A Los Altos fourth grader is performing in the world premiere of a new musical, cast alongside professional actors under the direction of Tony-Award winning Rachel Chavkin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sharaada Karthik plays supporting character Yashvi in the production \u201cThe Lunch Box,\u201d running through June 28 at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The musical is an adaptation of Ritesh Batra\u2019s 2013 film of the same name. Set in Mumbai, India, the romantic comedy involves a mix-up of lunch boxes. Sharaada\u2019s character is the daughter of the main character, Ila.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a little bit like me,\u201d Sharaada said of her character. \u201cShe\u2019s pretty bubbly, she loves school\u2026 she\u2019s just a little side character that shows up a little bit. Her mom is pretty sad\u2026so Yashvi just makes her life better. And they end up running to a place called Bhutan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharaada sings a few bars of a solo in the song \u201cBhutan.\u201d To prepare for this, she and Caryna Desai Shah \u2013 with whom she shares the role of Yashvi \u2013 underwent vocal training with vocal coach Akshara Sundar.\u00a0 Sharaada said they also learned some dancing for the role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Sharaada already had experience in singing and dancing in musical theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been singing since I was like 1 year old,\u201d Karthik said. \u201cI started getting into productions when I was 8, because I started doing \u2018Mary Poppins,\u2019 which was this Peninsula Youth Theatre production.\u201d<\/p>\n
Performing in \u201cThe Lunch Box\u201d has required more preparation, leading Sharaada to take classes online until the show closes. She also has a tutor on set.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve helped me a lot with my schoolwork and they’ve stayed with us and helped us,\u201d said Sharaada, who plans to return to Oak Avenue Elementary School next school year.<\/p>\n
She has also enjoyed working with the cast, many of whom are of South Asian descent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just cool because I\u2019m in an area where there\u2019s a bunch of South Asian characters like me, and they\u2019re really welcoming and fun to be around,\u201d Sharaada said.<\/p>\n
This sense of community has created a positive environment for Sharaada and the other child actors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody in the workspace is very friendly and it\u2019s a very good environment for me,\u201d she said. \u201cThey never leave us out or treat us like kids \u2013 they just treat us as equals. I just love acting in this show and being with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the show ends, Sharaada hopes to find other opportunities as an actor and said she may even get an agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do want to become an actress. I love singing naturally and dressing up as new characters and becoming them,\u201d Sharaada said. \u201cAge isn\u2019t really a limit \u2026 if there\u2019s an open casting that’s really cool, just be fearless about that. Don\u2019t be nervous, just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Los Altos fourth grader is performing in the world premiere of a new musical, cast alongside professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144,138816],"class_list":["post-336067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-stepping_out"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}