Shashwat Goenka, Chair

Shashwat Goenka is a junior at Wharton, and is concentrating in Finance and Marketing. He has worked with Naatak since his freshman year at Penn and has designed lights for Mismatch and stage managed for Sammy, He is the only recurring member of last year's board and was technical director for 2 of our productions: 1-888-Dial-India and Lights Out. As he says he is super excited to be on Board again, this time as Chair. His vision for Naatak, is to primarily diversify Naatak, and place a greater emphasis on reaching out more effectively to the Penn community and the Philadelphia community as well. He hopes Naatak reaches newer heights this coming year. From a personal point of view, he is interested in working on the creative side of theatre as well, even though he mainly has technical experience, as he is keen on directing play for Naatak in the future. Naatk for him is as he puts it :"It’s hard to imagine what my life would be without Naatak! Often people ask me what my most memorable experiences have been in the past few years, and almost all of them are Naatak memories". Other than Naatak, he is apart of the Preceptorial Committee, Wharton India Economic Forum, Wharton Asia Exchange, the International Mentor Program, and a barista at William’s Cafe. And when the Chair is not Naatak-ing, he is usually missing classes or gearing up for the weekends by sleeping in classes, or lurking around Buis ( for those unfortunate people who do not know ,Buis is a food cart ) hoping they'll see him and offer him a job so he can get free egg sanswhiches.

Chintan Mehta , Creative Director

An Indian national brought up entirely in Tokyo, Japan, Chintan Mehta is a senior in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania studying Finance and Computer Science. His experiences in theater began with four years of acting during high school and continued on with his role as the Assistant Director for the Spring 2010 production, “Lights Out.” He loves the idea of being on stage, making others laugh, and the rush of adrenaline that accompanies performing before an audience. As the Creative Director for the upcoming academic year, he’s looking to help expand the repertoire of plays presented by PenNaatak and guide directors in getting the most out of their actors’ performances. Outside of PenNaatak, he is involved significantly with organizations including the Weiss Tech House, Wharton India Economic Forum, and Japan Student Association. In terms of hobbies, he enjoys playing baseball, reading, watching the occasional Bollywood flick, and spending quality time with friends and family. He’s particularly interested in value-investing, entrepreneurship, and sports management, and hopes to hold on to his love for theater beyond college as well.

Aditya Khosla, Technical Director

Aditya Khosla is a junior at the School Of Engineering and Applied Sciences and is majoring in Systems Engineering. He joined Naatak in his Sophomore year as set crew and was cheered a lot for his brilliant performance ( ofcourse in the dark). Khosla as is lovingly called was also the producer for our Spring 2009 production of "Lights Out" and after successfully producing he is now gearing up to working as Technical Director for this year's board. Besides Naatak , Aditya is also part of the Micro Finance Club , Wharton India Economic Forum and the International Mentorship Program. When he is not busy studying in Van Pelt , this white boy loves chilling with his bro's, and reaching out to Naatak's co-ordinator.

Riah Kapashi , Outreach Coordinator

If you see a pretty little thing scurrying around always worrying about some thing, you can safely say its Riah. Riah Kapashi is a Junior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Psychology. Riah has been part of both of Naatak's productions last year . She worked on the Costumes committee ( 1-888 Dial India) and also tried her hand at acting last semester ( Lights Out). Riah is also part of the Alpha Phi sorority and was part of the Wharton India Economic Forum last year. As out-reach co-ordinator she hopes to bring Naatak closer to all the performing arts groups on campus and help Naatak work better in sync with other groups. Riah is Naatak's own "good girl " also and is known for letting her guard down only on special occasions, but when she does, she really lets loose.

Bhakti Modi, Secretary

Bhakti Modi is a Junior studying at the School of Arts and Sciences and is majoring in Communications and Psychology. She has worked for Naatak since her freshman year and has worked in various commitees in her 2 years with Naatak. She has designed lights for two productions ( Sammy and 1-888 Dial India), worked as assistant set designer ( Lights Out) and has also produced( Mismatch)for Naatak. She would like to bring more diversity in Naatak and is hoping that Penn's diverse culture is reflected in Naatak. She also hopes to direct or act in the future. Her favourite aspect of Naatak is the set-building in the PAC shop and you can often catch this girl spending time getting her hands dirty in the PAC shop either painting or climbing into random chambers. Besides Naatak, she works as a Research Assistant for Psychology. What is also unknown of this tiny junior is that she loves shopping and when is not busy sleeping away she is either chilling in Huntsman or at smokes. Also BEWARE : she has OCD and is a cleaniness freak.

Manasi Dev Suryadevara, Treasurer

Manasi Dev Suryadevara is a junior in the college majoring in Communications and Psychology. She began her tryst with naatak working on costumes in her first semester at Penn. Since then she has worked as assistant set-designer , set designer and assistant director for various productions. Her aspirations for naatak include showcasing a wide variety of theatre to intelligent audiences. She hopes to work with lighting and direction in the future. She has set out on a mission to defy the Naatak tradition of all the treasurers being Finance majors. Naatak plays an important role in the life of this beautiful Hyderabadi and she is looking forward to spreading the vibrant South Asian culture among people through theatre. In her free time, Manasi likes to dance to the tunes of the Malyalam version of Waka Waka which is known as Laka Laka and discuss the most wasteful theories of the world with Shreyans.