अन्नपूर्णा

A Thank-You to the People Who Fed Our Artists

When a professional theater troupe travels to perform, the audience sees the grand opening on the stage, the music, the lighting, and the energy. The artists? They remember who made them tea at midnight.

For our recent staging of Shikayla Gelo Ek, a handful of volunteers turned a tour stop into something that felt like home. This is for them: the people who showed up early, stayed late, and somehow knew exactly when someone needed tea/coffee or for that matter पिठले भाकरी 😊 (say whatttt?)

The अन्नपूर्णा Team that made it happen:

• Sushma Kshirsagar (EC: Food Head)

• Vaishali Kodak (EC: Food Support)

• Shilpa Kadam-Dalvi (EC: Culture Support)

• Sonam Nimje (EC: Culture Support)

• Shweta Marathe (Volunteer)

• Sonali Bagul (wife of our VP, Sachin Ingle)

• Anuja Kulkarni (wife of our President, Ganesh Kulkarni)

• Nivedita Mohite, Digvijay Mohite...yep, appreciate reaching across the aisle here :) (Our past President and her husband) and

• Smita Chopade-Khatavkar (Board of Trustee)

Thank you to each one of you for your efforts this past week. Words will never be enough to kudo and thank you for your selfless volunteering. I will just say this: अन्नदाता सुखी भव:!

Thank you to all for a job very well done!

What did they do?

Meals timed around artists’ needs (and mind you, those timings were unique especially due to extensive travel of this Natak crew). Tiffin’s packed and labeled because they remembered artists’ preferences. Tea and snacks that appeared exactly when energy started to flag. Water bottles refilled before anyone noticed they were empty. A quiet "don't worry, we've got this" that let the artists focus entirely on their craft.

And not to forget, the late-night cleanup that no one sees but everyone depends on. 

We are still gathering pics etc. but you can always visit our Instagram page for the latest audio/visuals: STLMM Instagram

Why did it matter?

Bringing professional Natak to St. Louis takes a village, tech crew, ticket volunteers, stage managers, hospitality, you name it. When the food and comfort piece works seamlessly, artists perform with full hearts. The tech crew isn't scrambling. And somehow, the audience feels it too, even if they never know why the energy in the room (and on stage) felt so right.

Thank you!

To everyone named above: your work was the kind that doesn't get applause, but it held everything else up. You lived the spirit of अन्नपूर्णा - nourishing not just bodies, but the art itself.

We're grateful you were with us.

PS: btw, there are countless others including our own President (Ganesh Kulkarni), Vice President (Sachin Ingle), Culture Head (Santosh Bhosale), Secretary (Anand Deshpande), Treasurer (Kaivalya Deshpande) + their spouses + Krishna Koparde (Culture Support) + too many others to name, who stood with us for so many tasks including but not limited to (ha-ha!) - driving artists back and forth, arranging props (the sofa, table, chairs and even the झाडू 😁), stage building and dismantling to driving U-Haul.

We appreciate you too. Thank you!