“Perfect people walking around perfectly happy…but is it real?”
Shunya announces its first production of 2005 : Queen of the Remote Control
January 21-February 6

HOUSTON, TX --- Shunya, a non-profit theatre troupe dedicated to providing a voice to the South Asian-American experience, will inaugurate its third year on Houston’s growing theatre stage with Sujata Bhatt’s “Queen of the Remote Control.” A play in three acts which delves deep beyond the façade of the successful immigrant family, Bhatt’s piece challenges us to transcend the simple, clean perspective of a two-dimensional television set to a messier, more complicated but ultimately true three-dimensional reality.

The story centers on the Shahs, a wealthy, first-generation immigrant family living in the San Fernando Valley. Seventeen year-old Shilpa views life through the small screen, balancing her time between mall visits, seaweed facials and college applications. Shilpa’s programming makes an unwelcome schedule change when elder brother Nitin announces his engagement to Padma, a fellow medical student at Stanford University. Ashok and Divya Shah, the proud parents of the groom-to-be, eagerly attempt to show off their picture-perfect family to their son’s fiancée, only to be thwarted by the revelation of a family secret which cannot be edited, rewound or erased.

“In an age of reality television shows, ‘Queen of the Remote Control’ shows us that reality is not a television show,” says Anil Kumar, co-director along with wife Rathna, who is also the Founder-Director of Anjali Center for Performing Arts in the Houston area. The play masterfully asks fundamental questions of its characters that resonate not only with those familiar with the immigrant experience but with all of humanity. Will Shilpa stop watching and start participating in the sitcom of life? Will Divya continue to allow herself to be remote-controlled by others? Will Nitin and Ashok’s pursuit of material wealth result in their inability to grasp the reality of their relationships with Padma and Divya? “Perfect people walking around perfectly happy,” observes Padma as she visits the Shahs for the first time. “But is it real?”

PERFORMANCE AND TICKET INFORMATION

The production premiers January 21 at the Ensemble Theatre, located at 3535 Main Street, and will run on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through February 6. Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 8:00 p.m., while Sunday matinees will take place at 3:00 p.m. Advance tickets are $13 for Friday and Saturday shows and $10 for the matinees, and are available for purchase at www.tickets2events.com, or by calling (713) 412-8478. Tickets at the door for all performances are $15. For more information, please visit www.shunyatheatre.org or email info@shunyatheatre.org.