THREE SISTERS
written by Suneeta Misra
OCTOBER 9 & 11, 2026
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READINGS DATES, TIMES, & LOCATIONS
Following the death of Brigadier Sen, his family finds itself trapped in a conservative small town in 1970s India, where misogyny and patriarchy rule and women are expected to gain respectability and status through marriage. Inspired by Chekhov’s play of the same name and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Three Sisters offers a satirical look at the snobbery and misguided values of the Sen family.
The story centers on a mother and her three daughters, who were unwillingly transplanted from Calcutta to a small northern Indian town. As bitterness and petty recriminations simmer among the sisters, nostalgia prevents the family from embracing the present or moving forward. Beneath their conflict, the play reflects India’s evolution from a colonial to a postcolonial society.
Suneeta Misra is an actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker whose work spans theatre, fiction, documentary, and film. Her play Three Sisters, produced by Natya Bharati, was staged in the Washington, DC region in 2022 and at the South Asian Theater Festival in New Jersey in 2023. She has also written and directed Retribution, a darkly comic murder mystery. Her films have been screened at international festivals and explore a wide range of social and human themes.
Her work includes A Dream of Education in Modern India, a documentary on women’s education; Looking for Mr. Right, a satire on South Asian dating; and Crazy Bird Lady, which explores racism, loneliness, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her award-winning short film The Old Man and the Boy, filmed in Mumbai, explores the transformative power of human connection. Her latest film, Neverland, shot in 2025, examines the complex and often fraught relationship between a teacher and her student, exploring questions of trust, boundaries, vulnerability, and human connection.
CAST
Rita: Raz Patel
Tina: Saraniya Tharmarajah
Dipsy: Usha Kothagorla
Mrs. Sen: Alka Kothari
Doris: Mita Paul
Rukmini, et al: Subha Madhavan
Mr. Bose: Vish Shukla
Tony, et al: Jaya Basu
Major Bhattacharya, et al: Hansin Arvind
Seth, et al: K. Sridhar
Worker #1, et al: Kevin Kaluarachchi
Stage Directions: Meera Narasimhan
In conjunction with the two staged readings of Three Sisters by Suneeta Misra, audiences are invited to explore a curated pop-up gallery featuring artwork by Indian artists. The exhibition will be on view alongside the readings, with featured pieces also available through a silent auction benefiting Avant Bard Theatre. Join us for a celebration of theatre, visual art, and storytelling across forms!
PRODUCTION TEAM
Playwright: Suneeta Misra
Director: Mekala Sridhar
Talkback Moderator: Sara Barker
Avant Bard Producers: Sara Barker & Josie Palmarini
RUNTIME
90 minutes
Artists Featured in the Pop-Up Gallery & Silent Auction
Sonal Varshneya. Lucknow, India.
Sonal (b. 1985) received her MFA (print) from the Lalit Kala Sansthan, Agra in 2007. She has participated in some 40 group and several solo exhibitions across India, and in Canada, China, Taiwan, Poland, Serbia, and the United States. She was one of 32 artists selected for a global exhibition in Canada, and received awards for her work in the 2012 International Biennial Print Exhibition, Taiwan; 2012 All India Women Contemporary Art Exhibition, and the 2011 All India Fine arts crafts society. She’s been referred to as the Engraver of a new Gender Mythology. She depicts goddesses as modern women and vice versa, weaving mythology and feminism with a quirky sense of humor & satire.
Vartika Singh. Hyderabad, India.
Vartika (b. 1989) was born in Uttar Pradesh, India. She got her Masters of Fine Arts in painting from A.M.U. India in 2012. Her meticulous drawings are largely in pen and ink on paper. She is part of a young feminist artist generation, and has exhibited in over 15 shows across India, and globally. VARTIKA’S WORDS: “I create figurative portraits that speak to me, and hopefully to you the viewer.” I focus on women, and I wish to capture the countless beauties and complexities she lives with. My work features women as the central character, and her expressions are a commentary on the world around her – and for you to interpret.”
Gargi Pamar. Aurangabad, India.
Gargi is an environmentalist, and sustainable fashion and product designer – working with organic fabrics, earth-friendly prints and nature-inspired textures. “There is a single word that defines the world around us and the world within us, “nature.” We are nature. She graduated from the School of Fashion Technology in 2011. Her `Harita’ painting series of 2023 combine the Madhubani art-form from Bihar, and miniature painting styles. She says the series is an introspective self-portrait of celebrating her unity with nature, architecture, and the rich motifs of Indian folk art.
Rakhee Kumari. Bihar, India.
Rakhee is a Patna based artist, and received her MFA from IKSV University in Khairagath, a university dedicated to the fine arts,and her BFA from Patna University. She has had over eight solo exhibitions and over 12 group exhibitions across India, including at the Lalit Kala Academy, Open Palm Court Gallery and AIFACs in New Delhi. She is recognized as one of India’s lead printmakers, and has received several prestigious awards. Her artistry also spans drawings, illustrations, & paintings. She is a faculty member at the College of Arts and Crafts, Patna University.
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