam is "working with" Fry.

Srinivas Aiyangar Ramanujan: a college drop-out, a mathematical genius, a homosexual, an Indian and dead by the age of 33. This could almost be more interesting than Jack the Ripper, especially with Stephen Fry doing the
writing. The multi-million dollar film will be directed by Dev Benegal and will be jointly-produced by Tropic Films and Sprouts' Productions. It will be filmed in Erode, Kumbakonam (Tamil Nadu) and Cambridge. No actors have been cast yet but Benegal promises us that it's not going to be the likes of Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan. The focus will be on the relationship between Srinivas Ramanujan and G.H. Hardy, who would many years later describe Ramanujan as the only romance of his life. Now who thought anyone would say that about an Indian man from Kumbakonam whose idea of a love letter possibly involved partition numbers?

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*Kareem Fahmy, Director*: Hailing from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Kareem Fahmy has directed nearly twenty productions in the U.S. and Canada. Montrealdirecting 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'sMFA Directing program where he studied under Anne Bogart.

More on Kareem Fahmy >>

Kareem recently directed Michael Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid

No figure from the Old West has inspired more imaginations than William "Billy the Kid" Bonney, the outlaw who was famed for killing 21 people ("one for each year of his life") before Pat Garrett but a bullet in his head in 1881. Michael Ondaatje, the award-winning author of The English Patient, weaves a lushly poetic, riotously comic, and harrowing play out of this amazing true life story. Director Kareem Fahmy paints an epic portrait of American society in the 1880s. Part love story, part musical, part suspense thriller, Billy the Kid's story is one of fame, friendship, and the inevitability of death.

Of interest to Alter Ego members is that Indian Ink alumnus, GR Johnson, who played the dashing David Durance was part of the play.

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David Freeman: Playwright of First Class Man

DAVID FREEMAN
David Freeman is 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.

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Alter Ego Productions is seeking a Stage Manager to work on their next venture -- a basic equity showcase production (equity approval pending) called 'A First Class Man' by David Freeman. Production will be held in October (with casting in July/August and rehearsals in September) at a midtown location. Candidate should be responsible, well-organized, personable, have the ability to deal with large casts and have some experience working on equity showcases. Pay in the amount of $250 (negotiable) will be provided. More details available about the company and play at www.alteregoproductions.org . Please submit resumes to puja@alteregoproductions.org or contact her at 917488 4189

Update: This position has been taken.

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Sponsorship Options:

Platinum Sponsor: $5,000 and above gets
- a black and white one half page advertisement in the playbill
- logo, name and link on Alter Ego website
- placement of your marketing materials (such as postcards or poster) at the theatre
- your company name and logo in our publicity and press materials

Diamond Sponsor: $2500 and above gets
- a black and white one quarter page advertisement in the playbill
- logo, name and link on Alter Ego website

Gold Sponsor: $1000 and above gets
- name and link on Alter Ego website

Silver Sponsor: $500 and above get
- name on Alter Ego website

Playbill Advertisements:

Advertisements can also be placed in the Playbill (distributed for all
the shows) based on the following options
- Cover page, back outside (color) - $1,000
- Cover page, front inside (b/w) - $850
- Cover page, back inside (b/w) - $750
- Full page, inside (b/w) - $500
- Half page, inside (b/w) - $300
- Quarter page, inside (b/w) - $200

Alter Ego also uses several materials for the production (such as costumes, props and other set items) and you are welcome to donate those items as well. We will also be glad to discuss any alternative proposal that we may have not covered in this proposal.

All financial contributions made to Alter Ego are received on their behalf by 'The Field'. Its mission is to support the performing arts community in New York City as a service organization on a non-exclusive basis.

501 (c) (3) information
The Field is a not-for-profit, tax exempt, 501 (c) (3) organization serving the New York City performing arts community. Contributions made to The Field and earmarked for Alter Ego Productions Inc are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information about the The Field contact: The Field 161 Sixth Avenue, New York NY 10013, (212) 691-6969, fax: (212) 255-2053, www.thefield.org, e-mail: info@thefield.org. A copy of The Field's latest annual reports may be obtained upon request, from The Field or from the Office of theAttorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

To find out how you can help Alter Ego Productions to keep producing their plays and folks like you entertained and informed, please contact Puja Ogale: puja@alteregoproductions.org or Seema Malik: seema@alteregoproductions.org

Thank you for your interest and support!

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Ken Ono is the Solle P. and Margaret Manasse Professor of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
His email address is ono@math.wisc.edu.

JUNE/JULY 2006 NOTICES OF THE AMS 641

In December, 2005 number theorist Ken Ono undertook a trip to India to the land of Srinivasa Ramanujan, ostensibly to attend the SASTRA University's conference on Number Theory and Computational Physics, where he was to give his lecture on Mock Theta Functions and Maass numbers and hear his student Karl Mahlburg give his first plenary lecture. Another highlight was to attend the SASTRA Ramanujan award for young mathematicians working in research influenced by Ramanujan's contribution to number theory, being awarded to his friends and fellow number theorists, Manjul Bhargava (Princeton University) and Kannan Sounderrajan (University of Michigan). His deeper and a more personal purpose was to understand better the legend that was Ramanujan. It was a pilgrimage to the home of an enigmatic genius whose work in number theory is still being deciphered even sixty years after his death and which has fascinated Ken Ono ever since he embarked on his career as a mathematician.

Ken Ono is a good friend of Bruce Berndt, the number theorist at the University of Illinois (Urbana- Champaign), who has spent three decades studying Ramanujan's theorems from his notebooks. One of Ken Ono's collaboration with Bruce Berndt, was deciphering Ramanujan's work on partition numbers.

Here is Ken Ono reminiscing about that momentous visit and his own interest in Srinivasa Ramanujan. His father is an eminent number theorist, Takashi Ono, at Johns Hopkins. At that time Ken Ono was a teenager more interested in bike racing. He recounts his first experience with Ramanujan.

I first heard the story of Ramanujan when I was a reticent teenager obsessed with bicycle racing. It was a beautiful spring day in 1984, and my mind was on an important bicycle race in Washington D.C. when a letter adorned with Indian stamps arrived. The letter was dated 17-3-1984, and it was carefully typewritten on delicate rice paper. My father, Takashi Ono, a number theorist at Johns Hopkins University, was deeply moved by the letter which read:

Dear Sir,
I understand from Mr. Richard Askey,
Wisconsin, U.S.A., that you have contributed
for the sculpture in memory of
my late husband Mr. Srinivasa Ramanujan.
I am happy over this event.
I thank you very much for your good
gesture and wish you success in all your
endeavours.
Yours faithfully,
Signed S. Janaki Ammal

My father explained that Dick Askey, a mathematician at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, had organized an effort, on behalf of the mathematicians of the world, to commission a sculpture of Ramanujan. This initiative was in response to an interview4 with Janaki Ammal, Ramanujan’s widow. She lamented, They said years ago a statue would be erected in honor of my husband. Where is the statue?

Financed by Askey’s efforts, artist Paul Granlund rendered a sculpture based on Ramanujan’s 1919 passport photo, and he produced eleven bronze casts, including one for Ramanujan’s widow. My father happily contributed US$25, and hence the letter. Upon hearing this explanation, I asked, “Who was Ramanujan?” “Why would you give $25 expecting nothing in return?” That was when I first heard Ramanujan’s story.

It was a singular moment in the young Ken Ono's life at a time when he was not really interested in pursuing a career in mathematics.

" As it was, the romantic tale made a lasting impression, and, thanks to my choice of career and the passage of time, has become one of my favorite stories."

Twenty years later, after that first encounter with Ramanujann, Ken Ono was on a plane to India reading GH Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology, wrestling with Hardy's words in the Tercentenary lecture at Harvard that he delivered in 1936.

"I am sure that Ramanujan was no mystic and that religion, except in a strictly material sense, played no important
part in his life. Could this be true? He also proclaimed (see page 5 of [17]), There is quite enough about Ramanujan
that is difficult to understand, and we have no need to go out of our way to manufacture mystery."

Is it possible to rationally explain the legend of Ramanujan?

I arrived in Chennai at 8:45 a.m. on December 19, 2005 from Mumbai.

Imagine Ken Ono's delight that the work that he did was mentioned at the Sarangapani Temple at Kumbakonam where Ramanujan and his family visited daily for their prayers. The temple has numbers scrawled on the walls.

" I excitedly searched for 1729, the taxi cab number. I never spotted it, but to my amazement I found 2719 prominently etched at eye level. For me this number plays a special role in the lore of Ramanujan, not only as a permutation of the digits of 1729, but for its connection to his work on quadratic forms. In 1997 Sound and I proved [21], assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, that 2719 is the largest odd number not represented by Ramanujan’s ternary quadratic form

x2 + y2 + 10z2.

I was delighted to see it near where Ramanujan worked a century ago."

In the end did Ken Ono's pilgrimage help him to understand the legend of Ramanujan? Not really, but his explanation would have gladdened the hearts of many authors of magical realism, from Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, to Yann Martel, and their followers, of the infinite powers of the imagination and the mysteries of the human heart.

" For me, there is a poetic resolution to the question of whether one can rationally explain the legend of Ramanujan: this true story is one of magic. Ramanujan was an untrained mathematician, toiling largely in isolation, whose work was born entirely out of imagination. He was a pioneer and a self-taught anticipator of great mathematics, and
this is indeed magical. After all, great mathematics is magic, something we can understand but whose inspiration we cannot comprehend. Ramanujan was a gift to the world of mathematics."

In similar fashion that so many in the theater world undertake the journey to Stratford Upon Avon to pay homage to the Bard of Avon, this is Ken Ono's moving and touching account of his journey to Ramanujan's home in Kumbakonam.>>

(Ken Ono, Honoring a Gift from Kumbakonam, Notices Of The AMS, Volume 53, Number 6, June/ July 2006)

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It looks like Ashwin's hours spent on the stationary bike paid off! With Beatrice. Ashwin, Bhavna, and Prashant, get together and discuss the state of theater. Seema, Puja, and Prashant, on the podium announcing the raffle prize winners.

More pictures here >>

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Posted by Shourin Roy at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to all the folks who came out for the Movida event. A big shout out to all of you. Your support means everything to Alterego and to the cause of theater and we hope to keep entertaining folks in the Big Apple.

Thanks mucho to Seema, Saad, Mithun, Beatrice, Shetal, Anjali, Tarika, Akshay, Ashwin, Reshma, Prashant, DJ Kapil, and Puja who helped out with the event.

The AV stuff showed clips and stills from our past Alterego productions and it was loads of fun to see Vikram Somaya, Bhavna Thakur, Anuvab Pal, Debargo Sanyal, Lethia Nall, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Deep Katdare, Rebecca Challis, Helen Jean Arthur, GR Johnson, Brian Coffee, Kevin Chap, Ranjit Gupte, Prashant Vijay, Joe Jamrog, up on the screen.

There was even a raffle to win a date and then everybody made a beeline to ask our resident astrologer if they had the prize winning ticket. I went too and he correctly predicted that I had never won anything in life and I was not going to start today. Well, it was good that I got back down to the bar after that.

Thanks to Movida for their support -great drinks and great location!

We will post the pictures out as soon as we get them. .

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