Pyaasa

Written by Anusree Roy
Directed by Thomas Morgan Jones
Previews from October 22
Opens October 24, runs to November 15, 2008

Set in Calcutta, India, Pyaasa explores issues surrounding the caste system, a discriminatory form of social stratification into which every Hindu is born. At the bottom of this hierarchy are the Untouchables, a group seen as sub-human by members of the Hindu caste system.

Winner of two 2008 Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the Independent Theatre Division (Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance by a Female), Pyaasa tells the story, with subtlety and nuanced truth, of an eleven-year-old Untouchable girl named Chaya. When Chaya’s mother begs a woman from a higher caste to give Chaya a job at a local tea stall, Chaya’s journey from “childhood” to “adulthood” begins – a journey that occurs in ten days.