ABOUT KALIYUGA ARTS

Rendering Oddities with Grace & Insight since 1986

"This is Kaliyuga, buddy, the Iron Age. Anybody over sixteen without an ulcer's a goddam spy."

J.D. Salinger, Zooey

These are terrible times. The Hindus call this Kaliyuga, the last of four ages during which the world slowly devolves into intolerance, entropy and, finally, utter annihilation (see the note on Hindu time below). But within the madness, islands of sanity can be created. And we believe that the Theatre in particular is one of the things helping us to hold back the dark -- that it is, indeed, one of the few remaining places on Earth where people still gather to celebrate, affirm, and uphold everything that makes us human.

• Our Company

• John Sowle (Founder and Co-Artistic Director) *** Link to John's Page

• Steven Patterson (Founder and Co-Artistic Director)  *** Link to Steven's Page

OUR COMPANY

Our production company, Kaliyuga Arts, was originally founded in Los Angeles, California in 1986. From its inception, it has been dedicated to the presentation of off-beat, challenging work, and has established an ever-expanding reputation for artistic excellence with a wide range of material. Of the twenty-three plays we have presented thus far, eight have been world premieres, two U.S. premieres, and four (insofar as we know -- there may have been others) area premieres. Based in San Francisco from 1990 thru 2004 and currently located in New York City, Kaliyuga Arts continues to present some of the most exciting, risk-taking and innovative theatre available to audiences anywhere.

The company itself is a tiny, two-man operation. We're both gay men (partners in every sense of the word) and our play selection is often colored by that fact. This doesn't mean we confine ourselves with regard to the subject matter. However, since we can afford to produce only sporadically, it's important to us that our work be meaningful -- either literarily, socially or in the depth and complexity of the characters it presents. Our work is very actor-driven -- we love stuff that serious artists (and it's been our privilege to work with many) can really sink their teeth into. And we love to take on impossible challenges -- imaginative use of limited means characterizes our work in general. What we look for above all is theatre that's going to stimulate artists and audiences alike, shake 'em up a bit, take them places they've never been before.

To learn more about us and the work that we do, please take a tour of our site by clicking on the links at the top of this page.

Steven and John on the set of King of the Crystal Palace, 1987

A Note on Hindu Time
"Four are the ages in the land of Bharata -- the krita, the treta, the dwapara, and the kali. The krita yuga lasts 4800 divine years, the treta 3600, the dwapara 2400, and the kali 1200; and then another krita yuga begins. The krita or satya yuga (the age of gold) is the age of purity; it is sinless. Dharma, righteousness, is perfect and walks on four feet in the krita. But in the treta yuga (the age of silver), adharma, evil, enters the world and the very fabric of time begins to decay. Then comes the dwapara yuga (the age of bronze) in which the dissolution continues. Finally, the kali yuga, the fourth age (the age of iron), is almost entirely corrupt, with dharma barely surviving, hobbling on one foot.
A chaturyuga, a cycle of four ages, is twelve thousand divine years, or 365 times 12,000 human years long."
adapted from The Ramayana, a modern retelling of the great Indian epic by Ramesh Menon

Steven and John, summer of 2007

JOHN SOWLE (Founder and Co-Artistic Director)

STEVEN PATTERSON (Founder and Co-Artistic Director)