Old Globe Cast Announced For Rafta, Rafta..., The Olivier Award-winning Comedy By Ayub Khan-Din

Online, February 25, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the complete cast and creative team for Ayub Khan-Din's Olivier Award-winning comedy, Rafta, Rafta..., based on All in Good Time by Bill Naughton. Directed by Jonathan Silverstein, Rafta, Rafta... will run in the Old Globe Theatre March 19 - April 24. Preview performances run March 19 - March 23. Opening night is March 24 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy for its acclaimed run at The National Theatre in London and a hit with critics and audiences in New York, Rafta, Rafta... takes a hilarious look at the generational divide on sex and marriage within a close-knit Indian family living in England. Following their wedding, two newlyweds find that starting their life together under the groom's family's roof is no honeymoon. With warmth and humor, this British comedy examines what happens when a young couple must choose between saving money or their marriage.

The cast of Rafta, Rafta... features Shalin Agarwal (Etash Tailor), Ranjit Chowdhry (Eeshwar Dutt), Geeta Citygirl Chopra (Lopa Dutt), Amir Darvish (Jivaj Bhatt), Nasser Faris (Laxman Patel), Ariya Ghahramani (Jai Dutt), Mahira Kakkar (Vina Patel), Caralyn Kozlowski (Molly Bhatt), Gita Reddy (Lata Patel) and Rachid Sabitri (Atul Dutt).

The creative team includes Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design), Christal Weatherly (Costume Design), Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Design), Paul Peterson (Sound Design), Gillian Lane-Plescia (Dialect Coach), Reetu Patel (Movement Consultant), Mark Danisovszky (Music Consultant) and Diana Moser (Stage Manager).

Playwright Ayub Khan-Din was born in 1961 and grew up in Salford, Manchester. After leaving school he worked briefly as a hairdresser before enrolling in drama school, where he wrote his first stage play, East is East (1997), for Tamasha, a theater company in London. An autobiographical story of a mixed-race family growing up in an overcrowded terraced house in a white, working-class area of Salford in the early 1970s, it was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London and subsequently adapted (by himself) into a highly successful feature film. His second play, Last Dance at Dum Dum (1999), concerns the septuagenarian members of the dwindling Anglo-Indian community in Calcutta, still clinging tightly to their old imperial past. Notes on Falling Leaves (2004) was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, and Rafta, Rafta... (2007), a comic adaptation of Bill Naughton's 1960s story All in Good Time, won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2008. His new film, West is West (a follow-up to East is East), will open soon and the film version of Rafta, Rafta... will follow in June. He recently delivered his commissioned play, Fauzi, based on Marlow's Doctor Faustus, to Lincoln Center Theater. Khan-Din's latest play, All the Way Home, will premiere in Manchester, England, and he is currently working on a musical for the Royal National Theatre called Bunty Berman Presents.. Khan-Din also works as an actor and has appeared in many films including My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

Director Jonathan Silverstein helmed the acclaimed Off Broadway world premiere of The Temperamentals by Jon Marans, produced by Daryl Roth, Stacy Shane and Martian Entertainment (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble). His other Off Broadway credits include revivals of A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Director, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), Robert Anderson's classics Tea and Sympathy and I Never Sang for My Father and John Patrick's The Hasty Heart, all for Keen Company, where he serves as Resident Director. His other New York credits include Red Herring by Michael Albanese (New York International Fringe Festival, Outstanding Direction award), Blueprint by Bixby Elliot (Summer Play Festival), Cocteau's Indiscretions and A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), The Rats Are Getting Bigger (New York International Fringe Festival and The Public Theater's New Work Now! festival), Greater Messapia (Queens Theatre in the Park) and The Train Play (Clubbed Thumb). Silverstein's regional credits include The Fantasticks (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Merton of the Movies and Marry Me a Little (Dorset Theatre Festival), The Triumph of Love (Cleveland Play House), Urinetown and tick, tick. BOOM! (Cape Rep Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing and Cymbeline (The Theatre at Monmouth) and Ionesco's The Chairs (Sledgehammer Theatre). Silverstein was featured as one of 2009's Out 100, Out Magazine's annual list of the most outstanding and inspiring men and women of the year.

TICKETS to Rafta, Rafta... can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances at the Old Globe Theatre begin on March 19 and continue through April 24. Ticket prices range from $29 to $85. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, March 19 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, March 23 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There is also a Wednesday matinee on April 13 at 2:00 p.m. and no Saturday matinee performance on April 16. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.

Associated events taking place during the run of Rafta, Rafta... include:

INSIGHT SEMINAR: Rafta, Rafta...
Monday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. FREE
Insight Seminars are informal presentations of ideas and insights to enhance the theater-going experience. The seminars feature a panel selected from the artistic company of each production and take place in the theater where the production is performed. Reception, 6:30 p.m. Seminar, 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and reservations are not required.

POST-SHOW FORUMS: Rafta, Rafta...
Tuesdays, March 29 and April 5 and Wednesday, April 13. FREE
Discuss the play with members of the Rafta, Rafta... cast and crew at post-show discussions led by the Globe's creative staff after the performances.

OUT AT THE GLOBE: Thursday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. $20
An evening for gay and lesbian theater lovers and the whole LGBT community, Out at the Globe includes a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and door prizes. $20 per person. RSVP at (619) 23-GLOBE. (Tickets to Rafta, Rafta... are sold separately.)

THANK GLOBE IT'S FRIDAY: Fridays, March 25 and April 1 at 6:30 p.m. $20
Kick off the weekend with the Globe's Friday pre-show bash. TGIF includes a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and desserts. $20 per person. RSVP at (619) 23-GLOBE. (Tickets to Rafta, Rafta... are sold separately.)

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

CALENDAR: Jane Austen's Emma - A Musical Romantic Comedy (1/15-3/6), Death of a Salesman (1/22-2/27), Rafta, Rafta... (3/19-4/24), Groundswell (3/12-4/17), August: Osage County (5/7-6/12), Life of Riley (4/30-6/5).

PHOTO EDITORS: Digital images of The Old Globe's productions are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org/pressroom.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for 75 years. Under the direction of Executive Producer Louis G. Spisto, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre, the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre and the 612-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

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CAST BIOGRAPHIES

SHALIN AGARWAL (Etash Tailor) is thrilled to be making his Old Globe debut with this production of Rafta, Rafta.... He recently starred in two productions of Kristoffer Diaz's Pulitzer Prize finalist play, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, at the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis and InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia. His other New York and regional theater credits include There or Here (Hypothetical Theatre Company), subUrbia (PossEble Theatre Company), Breakroom (Manhattan Repertory Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (Hudson Shakespeare Company), King Lear (Kitchen Dog Theater) and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (Penobscot Theatre Company). Agarwal has appeared on television in "30 Rock," "Cupid," "One Life to Live," "As the World Turns" and in the films Homeland, A Dangerous Place and Bronx Paradise.

RANJIT CHOWDHRY (Eeshwar Dutt) has performed The Mesmerist with Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Rafta, Rafta... with The New Group. His film credits include Mississippi Masala, Girl Six, Such a Long Journey, Fire, The Perez Family, Bollywood/Hollywood and The Last Holiday. His television credits include "NYPD Blue," a recurring role on "Cosby," "Prison Break" and "The Office." In India, Chowdhry has performed in a dozen or so Bollywood films and later formed his own theater group, Stages. As a writer he has adapted R. K. Narayan's Malgudi Days for international television. He also wrote and starred in Deepa Mehta's Sam and Me, runner-up for the Camera d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

GEETA CITYGIRL CHOPRA (Lopa Dutt) is a proud native New Yorker and is overjoyed to be making her Old Globe debut. She started SALAAM Theatre (the first professional South Asian theater/arts company in the USA), and for over 10 years as Artistic Director, she has had the opportunity to express her personal and creative ideals. Her stage credits include Charles Mee's Queens Boulevard (the Musical) (Signature Theatre Company), Serendib (The Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Wound (La MaMa E.T.C.), Democracy in Islam and Trail of Tears (Theater for the New City), Kalighat (Baruch Performing Arts Center) and Gallathea and Law Against Lovers (Aaron Davis Hall). Citygirl Chopra's television credits include "The Good Wife," "Rescue Me," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

AMIR DARVISH (Jivaj Bhatt) is the winner of the 2010 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role in Psych and a New York Midtown International Theatre Festival nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play for The Higher Education of Khalid Amir. His previous New York theater credits include Taxi To Janna, Falling, Homeland, Shoes, Dinner with Ahmed, Mona's Dream, subUrbia, 1001 and the critically acclaimed Off Broadway one-man show about Freddie Mercury titled Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God. In addition to voice-over and commercial work, Darvish has appeared in numerous film and television productions including Month to Month, Charlie Wilson's War, Confessions, The Pink Panther, "Running Wilde," "The Colbert Report," "Law & Order," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Human Giant," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Spin City," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "The Unusuals," "NYPD Blue" and most recently the new series "Bar Karma."

NASSER FARIS (Laxman Patel) most recently played the role of Baba in the theatrical production of The Kite Runner at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Cleveland Play House, directed by Marc Masterson. He also portrayed Emad Al-Bayit in the world premiere of Michele Lowe's play Inana, directed by Michael Pressman at the Ricketson Theatre in Denver. He also costarred in the indie feature AmericanEast (Best Picture at the 2008 Madrid International Film Festival and First Time Film Festival in Los Angeles) with Tony Shalhoub and Sarah Shahi. His other credits include recurring guest role on "24" and guest star roles on "The Cleaner," "The Unit," "Brothers & Sisters," "The Shield," "Sleeper Cell," "JAG," "NYPD Blue" and "Malcolm in the Middle." He starred in the television movies Saving Jessica Lynch and Homeland Security. Faris' feature film credits include David Mamet's Spartan, Vadim Perelman's House of Sand and Fog, Sam Mendes' Jarhead and Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Twelve. His recent stage credits include the world premiere of Benedictus in San Francisco and Los Angeles and Akhmed in Moscow Arts Theatre's The Shelter at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles (five Ovation Award nominations, including Ensemble Performance).

ARIYA GHAHRAMANI (Jai Dutt) is proud and humbled to join the historic Old Globe for the first time in Rafta, Rafta.... He has recently completed work on a staged reading of Urge for Going at The Public Theater and The Kite Runner at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Cleveland Play House, as well as his first feature film, Ken Kushner's When the Devil Comes, and the Twentieth Century Fox television series "New Amsterdam." Ghahramani's most recent theater credits include the North American premiere of Camille, Seven Against Thebes, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Tempest, The Laramie Project, Once Upon a Mattress, Honk!, The Waltz of the Toreadors, The Shadow Box, Oklahoma!, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Wild Party.

MAHIRA KAKKAR (Vina Patel) is happy to be making her Old Globe debut. Her Off Broadway and New York credits include All's Well That Ends Well (The Public Theater), Sophistry (The Beckett Theatre), Miss Witherspoon (Playwrights Horizons), The Cave Dwellers (The Pearl Theater), Opus (Primary Stages) and Betrothed (Ohio Theatre). She has appeared regionally in Three Sisters and Lady Windermere's Fan (CENTERSTAGE), Romeo and Juliet (Arden Theatre Company and Virginia Stage Company), Our Town and Coriolanus (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Seven (Skirball Cultural Center and international), Around the World (Florida Studio Theatre) and Inana (Denver Center Theatre Company). Her film and television credits include A Night in the Hill, "Blue Bloods" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

CARALYN KOZLOWSKI (Molly Bhatt) is thrilled to return to The Old Globe, having previously played Gretchen in Boeing-Boeing and Amanda in Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy, a role she created at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Her New York theater credits include I Hate Hamlet, Flygirls, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Secrets of a Soccer Mom, Fair Game, Murdering Marlowe, The Milliner and The Odyssey. In eight seasons with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, her favorites have included Beatrice in The Servant of Two Masters, Amanda in Private Lives, Ilona in The Play's the Thing, Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, Desdemona in Othello, Olivia in Twelfth Night and Irina in Three Sisters. Kozlowski's other credits include Rosalind in As You Like It (Connecticut Repertory Theatre) and Mac in Three Viewings and Evelyn in The Shape of Things (Barrington Stage Company). Her television and film credits include "Law & Order," "Numb3rs," "Six Degrees," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Guiding Light," "All My Children," "Third Watch" and Practical Magic.

GITA REDDY (Lata Patel) is overjoyed to be back in San Diego and making her Old Globe debut. Her theater credits include When January Feels Like Summer (City Theatre and Sundance Institute Theatre Lab), The Moth and The Flame and Tamburlaine (Target Margin Theater), Staying Afloat (Ice Factory, directed by Lenora Champagne), Slavey (Clubbed Thumb, directed by Robert O'Hara), Ariel Dorfman's Widows (Reverie Theatre Company, directed by Hal Brooks), Rajiv Joseph's The Leopard and the Fox (AlterEgo Theatre Company), Betrothed (Ripe Time), Peter Gil-Sheridan's Topsy Turvy Mouse (Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project, directed by Daniella Topol), Han Ong's The Suitcase Trilogy (Ma-Yi Writer's Lab workshop, directed by Ron Daniels), Queen of the Remote Control (Mixed Blood Theatre) and Air Raid (National Asian American Theatre Company). Reddy's film and television credits include Eat Pray Love, "Law & Order," "Possible Side Effects" (Tim Robbins' pilot for Showtime), "Numb3rs," "Where Are You Going, Elena?" (SXSW music video) and Prana with Danny Glover. Her solo performance work includes Secret M.U.T.A.N.T. (published in Tokens: The NYC Asian American Experience on Stage, Temple University Press). Her theater directing credits include Turning Tables (Coffee Cup) and 7Eleven: Franchised (Desipina & Company).

RACHID SABITRI (Atul Dutt) is delighted to be joining The Old Globe after his recent U.S. theatrical debut, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife at La Mirada Theatre. His previous U.K. credits include the West End production of Romeo and Juliet and the National Tours of Rafta, Rafta... (directed by Nicholas Hytner), Bloodtide and Beyond Midnight. His regional credits include Twelfth Night (Royal & Derngate Theatre in Northampton), Beautiful Thing (York Theatre Royal) and Tangier Tattoo (Glyndebourne). Sabitri's television credits include Generation Kill (HBO), "The Odds" (pilot, CBS), "Doctor Who," "Casualty," Wannabes and "Family Business" (BBC), The Walk and "Blue Murder" (Granada TV) and "The Bill" (Thames Television). He has also had an extensive voice-over career including the recent motion pictures The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Wild Swans and the radio soaps Silver Street and Together for the BBC.