A Conversation with Director Reena Dutt, "Yoga Play", University Theatre at California State University Long Beach, by James Scarborough

In Dipika Guha's "Yoga Play," directed by Reena Dutt at CSULB's University Theatre, commerce collides with spirituality in a razor-sharp examination of authenticity in our brand-obsessed world. The play follows Joan, a crisis management expert tasked with salvaging a yoga brand's reputation after a PR disaster. Through Joan's journey, Guha crafts a multilayered critique of how Western capitalism commodifies Eastern spiritual practices.

Dutt's direction navigates the fine line between satire and substance. Her experience with reimagined texts brings fresh perspective to Guha's examination of cultural appropriation and corporate ethics. The production doesn't just mock yoga's commercialization, it probes deeper questions about identity and authenticity in a world where everything's for sale.

What sets this production apart is its ability to maintain comic momentum while delivering incisive commentary on consumer culture. The San Francisco Chronicle praised its "uncommon comic electricity," and this staging lives up to that billing. Through Joan's increasingly desperate attempts to save the brand, we see how the pursuit of profit corrupts even our search for inner peace.

Below follows an email conversation with Reena Dutt.

JS: Your background spans both theatre and film. How did this dual perspective influence your approach to directing "Yoga Play"?

RD: Crossing over between mediums has allowed me to look at the big picture on a micro level. I’m incredibly curious about nuance, about what the characters are thinking between the lines and finally what the tableaux’s story is telling us. I love this work, and I’m playing with such a talented cast at CSULB who brings their own personal journeys to this story. I’m hoping all our efforts add to what Dipika has written with a fresh set of eyes from a uniquely culturally-aware generation of storytellers.

JS: The play critiques cultural appropriation within the wellness industry. How did your experience as South Asian Community Liaison at the Ford Amphitheatre inform your directorial choices?

RD: My work with the Ford Amphitheatre was specific to finding and welcoming South Asian performance groups, and through my outreach I begged the question – what is South Asian art? I strongly feel that today’s America is a diaspora of cultures – that’s what our country’s magnificence stems from [even with the erasure of inclusion in our current climate]. As I researched arts organizations that would qualify for the amphitheatre’s programming requirements, I learned how integrated so many organizations were with a multitude of cultures, borrowing bits and pieces of dance/music that stemmed from South Asia. The beauty in cultural curiosity shouldn’t be taken lightly, and I think that’s reflected in this cast and institution’s (CSULB) choice for putting this play on their stage. This cast has proven to be so caring, honest, and authentic in the choices they want to make – in the choice to humanize the characters that gravitate to a culture outside of their own. I think speaking to that is imperative in today’s climate – the curiosity is imperative. The moment curiosity ends, bigotry begins. This play, albeit funny as all heck, also has a lot of heart and self-realization in the process. Dipika has crafted something that could really hold a mirror up and speak volumes about who we are, who we want to be and who we choose to empathize with.

JS: What challenges did you encounter in balancing the play's satirical elements with its deeper examination of authenticity?

RD: Comedy is funny. Grounded comedy is hilarious. As a first generation American raised in North Carolina and Arizona, I witnessed the gamut of differences within the South Asian American community. Some of us grew up in a massive community that looked just like us, while some of us were part of the only brown families in town. With that, it’s easy to see the struggle that RAJ is going through in this play, and the misconceptions his boss assumes. Alongside that idea, being that I’ve met a number of folx who are army kids, transracial adoptees, folx who are politically opposite their hometown…authenticity is a peculiar word. What is authenticity when it’s so specific to each individual? I hope what we’ve carved in our production brings some truth to the spectrum of how the word “authentic” is defined.

JS: How did you work with the design team to create the visual language of both the corporate and spiritual worlds within the play?

RD: The designers at CSULB are artful, thoughtful, story driven and collaborative as all get-out. Finding the intertwining of a corporate façade that lends to discomfort and “anti-stress” was fun to discover with them through design. Sterility vs. mess, whiteness vs. color, earth vs. plaster. We are playing with a few metaphors through design that can be manipulated through each element – scenic, lighting, sound, props, and costume. My hope is the inter-department collaboration will lend to a cohesive and metaphor-driven aesthetic on stage.

JS: Discuss your collaboration with the student actors in developing their understanding of the yoga industry's commercialization.

RD: This play is about so much more than the commercialization of one practice. Yoga is such a spiritual practice as I understand it from my grandmother’s perspective who practiced twice a day for most of her life. As someone who never practiced yoga myself,  it’s been a gift to see so many folx at CSULB who do practice, and give their mind and heart to the theatre process as advisors, teachers and supporters. It goes without saying that the students are highly aware of cultural appropriation, misidentification, and speaking truth. That is what’s magical about the students of today and their thoughts and minds have taught me as much as I’ve given back to them.

JS: The play deals with branding and public image. How did you approach staging the PR crisis scenes?

RD: I don’t want to give away too much, so you’ll need to come see the show!

JS: Given the yoga-centered narrative, what role did movement and physicality play in your direction?

RD: Movement and heartbeat is a huge part of all my work. If I don’t know the heartbeat of the play, I don’t feel I know the play. As in any performance adventure, breath is everything – it keeps you alive (number one), and it gives a centering when you use breathe properly. It keeps you grounded. This play is a roller coaster of losing your breath, losing your mind, and then miraculously breathing through it, until…. You’ll see.

JS: How does this production align with CalRep's mission of creating innovative theatrical experiences?

RD: Choosing a play like this is daring. If read in one lens, there are many questionable elements of the subject that could be interpreted one way, and if read from a different lens it’s an introspective comedy that brings light to how we identify as people, and how we monetize and survive within those identities. Although a huge cultural risk, I feel honored that CalRep brought me to the table with them. I believe I am one of the only South Asian American directors to have gotten the opportunity to tell this story in America so the responsibility to stay true to my own experience is far greater than giving in to what the public might expect.

JS: What do you hope audiences will take away from this examination of commercialized spirituality?

RD: The minute spirituality and/or religion is organized, it becomes a commercialized practice. It’s hard to return to the roots of compassion and/or scripture when donations are a major source of income and tax breaks run rampant for a multitude of spiritual and religious entities. It’s part of being a member of the human race. We all have reasons for how we behave, how we survive, how we make a living. Not all of it is black and white. There is so much grey in between. I hope folx who come see this show think twice before creating a judgement. They’re really going to need to be open to reading between the laughter-lines to take notice, and I hope they choose to go in that direction.

Performances are Thursday, February 27 through Saturday, March 1, and Tuesday, March 4 through Saturday, March 8 at 7:30pm, with a Saturday matinee March 8 at 2pm. Tickets are sold online and in person at the Theater Arts Box Office. For more information about tickets, visit the Box Office website. For more information about parking when attending our show, visit the Theater Arts Parking Page.