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Homepage image by Peter Andrew Lusztyk. Design by Key Gordon. Image courtesy of the Shaw Festival.

Mahabharata is a contemporary take on a 4000-year-old Sanskrit epic that is foundational to South Asian culture. This gripping story of a family feud is an exploration of profound philosophical ideas. Why Not’s large-scale retelling stars a cast of performers from across the South Asian diaspora and is told over two large-scale theatrical presentations (Karma and Dharma) bridged by a community meal and storytelling session (Khana & Kahani). Mahabharata was originally commissioned and presented by the Shaw Festival in association with Barbican, London.

partners MAHABHARATA Created and written by Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes, using poetry from Carole Satyamurti’s "Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling"
Directed by Ravi Jain
With associate director Miriam Fernandes
Original concept developed with Jenny Koons
A Why Not Theatre Production
Perth run presented by Perth Festival
Toronto run presented by Canadian Stage with Why Not Theatre
Ottawa run presented by the National Arts Centre
Originally commissioned and presented by the Shaw Festival
In association with Barbican, London
 about why not theatre Listen to Sharada K Eswar doing a reading of the Mahabharata title (pronounced “Ma-ha-BAR-ah-tha”). Pronounciation Mahabharata Circle 2025 cast + creative

Musicians

Barbican Tour Cast & Creative

Shaw Premiere Cast & Creative

partners

Cast

John Gzowski (Conductor, Co-Composer, Co-Sound Designer, Guitar)
Suba Sankaran (Band Leader, Co-Composer, Co-Sound Designer, Voice)
Dylan Bell (Bass, Keyboard, Music Contributions)
Gurtej Singh Hunjan (Percussion & Music Contributions)
Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed (Tabla & Music Contributions)
Hasheel Lodhia (Bansuri, Voice, Music Contributions)
Mike Murray (Guitar) (Ottawa)

Creative

Shawn Ahmed
Neil D'Souza
Jay Emmanuel
Miriam Fernandes
Ravin J. Ganatra
Karthik Kadam
Darren Kuppan
Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu
Goldy Notay
Ellora Patnaik
Meher Pavri
Sakuntala Ramanee
Ronica Sajnani
Ishan Sandhu
Navtej Sandhu
Munish Sharma
Arun Varma
Sukania Venugopal

Production Team

about Stage Manager Neha Ross
Assistant Stage Managers Victoria Wang, Jenny Kim (Perth, Toronto), Wei Qing Tan (Ottawa) and May Nemat Allah (New York)
Technical Director Daniel Bennett
Production Manager Maya Royer (Banff, Toronto, Ottawa)
Production Manager Lauren Rebelo (Perth)
*Apprentice Production Manager, Pre-Production Hailey Tan (Banff)
*Production Stage Manager (Khana & Kahani) & Apprentice Production Manager Jadi Darawi (Toronto)
Head of Video & Video Operation Matthew Mellinger
Head of Sound Brandon Wells
Music Coordinator Zaheer-Abbas Janhommed
Head of Wardrobe Chanti Laliberte
Producer Naomi Campbell (Toronto, Ottawa)
Consulting Producer Rebecca Desmarais
Assistant Producer and Company Manager Nika Jalali
Production Finance Sarah Newkirk
Production Marketing Mary Anderson
Touring Agent David Lieberman Artists' Representatives
Why Not Theatre Executive Director Karen Tisch Mahabharata was developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund and remounted with the generous support of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity through a theatre residency in January 2025. Director Ravi Jain
Associate Director Miriam Fernandes
Set Designer Lorenzo Savoini
Costume Designer Gillian Gallow
Lighting Designer Kevin Lamotte
Associate Lighting Designer Mikael Kangas
Projection Designer Hana S. Kim
Associate Projection Designer Ann Slote
Original Music & Sound Designer John Gzowski & Suba Sankaran
Traditional Music Consultant Hasheel Lodhia
Choreographer Brandy Leary with contributions from Jay Emmanuel & Ellora Patnaik
Kathakali Advisor Kalamandalam ThulasiKumar
Original concept developed with Jenny Koons
Creative Associate, Khana & Kahani Storyteller Sharada K Eswar
Lead Production Manager Crystal Lee
Lead Producer Kevin Matthew Wong Mahabharata includes text with permission from Carole Satyamurti’s Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling, published by W. W. Norton & Company; Devdutt Pattanaik’s Jaya, An Illustrated Retelling Of The Mahabharata, published by Penguin Random House India; and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. * Haley Tan and Jadi Darawi’s apprenticeships were made possible by the generous support of the National Arts Centre. Mahabharata Circle why not theatre 2025 cast + creative Major Partners partners about why not theatre Partners

Creation and 2023 Partners

Nancy & Richard Hamm Mahabharata Circle Mahabharata Circle Dharma Upkar & Nita Arora
Deb Barrett & Jim Leech
Lindy Green & Sam Chaiton
Nancy & Richard Hamm
Martha Burns & Paul Gross
Frances & Tim Price
Andrew & Valerie Pringle
Ravi Jain & Sarena Parmar Karma Marilyn & Charles Baillie
Sonia Chanchlani
Miriam Fernandes & Sturla Alvsvaag
Karen Tisch & Mark Slone
Wuchien Michael Than Seva Donna Armstrong
Virginia Dixon
Ernest & Maria Fernandes
Robert J. Foster, C.M. & Julia Foster, C.M.
Blake & Susan Hutcheson
Sachindra Jain
Jessica Kamphorst & Alex Whitehead
Raj & Shaila Kothari
Dana Lafarga
Seema Lakhani
Owais Lightwala
Chris Lorway
Nagpal Vir Family Foundation
Nan & David Oldroyd
Michael & Lynda O'Neil Powers
Michael Trent
Ishan Sandhu
Nalini Stewart
Sunir Chandaria
Zabeen Hirji Valerie & Andrew Pringle 2025 cast + creative

Why Not Theatre

partners Why Not Theatre is an international theatre company based in Toronto, Canada, operating at the intersection of art, innovation and social change. Rooted in values of community and collaboration, Why Not challenges the status quo, rethinking how stories are told and who gets to tell them. Since its inception, the company has developed and produced 50+ new plays to critical and public acclaim. These works have toured to over 50 cities and garnered over 40 awards and nominations. Why Not is led by Ravi Jain, Karen Tisch and Miriam Fernandes.

Click the button below to learn more about the Why Not Theatre team. why not theatre about About Why Not Theatre Mahabharata Circle 2025 cast + creative

Musicians

For Why Not Theatre

partners

Cast

Dylan Bell
John Gzowski
Gurtej Singh Hunjan
Zaheer-Abbas Janmohammed
Hasheel Lodhia
Suba Sankaran

Creative

Shawn Ahmed
Jay Emmanuel
Neil D'Souza
Miriam Fernandes
Darren Kuppan
Anaka Maharaj Sandhu
Goldy Notay
Ellora Patnaik
Meher Pavri
Sakuntala Ramanee
Navtej Sandhu
Munish Sharma
Harmage Singh Kalirai
Sukania Venugopal
UNDERSTUDIES:
Varun Guru
Karthik Kadam
Ronica Sajnani
Ishan Sandhu

Production

about Production Manager, Crystal Lee
Associate Production Manager, Maya Royer
Production Stage Manager, Allan Teichman
Stage Manager, Neha Ross
Assistant Stage Managers, Tamara Protic and Ashley Ireland
Assistant Production Manager, Jacob Danson-Faraday*
Video & Systems, Engineer Danny Carr
Video Engineer, Matthew Mellinger
Video Assistant, Cameron Fraser
Technical Director of Video, Daniel Bennett
Assistant Sound Designer, Olivia Wheeler

Bhagavad Gita Opera

Written and adapted by Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain
Original music and score by John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran
Translation and text adaptation by Sharada K Eswar
Performed by Meher Pavri, with guest recording artist Trichy Sankaran (mrdangam) Directed by Ravi Jain
Set design by Lorenzo Savoini
Costume design by Gillian Gallow
Lighting design by Kevin Lamotte
Projection design by Hana S. Kim
with Associate Projection designer Ann Slote
Sound design by John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran
Original music by John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran
with contributions from Dylan Bell, Hasheel Lodhia, Gurtej Singh Hunjan, and Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed
Traditional music consultant Hasheel Lodhia
Choreographed by Brandy Leary
with contributions from Jay Emmanuel and Ellora Patnaik
Khana Storyteller and Creative Associate Sharada Eswar
Lead Producer Kevin Matthew Wong
Producer Michelle Yagi
Assistant Producer and Company Manager Matt Eger
Consulting Producer Kendra Bator Executive Director, Karen Tisch
Finance Director, Sarah Newkirk
Associate Producer, Fatima Adam
Operations and Development Manager , Katy Mountain
Interim Marketing and Communications Manager, Mary Anderson
Marketing Specialist, Yvonne Lu Trinh
Web and Graphic Designer, Evan MacKenzie

* This assistantship is supported by the CITT/ICTS In-House Assistantship Program. This program has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, through Canadian Heritage’s Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund.

Khana Catering by Jalsa Kitchen / Rajesh Kataria

shaw premiere cast & creative

Barbican Tour Cast & Creative

why not theatre Mahabharata Circle 2025 cast + creative

Musicians

Shaw Premiere Cast & Creative

partners

Cast

John Gzowski - Conductor/Co-Composer/Co-Sound Designer/Guitar
Suba Sankaran - Band Leader/Co-Composer/Co-Sound Designer/Voice
Dylan Bell - Bass/Keyboard/Music Contributions
Gurtej Singh Hunjan - Percussion/Music Contributions
Hasheel Lodhia - Bansuri/Voice/Music Contributions
Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed - Tabla/Music Contributions

Creative

Shawn Ahmed
Ajay Chhabra
Neil D'Souza
Jay Emmanuel
Miriam Fernandes
Varun Guru
Karthik Kadam
Darren Kuppan
Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu
Suma Nair
Goldy Notay
Ellora Patnaik
Meher Pavri
Sakuntala Ramanee
Ronica Sajnani
Ishan Sandhu
Navtej Sandhu
Munish Sharma
Sukania Venugopal

Production

about Neha Ross, Stage Manager
Victoria Wang, Assistant Stage Manager
Jenny Kim, Assistant Stage Manager
Daniel Bennett, Technical Director
Anthony Allan, Assistant Technical Director
Danny Carr, Head of Video and Video Op
Matthew Mellinger, Video Engineer
Brandon Wells, Head of Sound
Olivia Wheeler, Assistant Sound Designer & Playback Operator
Rachel Forbes, Head of Wardrobe
Michelle Mohammed, Toronto Company Manager
Maya Royer, Assistant Producer (Mahabharata: Karma and Mahabharata:Dharma) & Production Manager/Stage Manager (Khana & Kahani)
Mary Anderson, Communications
Yvonne Lu Trinh, Digital Marketing
Wise Children Productions - UK General Management
Perspective Marketing - UK PR and Marketing
Karen Tisch, Executive Director of Why Not Theatre

Bhagavad Gita Opera

Written and adapted by Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain
Original music and score by John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran
Translation and text adaptation by Sharada K Eswar
Performed by Meher Pavri, with guest recording artist Trichy Sankaran (mrdangam) Ravi Jain, Director
Miriam Fernandes, Associate Director
Lorenzo Savoini, Set Designer
Gillian Gallow, Costume Designer
Kevin Lamotte, Lighting Designer
Mikael Kangas, Associate Lighting Designer
Hana S. Kim, Projection Designer
Ann Slote, Associate Projections Designer
John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran, Original Music and Sound Design
Hasheel Lodhia, Traditional Music Consultant
Brandy Leary, Choreographer, with contributions from Jay Emmanuel and Ellora Patnaik
Kathakali Choreography for Jay Emmanuel - Kalamandalam ThulasiKumar (choreography), Kalamandalam Adhityan (Chenda), Kalamandalam Roopesh (Maddalam), Kalamandalam Abhijit Pillai (Thalam).
Sharada K Eswar, Creative Associate, Khana & Kahani Storyteller
Michelle Yagi, Co-Lead Producer
Kevin Matthew Wong, Co-Lead Producer
Crystal Lee, Production Manager

barbican tour cast & creative

Mahabharata includes text with permission from Carole Satyamurti’s Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling, published by W. W. Norton & Company, Devdutt Pattanaik’s Jaya, An Illustrated Retelling Of The Mahabharata, published by Penguin Random House India, and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. why not theatre Mahabharata Circle 2025 cast + creative Major Partners partners about why not theatre

2025 Partners

Sponsors for the Shaw Festival Partners Creation and 2023 Partners Bhagavad Gita Donors Mahabharata Circle Canadian Opera Company
Ramesh & Asha Jain
Bhalla Family Foundation
Wuchien Michael Than Foundation
Neil & Amisha Jain
Ravi & Deepa Jeswani
Vahe Koraian
Amit & Swati Singhal
Agrawal Family 2025 cast + creative

Mahabharata Circle

partners The Mahabharata Circle are a group of generous donors at the core of the Why Not community. Together they are making it possible to bring this breathtaking and boundary-breaking show to the world, providing international experience, training, and mentorship to a remarkable team of mostly BIPOC artists and theatre professionals.

Contact us to find out about the tickets and experiences that will be shared with donors in the Mahabharata Circle. Donors at the Seva and Karma levels will be part of the celebration in Toronto and the Dharma level will also join us in New York, OR, enjoy a small corporate group opportunity in Toronto. about Join the Mahabharata Circle now! Mahabharata Circle why not theatre 2025 cast + creative



THE LIFE WE INHERIT King Janamejaya is holding a ritual sacrifice in which he will kill all the snakes in the world to avenge his father’s death. In hopes of ending this cycle of revenge, a storyteller is summoned to tell King Janamejaya the tale of The Mahabharata. The storyteller tells of the rival Pandava and Kaurava clans, and the choices that lead to their infamous Game of Dice. Through playful narration, classical Indian dance, and a live band, the ensemble tells the stories of humans struggling to build a just world in the face of competition, jealousy, and rage. Exploring the themes of storytelling, ecocide, and dharma (empathy), Part 1 begins Mahabharata’s epic journey that asks, “When everyone believes they are right and their opponents wrong, how can one end a spiral of revenge?” PART ONE: KARMA

Community Meal and Storytelling Session KHANA & KAHANI: Mahabharata is a story that one learns over a lifetime; it needs to be absorbed and digested. To delve deeper into the philosophical riddles of the Pandava family’s thirteen years of exile, the audience gathers to share an Indian meal. Hosted by two charming storytellers, the audience experiences a tale from the Mahabharata as many people have, around the dinner table.



THE LIFE WE CHOOSE PART TWO: DHARMA King Janamejaya is told of the war fought by his ancestors – the battle of Kurukshetra and its devastating destruction of the planet, the mass extinction that follows, and of the survivors left behind to rebuild. In Mahabharata’s Part 2 (Dharma), the storytelling tools evolve into captivating projections, dynamic digital soundscapes, and poetic stage design. The stories delve simultaneously into philosophical and political ideas, and abstract and absolute truths. Interrogating the themes of justice and revenge, Part 2 includes a 15-minute Sanskrit opera adaptation of the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of God), which is the most sacred and famous chapter of the Mahabharata epic. The Bhagavad Gita tells of a conversation between the God Krishna and the great warrior Arjuna.

In times of division, how do we find wholeness? Are we destined to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors? Can we build a new world? King Janamejaya is confronted with the battle of Kurukshetra, and the battle inside his own heart.

Conversations Bhagavad Gita Opera As part of our production of Mahabharata, we developed a Sanskrit opera adaptation of the Bhagavad Gita. The opera can be experienced as part of Mahabharata Dharma: Part 2.

Click the thumbnail below to view a short preview of the opera that premiered at Jaipur Literature Festival Toronto (2020). Bhagavad Gita Opera behind the scenes Short Docs Conversations Short Documentaries Learn more about three essential components of Why Not Theatre's retelling of the Mahabharata through three short documentaries: Music, Khana & Kahani, and Movement. Videography by Devin McNulty.

Click the thumbnails below each heading to watch the short documentaries. Bhagavad Gita Opera behind the scenes Music Khana & Kahani Movement Short Docs Conversations Jaipur Literature Festival 2020 A conversation with famed mythologist, author, and illustrator Devdutt Pattanaik and theatre artists and writers Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes exploring the world of the Mahabharata through the lens of Jain and Fernandes’ stage adaptation of the ancient text. The conversation speaks to the relevance and importance of these myths in our modern world and how these epic stories can help us unpack the chaos around us.

Click the thumbnail below to watch a recording of the full session. Bhagavad Gita Opera behind the scenes Devdutt Pattanaik in conversation with Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes Short Docs

"A stunning world premiere." - The Globe and Mail Photo: The Cast of Why Not Theatre's Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo by Michael Cooper. "A captivating theatre experience, from the first flame to the last pixel." - Robert Lepage Photo: Miriam Fernandes, Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu, and Neil D'Souza in Why Not Theatre's Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo by David Cooper. Photo: Darren Kuppan, Harmage Singh Kalirai, Sakuntala Ramanee, and Goldy Notay in Why Not Theatre's Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo by David Cooper. "A magnificent achievement
in every way." - Stage Door (Toronto) Photo: Ellora Patnaik and Golday Notay in Why Not Theatre's Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo by David Cooper. "A triumphant success." - Toronto Star Photo: The Cast of Why Not Theatre's Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo by David Cooper. "“To be gob-smacked by this innovation would be an understatement.” - Deepa Mehta (filmmaker)