Originally postponed from May 2020, Lavina Jadhwani’s The Sitayana (Or, How to Make an Exit) is a captivating retelling of the Ramayana which breaks from the original Sanskrit epic by centering Princess Sita rather than her husband Prince Ram. Directed by Reena Dutt and Produced by the East West Players, EnActe Arts, and Hypokrit Productions, this one-woman show dares to be as joyful as it is probing, and to explore the question: can a loving partnership survive the demands and expectations of idealized womanhood?
At the beginning of the play, the teenage Princess Sita (played on alternate nights Nikita Chaudhry, Sheetal Gandhi, and Minita Gandhi) eagerly awaits the man who can string Shiva’s bow, the man whom the gods have deemed worthy to wed her. Her prayers are answered in the form of young Prince Ram, who whisks her away to his kingdom of Ayodhya, where he vows to Sita that he will forever stay by her side—not just as her husband, but as her friend. Sita’s idyllic life in Ayodhya is short lived. When Prince Ram is ousted from his kingdom, she remains true to her dharma and follows him into exile, where her loyalty and fortitude is put to test after test.