Alisha's Prague Summer Shakespeare Intensive

Dear all,

I acknowledge my privilege to be starting this go fund me page to begin with. I deeply acknowledge, though not understand, the horrific state of individuals in the same world as ours who are living in war zones and living states of genocide, hunger and famine. I pray and hope for their peace everyday and urge you to donate to causes and organizations helping them as well. Please donate to my cause only if you have the resources to do so.

A little about me and my accomplishments:

My name is Alisha Bade Shrestha and I was born and brought up in Nepal. I am a recent graduate from Bennington College with a BA in Drama, Literature and Video. My passion for storytelling meddles with themes of girlhood and femininity and I aspire to be a theater and film maker as an actor, writer and director. During my time in Bennington, I flourished in my creative energy which led me to undertake many artistic projects. I thrived in many production and artistic endeavors.

In 2021, I received the prestigious Lucille Lortel Fellowship and was placed as an intern in Ma-Yi Theater Company in NYC, the primary incubator of Asian American plays in the US. I had the incredible opportunity of assisting in the PBS documentary 20 years of Asian American Playwriting directed by Ralph B Peña where I had the opportunity to meet ground breaking playwrights like David Henry Hwang, Lauren Yee, Qui Nguyen, Llyod Suh, Mike Lew, and Rehana Mirza. In the summer 2022, I worked as an assistant stage manager at Dorset Theater Festival and learnt alongside directors and artists like Dina Janis, Sara Haider, Theresa Rebeck, Heidi Armbruster, Jackson Gay, Meg Hennessy and so forth. In my senior year, I received the Newman and Cox Public Action Fellowship and Student Endowment for the Arts (SEA) grant to research the highly undocumented feminist history of my country, Nepal. I interviewed female activists and historians like Bandana Rana, Bimala Rai Paudyal, Hisila Yami, Meera Dhungana, and others to produce an experimental documentary, Heir To An Etched Tale to address the absence of relics of the female history in Nepal. This research is also a backdrop for an original play, Unbecoming. Both of these works are under progress at the time being. On the cover photo for this campaign, you can see me (in the middle) as M, the lead in the play, Peerless by Jiehae Park that I co-directed and produced as part of my senior work in Drama.

Throughout my time in Bennington, I have had the honor to embody several lives. I was cast as Daya, a Jewish grandmother in Salt Off A Bird’s Tail by Ruby Lowenstein, and I was invited to Jewish Morristown Synagogue to read for the part in front of an audience who told me they saw their grandmothers in me. This was despite the fact that I didn’t know anything about Jewish culture before. Apparently, there was something about fighting for one’s intergenerational knowledge that I intrinsically understood. I soared and made my audience weep as Tia Rosa, an old woman who runs a small shop in Mexico in La Tiendita by Daniela Naranjo. Tia Rosa is constantly haunted by her fear of femicides, and she made my experiences of girlhood manifest outside of myself for the first time. I thrived as M in Peerless by Jiehae Park and felt her hunger for the dreams that she lived and breathed for. I have perceived first hand the satisfaction of this artform, and I see the effort and unwavering investment of my family, friends, and mentors. I see an aspiring actor; I crave more discipline and training to polish my instruments.

What am I raising funds for and why is this important to me?

As I seek more training and exposure, I got accepted in Prague Summer Shakespeare Intensive organized by Prague Shakespeare Company, the professional English-language theatre of the Czech Republic, in association with the National Theatre of the Czech Republic. I travelled to NYC to apply for my Schengen VISA which was accepted this week. This is a once in a lifetime and an incredible opportunity where I will learn and immerse myself in Shakespeare studies and performance for six weeks with theater makers and professionals from all over the world. I will complete my Shakespeare summer experience with a professional Prague Shakespeare Company production credits added to my resume by performing in at least two Shakespeare productions in theaters including Divadlo Bez Zabradli, Divadlo Na Prádle, The Czech National Estates Theater and Prague Castle. 

I believe this experience would be of immense value in my artistic and career development with a transformational classical theater training and mentorship. I will immerse myself in intensive acting and classical studies six days a week for six weeks where I will connect and spend time with my instrument and craft. This will elevate my portfolio and training for further acting opportunities as well as my graduate school application for next fall. I will be surrounded by a network of talents and inspiring theater makers from all over the world and gain much insight and connections from them that I hope to keep close in my work. Furthermore, I will get to experience and research arts and theater in one of the most beautiful and culturally rich city of Prague. Despite the wonderful fact that I was accepted in this program, I need additional help to finance this opportunity and I would like to call on your support and investment in my pursuit of a career in the field of theater and arts.

How will I use these funds?

I will be using these funds to cover the tuition, travel, accommodation and food costs of the program. Below are the costs for me to enroll in this program:

Tuition: $4,950 / 113850CZK

Standard room & board: $2,400 / 55200CZK 

Financial aid received on accommodation through PSC: $1,500

Flight Expenses: $2,000

Visa Fee: $80

A little background:

I’ve had no choice but to be the first in many feats of my life. I am the first person in my family to travel abroad and receive an undergraduate degree and the first of many of my Nepali peers to pursue an unconventional study of theater. Being the first has been a scary path and sometimes, it feels like my dreams are too big and too unreachable. Despite the challenges, I take it both as a dream and responsibility to create a legacy for people like me. I have already started this journey by being appointed as the graduate trustee of Bennington College which places me generations beyond my grandmothers and mothers who have never had the opportunities, freedom and experiences I have explored in such a small span of my life.

What is my acting and Shakespeare to me?

If you know me, you know that acting is something I live and breathe for. Acting and theatre before anything to me is, community. It is an act of pure witness and exploration of humanity in its most private, its most vulnerable. It is sacred. It is believing that this made up world and energy happening on stage is true. It reminds me I have a soul. And so does everyone. I stand before a play and my spirit is lifted: amazing that someone is like me. I stand before a play and my spirit resists: amazing that someone is not! Acting is about exploring the depth of human essence—feelings. Shakespeare's ability to present these feelings with the art of language, spoken subtext, image work, phonetic phraseology, meter, verse and so forth is a rabbit hole and gift for an actor to explore and embody. I want to train myself with the works and techniques of the classical genre in drama and literature by one of my favorite poets, Shakespeare before pursuing further training.

You can check out my Shakespeare audition pieces on the links below:

Thank you for your time, consideration, support and donation. I hope you will visit this campaign page in the next few months to read about my updates.

With immense hope and gratitude,

Alisha