HOW DID I GET HERE?
by KARISHMA KESAPRAGADA
directed by SHUA JACKSON
After a blindsiding fallout with a childhood friend, Karishma vows not to return home for a year. She turns to someone she hasn’t spoken to in a while for some answers...
the writer's note
ON How Did I Get Here?
“How Did I Get Here?” was written while I completed my penultimate semester at Oberlin College.
The piece encompasses the year between the summer of 2024 to the summer of 2025, flashing between past and present during the first half before the chronological latter half.
When I first arrived in Morocco, I often found myself fighting to “stay in the moment.” I’d mentally drift away from the crowded market streets of Rabat and Marrakesh to the emptiness and silence of home. I’d constantly compare where I was just one year prior, grappling with a fracturing sense of home, when dancing to Berber music.
Around the midpoint of my five months in Morocco, I stopped this mental wrestling with time and that is when the piece finds its linear path. Learning how to sit with feelings and not be scared of them, not try to run away somehow was instrumental to developing both my writing and sense of self. Knowing that was immensely helpful in traversing my early days in New York City.
- Karishma Kesapragada
Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Krishna, Lakshmi, oh my!
The Creative Team
Karishma Kesapragada
Writer | Actor
Karishma Kesapragada is a senior at Oberlin College majoring in English. She grew up on public libraries and bagels in the suburbs of New Jersey- her writing often takes her back to there.
Shua Jackson
Director | Managing Director of NSPS, underground106
Shua Jackson is the Managing Director of The New Stage Theatre (underground106). With over a decade and a half of experience in non-profit, events management, and film/television, Shua comes with out-of-the-box approaches and fresh perspectives to bring back into the theatre. His roots are in the theatre - most notably, the intimate black box setting - and has performed as an AEA and SAG-AFTRA actor for his entire adult life.
the director's note
So different, So similar
How does a 41 year old white man from the lowcountry of the South resonate with a 21 year old Jersey-raised Indian woman's one-woman show? In many ways, not at all.
Yet in most ways, hauntingly so.
Barring astrological reasons that instantly bond Pisces to one another, I believe I (we) resonate with this narrative that we become more ourselves when we leave home. A beautiful irony reserved only for the brave, the courageous enough to ever leave at all.
As you join us for this brief, albeit rich ride from Morrocco to Ohio, I encourage you to reflect on the ways home has molded you. Take note of your mannerisms, your style, your accent (and if from Manhattan, the very dialect from your neighborhood). Be joyful. Especially if this place you find yourself tonight is far from what you call, or once called 'home'. And in turn, you'll find we're all unified in the difference.
You might even wonder to yourself: How did I get here?
- Shua Jackson
Special Thanks
Ildiko Nemeth
Asquith Clarke II
Bhargav Dronamraju
Yuji Kono
Purnima Mudnal
Priyadarshini Kesapragada
Ravi Shankar Kesapragada
Lotus Lloyd
Alex Ly
Naomi Mandar
Danielle Oliver
Elle Patterson
Crista Ramos
The Rawal Family - Geeta, Satyen (Señor), Juhi, Surbhi
The Saccone Family - Adrienne, Michael, Catherine, Elizabeth
The Levendel Family - Vasavi, Gil, Neal, Nathan
Isaac Slater
Fatema-Zohra
Christopher Hamas
underground106
The New Stage Theatre is a 501(c) 3 multidisciplinary performing and creative arts
collective.
In that collective is our resident performing arts company by the same name, The
New Stage Theatre Company, and our venue which presents other new works and
collaborations, underground106 - located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We grant a
professional venue, production resources, financial aid, business expertise and artistic support
to global and local artists premiering their work here in New York City.
The Mission of underground106 is to be USW Manhattan’s trusted safe haven and
platform of expression for artists whose voices dismantle, rebuild and expand the notions of
Western Contemporary Theatre.
What's Next?
The New Stage Theatre Company presents
The Bat
March 20 - April 4
Written by Krisztina Toth
Translated by Szilvia Naray-Davey
Directed by Ildiko Nemeth
In a kindergarten changing room, a rubber bat vanishes into thin air, setting off a chain of events of suspicion and soon resentment among the parents. What begins as mild distrust soon turns into full-blown hatred. Throughout a series of scenes of the mundane yet deeply resonant struggles of everyday life, the story unfolds into a darkly humorous tale of absurdity from Central and Eastern Europe. Against the backdrop of this comedic chaos lies a poignant tragedy, underscoring the stark realities of contemporary Hungary. “The Bat” offers a biting commentary on Hungarian Society, navigating us through hatred, accusations, suspicion, and ultimately, sorrow.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The New Stage Performance Space (underground106) venue is situated on the traditional homelands of the Lenni-Lenape People of the Lenape Island of Mannahatta. We recognize the Lenni-Lenape as the original inhabitants of the land who were forcibly displaced during colonization, resulting in the erasure and exclusion of their peoples and cultures. We are honored to have the opportunity to work on the land and honor their elders, both past and present, alongside future generations for their stewardship and enduring relationship with their territory.