It makes sense why YouTuber Arasha would be excited to make her East West Players debut with the time-flitting comedy \u201cWives.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a competitive debater in high school and a successful improv comedian, Arasha has an ideal background for delivering Jaclyn Backhaus\u2019 comedy-filled arguments about the lesser-known women orbiting some of history\u2019s most powerful men.<\/p>\n
Arasha, who goes by one name professionally, is joining three other comedic actors, including Parvesh Cheena (TV\u2019s \u201cCrazy Ex-Girlfriend\u201d) for the Southern California premiere of Jaclyn Backhaus\u2019 \u201cWives.\u201d The 90-minute, four-act play, directed by Arpita Mukherjee, begins previews Oct. 8 and opens Oct. 11.<\/p>\n
Backhaus often writes comedy that is historically based, focusing on gender issues. With \u201cWives,\u201d she gives voices to the women in the orbit of French King Henri II, three wives of Ernest Hemingway, as well as the wife and concubine of Maharaja Madho Singh II, ruler of Jaipur. The play\u2019s fourth section takes place in the present day and ties the past sections together.<\/p>\n
Ben Brantley in The New York Times called the 2019 premiere of \u201cWives\u201d \u201ca gleeful work of historical subversion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Billed as Wife 3, Arasha tackles four characters, joining Rachna Khatau and E.M. Davis, who portray many other key women.<\/p>\n
Arasha credits much of her fearlessness in both auditions and on stage to being a competitive debater during her high school years in Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will forever speak about speech, which was sort of competitive acting, and it was sort of a beta version of auditioning. It was, for lack of a better word, a little cutthroat. But it has given me the confidence as I enter into more spaces that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable and sometimes scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
After attending Emerson College in Boston, Arasha moved to Los Angeles, and soon joined the online comedy group Smosh. Last year, she co-created a live show, \u201cHow I Met Your Masi,\u201d which was directed by Mukherjee.<\/p>\n
She called the director\u2019s style chill and relaxed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has rules, she has structure and order and she\u2019s organized, but in this rehearsal process she keeps saying \u2018I\u2019m not married to anything,\u2019\u201d Arasha said. \u201cIt gives all of us actors the space. Every time we do a run I am really just trying to make Arpita laugh, and it is so rewarding to get that from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not surprising that Arasha and her co-stars are getting laughs from their director, because their comedic strengths were a big part of why they were cast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think comedic actors are top tier,\u201d Mukherjee said. \u201cComedy actors can often do drama because comedy is really coming from a deep place of truth. So I was looking for actors that have experience in sketch, that have experience in improv, that are always willing to explore or try something new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mukherjee established her directing credentials with the Washington Shakespeare Company in Washington, D.C. After moving to New York, she co-founded the Hypokrit Theatre Company. In 2018, she worked with Backhaus on the playwright\u2019s \u201cIndia Pale Ale\u201d at the Manhattan Theatre Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there, we actually ended up becoming friends,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a real dream of mine to be able to interpret Jaclyn\u2019s work, because I just find it so intriguing and thrilling and honestly sort of terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cheena said the director\u2019s style and the playwright\u2019s previous work drew him to the production. He and Mukherjee worked together on a workshop of a Madhuri Shekar play. That piece, like this one, required him to portray multiple characters, something he also did working on \u201cNeha & Neel\u201d for Artists at Play\/Latino Theater Company.<\/p>\n
\u201cI missed working with Arpita like a couple times before, so now twice in a year is a big gift,\u201d Cheena said. \u201cAnd, also, it\u2019s Jaclyn\u2019s words. I don\u2019t do theater without the play being good.\u201d<\/p>\n
His favorite aspect is the multiple roles. His goal is to commit to each character and make every moment, even the most outrageous ones, believable. And much of \u201cWives\u201d is outrageous, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hilarious,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it almost feels like four plays in one. Jaclyn said that she was going to write a play of Hemingway and then this Indian play, and then this French King play, and she found some commonality of these boorish men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mukherjee agrees the humor is at the forefront, but that there are several layers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feelings I think this play evokes are joy, wonder and curiosity,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not one of those plays where you\u2019re sitting and there\u2019s a slow play unfolding. You\u2019re going to be laughing right away. There\u2019s music, there\u2019s really funny props, we set things on fire. If you love sketch comedy, if you love \u2018SNL,\u2019 it\u2019s a play for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWives\u201d<\/p>\n
WHEN: Various times; Oct. 8 – Nov. 1 (opens Oct. 11)<\/p>\n
WHERE: David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles<\/p>\n
COST: Tickets start at $15<\/p>\n