A comedy infused with Bollywood elements, An IMM-Permanent Resident is a hilarious take on the mundane and tiresome bureaucracy of the Canadian Immigration process, as experienced by playwrights and real-life couple, Himanshu and Neha. The play explores the irreverent journey to obtain Neha’s PR status, including the couple’s trials and tribulations as they put their hopes and dreams on pause (indefinitely). Through wit and creative banter, this fast-paced roller coaster transports us between Mumbai and Toronto, as Neha and Himanshu navigate the immigration system and ask themselves – is love worth it all?
www.nautankibazaar.ca
Tickets: whynot.theatre/work/immpermanentresident
Himanshu Sitlani is a thespian, originally hailing from Mumbai. Foraying his way into theatre as an actor, he progressed on to other creative aspects and worked as a Stage Manager and Producer over the years with QTP and Akvarious. He co-founded Le Chayim Theatre Productions in Mumbai in 2006 where he eventually made his directorial debut in 2013. Since immigrating to Toronto Canada, Himanshu’s been immersed in supporting the creative arts, working as Patron Services Manager at Factory Theatre, while penning down his ideas towards his goal of creating a bridge between creative artists in Canada and India eventually co-founding Nautanki Bazaar in 2019.
In 2021, he wrote and performed in the virtual show “Stories of a Dish’ that was presented at the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe, The Little Lion Theatre Festival in London UK, The Tata Literature Live Festival in Mumbai India and the Next Stage Theatre Festival in Toronto.
Twitter: @himy316
Instagram: @himanshu.sitlani
Neha Poduval is a trained actor, with several feathers in her creative hat, having performed in various theatre plays, corporate films and TV shows across India. A post-graduate in Acting from the reputed Film and Television Institute of India, she continued her association with the performing arts since moving to Canada.
In January 2021, she launched her YouTube Cooking Channel “Mustard Tempered Dreams” where she shares her love for food with easy to make Indian and global vegetarian recipes.
Neha is also a certified Yoga Teacher and has been teaching Yoga across various studios, community and senior centres in Toronto.
Instagram: @mustard_tempered_dreams
Miquelon Rodriguez is a sound designer, composer, radio play mixer & editor, digital content creator, actor, and an emerging arts leader based in T’karonto. He was the Apprentice Artistic Director at Factory Theatre from 2017-2019, under the mentorship of Nina Lee Aquino, and co-curated Pan-Asian works over two seasons at Soulpepper through the Tiger Bamboo Festival and the Shen Development Series. He is an Artistic Leadership Resident with the National Theatre School of Canada and has worked with a multitude of artists and companies across Turtle Island.
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/troysteel
Twitter: @djtronix
Instagram: @troysteel
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