Song of Joy

Song of Joy, an autobiographical play written and performed by Carol Mazhuvancheril, explores how perpetually immigrating as a child shapes an individual’s family and definition of home.

Throughout the play, Carol embodies colorful characters from his family to share his experience navigating a life that is constantly in motion. From learning Carnatic music in a boarding school in India, to auditioning to be a ballerina in Texas, Carol seeks acceptance from those he loves while coming into his new found American identity. While Carol tells his story, the audience might see snippets of a young female stagehand offering a supporting hand onstage. Over the course of the play as Carol explores the idea of home, it is revealed that the stagehand is in fact Carishma, Carol’s sister, and home is within the relationship Carol cherishes the most. This discovery and a commitment to live life to the fullest with hope leads Carol and Carishma to perform a celebratory, semi-classical, South Indian dance that brings the play to a close.

Laugh-out-loud funny, painfully honest, and sometimes heartbreaking, Song of Joy is a love letter to all immigrant parents who make immeasurable sacrifices in order to better the lives of their children. And how the children of those immigrants often have to balance what they owe their parents, with what they owe to themselves.