Sundaram “Sundy” Srinivasan plays the role of Gautam, father to Ramesh and Anjali, in “1-888-DIAL-INDIA.” He has previously acted in Shunya’s productions of Final Solutions and Everyone Loves a Good Tsunami, as well as Stages Repertory Theatre’s production of Bapsi Sidhwa’s An American Brat.
How did you first get involved with Shunya?
Many years ago, purely by chance. While I had done a lot of acting in university days, a friend told me that there was an audition and it happened to be next door to where I live, I went and got the role of Ramnik Gandhi in [Shunya’s presentation of Mahesh Dattani’s] Final Solutions.
When did you develop your passion for theatre?
I did my first play believe it or not when I was in the 1st grade. I was a deer and had to prance on stage and will never never never ever forget the moment that my deer mask fell off on stage!
What is it like working with the rest of the cast?
Excellent…all have day jobs and from different walks of life but the commonality of a passion for theater.
What do you enjoy about the play?
The cast interaction, the ability to get in the “zone” away from real life and the putting together in practice ideas I keep working on.
What do you find funniest about the play?
Pretty much the whole laugh-at-ourselves and our idiosyncrasies as Indian Americans bit.
This play has some very graphic language. Do you think pushing these types of boundaries is part of the reason this play is so funny?
I do not like the graphic language at all, and feel strongly that the same points can be made without indulgence in shabby vocabulary….but I’m equally happy to go with the playwright and deliver, I just feel that the same punch can be easily obtained without the language.
