Meera Simhan
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Meera Simhan

Los Angeles, California, United States

Los Angeles, California, United States
Band Spoken Word Comedy

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"imaginative"

“Meera is not only an imaginative and sophisticated actor, she is a wonderful writer as well. She has an excellent ear for language and instinctually understands how to shape a piece. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next! And I look forward to the day when we can work together.”

- Juliette Carrillo (director)


"so funny"

“. so funny! Moving and beautiful.”

- Hamish Linklater (actor/writer)


"hilarious"

“surprising, and deeply moving”

- Nisha Ganatra (Director/writer)


"gripping and fearless"

“Not once did I mentally leave the world she created with little more than her presence alone! It was gripping and fearless throughout!”


- Yatin Parkhani (student, MFA USC)


"Simhan"

“ has a rare gift for comedy not just as an actor but also as a dramatist.”

- India Journal


"Miss India America"

“is smart bold and sexy in it’s travails of the life of a girl who struggles with womanhood, sexuality and dating, the beauty pageant world, immigration, family and race.”

- Buzzine Online Magazine


"Tragicomedy of a Beauty Pageant Miss India America"

This is not your typical Miss India America beauty pageant. Instead of young women strutting around in stunning dresses, this catwalk only has one person walking on it.

For a few more days, the only thing that will be judged is the rise to glory and the fall from grace of a beauty queen –- all in the name of maintaining her good-girl image while discovering her personal identity, seeking out freedom, and balancing her cultural values in suburban America.

Everyone thought she was a good girl. She just wanted personal identity and freedom. An Indian girl comes of age in Orange County. Such is the tale of Meera Simhan. A film and stage actress and writer, Simham took it upon herself to stand in front of a stage all by herself and tell the story of her life.

Simhan tells her audience of stuff she stole as a seven-year-old. When she had her period at age 12, her mother apparently held a party for her. Seven years later, she insisted she was still a virgin.

Telling these tales and much more through the perfect medium of an intimate stage at the Acme Comedy Theater in Los Angeles, Simhan chronicles her life experiences in a slightly exaggerated yet overwhelmingly believable one-woman performance aptly titled Miss India America. “I want to tell these stories that came at a time of crisis in my life,” Simhan said of her solo act. “Part of storytelling is to talk about things we are afraid of but we still feel.”

Simhan told Buzzine of a 40-year-old white male who came up to her after a recent show, telling her how he saw a lot of his life in her performance. “I never thought I would have anything in common with a middle-aged white man,” she sheepishly said.

It was at that moment she realized the more detailed she was about her own life, the more she touched the lives of others. “The more specific I was about myself, the more universal it became,” said Meera, yet her journey here to the stage was anything but universal.

She had her first brush with public performances as a student of the Indian dance of bharat natyam, which is the expressive art of storytelling and strong rhythmic performance. “I always related to the story-telling of dance,” Meera said. While dance was a medium she always connected to, her solo act in Miss India America is told almost exclusively through her mouth.

The one-woman play serves as a narrative of the formative years of a second generation Indian girl.

Throughout her riveting and compelling discourse, Meera manages to make her audience laugh, smile, think, and frown. She tells us of her search for an identity through men, beauty contests, and female bonding. Her audience is introduced to a girl’s struggle between traditional Indian values and the white world of suburbia.

Labeled as a “tragicomic” show, Miss India America is smart, bold, and sexy in its travails of the life of a woman who struggles with womanhood, sexuality and dating, the beauty pageant world, immigration, family, and race.

In all, it is told through bold yet witty and humorous statements combined with a sense of eagerness of a woman trying to figure out who she is. “You have to gear yourself in many aspects –- a storyteller and a performer,” Simhan said of her stage act. “The baseline is to have the technique to be a theater actor. I have to see (Miss India America) as a form of theater. This is not about me now; it is me a long time ago.”

Despite the distance in time, it is not quite so easy to detach her from the life she so distinctly remembers. “I have to put myself in the story as a character,” Simhan told Buzzine with a bit of a sigh. “Emotions do come up, but I have to remember to stay on track.”

All things considered, staying on track is perhaps the greatest motivation, as it helps her share her story and stay connected with her audience. “The more people follow what their path is, the more they can contribute in a society,” she humbly said. “I always I feel I am going in the right direction. Whatever I’ve been involved in, I feel it’s always been for the best.”

Right now, she is involved in the final three performances of Miss India America, which continues this month at the Acme Comedy Theater in Los Angeles.

A comedic yet dramatic one-woman performance, Meera weaves witty and non-sequitur humor to tell the story that is her life, allowing Miss India America to share a coming-of-age tale of a South Asian immigrant who can relate to the one-time beauty queen.

Written by Simhan and directed by Shishir Kurup, shows are on November 6th, 9th, and 12th. Tickets are $18 online at the Acme Comedy Theater website, and $20 at the door. Closing night is November 12th and the show on November 6th is at 8:00 p.m., while November 9th it is at 6:00 p.m.

Running time is about 90 minutes.
- Parimal M. Rohit Bollywood Editor H'wood Correspondent


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

Photos

Bio

Meera was born in England and raised in Southern CA. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and worked in the U.K. for five years.

In the United States, she has had recurring roles in television including HOUSE and NIP/TUCK. Her guest -starring roles include THE MENTALIST, HEROES, NUMB3RS, LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT, NUMB3RS, WITHOUT A TRACE, JUDGING AMY and ER. Her feature film credits include DATE MOVIE and RASPBERRY MAGIC.

Her solo show Miss India America played to sold out audiences in Los Angeles and will be doing a run in Chicago. Recently, the show went to the University of Memphis and SUNY-Oneonta. This November Miss India America will be at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York at Theatre Row on 42nd street.