THE HUNTINGTON ANNOUNCES A WORK-IN-PROGRESS PRESENTATION OF NEW WORK BY MAHIRA KAKKAR, A MONGOOSE SPEAKS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Gabrielle Jaques, Publicist
617-273-1520
THE HUNTINGTON ANNOUNCES A WORK-IN-PROGRESS PRESENTATION OF NEW WORK BY MAHIRA KAKKAR, A MONGOOSE SPEAKS
The Huntington’s bold commitment to new work continues this June with a new work by Mahira Kakkar
(BOSTON) – Artistic Director Loretta Greco and The Huntington are excited to announce a work-in-progress presentation of A Mongoose Speaks, written by Mahira Kakkar and directed by Danilo Gambini. A reading that is free and open to the public will be presented on Monday, June 30, 2025 at 7pm at the Calderwood Pavilion (527 Tremont St). The event is not open to reviewing members of the press.
In A Mongoose Speaks, a little mongoose bears witness to a sacred sacrifice and he’s changed. His fur turns gold; his silence breaks into speech. No longer fully animal, not yet something else, he is caught half-transformed — uncertain and becoming. Told in lyrical dialogue alongside a live tabla player, the story is a funny and surprising exploration of selfhood, sacrifice, and the desire to evolve again and again into something more.
Growing up in India, playwright Mahira Kakkar found live performances of the Mahabharata spellbinding; now she’s creating a bold cycle of plays that center the epic’s forgotten voices and overlooked characters.
Kakkar previously developed another piece in the Mahabharata Cycle, Draupadi, at The Huntington in the December New Play Intensive in 2024. The Huntington has commissioned a third piece in the cycle with support from The Barr Foundation.
NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT AT THE HUNTINGTON
The Huntington is passionately committed to supporting, developing, and producing new work, and has produced over 150 New England, American, or world premieres since its founding in 1982. The Huntington co-produced eight world premiere productions in August Wilson’s Century Cycle. Endeavors to contribute to the American theatrical canon expanded considerably since 2004 with the creation of the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, which opened with a world premiere by local playwright Melinda Lopez.
The arrival of nationally renowned new play expert Loretta Greco as Artistic Director in 2022 has brought a vibrant era of new work at the theatre – including the world premiere of Joy & Pandemic by Taylor Mac; the world premiere of K-I-S-S-I-N-G by Lenelle Moïse (winner of the 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script); second productions of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain and Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers; and the nationally recognized Ufot Family Cycle by playwright Mfoniso Udofia. The Ufot Family Cycle is an unprecedented, citywide festival that has brought a nine-play series, including five world premieres, to Greater Boston audiences in innovative partnership with more than 35 local organizations. Mfoniso Udofia’s The Grove premiered at The Huntington this past season, and was recently recognized with the 2025 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script.
Loretta Greco has also commissioned work for The Huntington by Mfoniso Udofia, Lloyd Suh, Lenelle Moïse, Mahira Kakkar, Carmen Pelaez, Hana Kim, and Fan Zhou, among others.
ABOUT A MONGOOSE SPEAKS
A Mongoose Speaks
By Mahira Kakkar
Directed by Danilo Gambini
Dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan
Featuring actor Sathya Sridharan and tabla player Upasak Mukherjee
Monday, June 30, 2025 at 7pm
Calderwood Pavilion (527 Tremont St)
RSVP for the work-in-progress presentation of A Mongoose Speaks
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Mahira Kakkar (Playwright) (she/her) is an award-winning actor and a writer. A recent recipient of a NYSCA grant, Mahira has written for publications in India and the US. Mahira is an actor whose work can currently be viewed in films, TV, and series like Manifest and A Suitable Boy. Mahira has worked on and Off Broadway, in regional theatre, and has acted in several world premieres. She has a facility for classical work, language driven plays, Indian dialects, and silly humor. Mahira is a graduate of the Juilliard School and a gold medalist from Jadavpur University. She is thrilled to be back at The Huntington where she has workshopped Mfoniso Udofia’s The Ceremony (play #6 in Boston’s Ufot Family Cycle), performed in Bedroom Farce as an actor, and workshopped her piece Draupadi (Play 1 of the 18 play Mahabharata Cycle) as a writer.
ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON
Celebrating over 40 years of outstanding theatre, The Huntington is Boston’s theatrical commons and leading professional theatre company. On our stages and throughout our city, we share enduring and untold stories that spark the imagination of audiences and artists and amplify the wide range of voices in our community.
Under the leadership of Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli, The Huntington is committed to welcoming broad and diverse audiences, provides life-changing opportunities for students through its robust education and community programs, is a national leader in the development of playwrights and new plays, has acted as the host organization for a multi-year residency of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theatre company based in Boston, and serves the local arts community through our operation of The Huntington Calderwood/BCA.
The Huntington reopened the historic Huntington Theatre in fall of 2022 after its transformational renovation, and is currently in phase two of the project; the renovation and building project of this storied venue with a bold vision for the future will allow us to innovatively expand our services to audiences, artists, and the community for generations to come. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.
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