Kalyani Nagarajan

Kalyani Nagarajan is a recent graduate of Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. She has studied in France with Master Clown Phillipe Gaulier, where she performed Mask, Moliere and Melodrama. Her recent works include, Auckland Theatre Company’s POLO, TV series, Brokenwood Mysteries, The International Comedy Festival as well as touring The Gruffalo around New Zealand and Australia. Kalyani is very passionate about her culture and representing her background in the New Zealand arts industry. She has practiced Bharatha Natyam (Indian classical dance) for 14 years and is currently very interested in the study of accents, with many down her sleeve including Cantonese, South African, Indian, Boston and more. She is wanting to devise work and create comic yet heart-warming pieces that can give life and dignity to ordinary characters we usually ignore in society.

“The best performance though is provided by Kalyani Nagarajan, with her mixture of the whimsical and pragmatic approach to life. She comes across as the only real, three-dimensional characters in the play with sensitive naturalism”  John Daly, NBR.

Justin Rogers

Justin Rogers graduated from Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in 2015.  During drama school he starred as the Prince in Into The Woods directed by Cameron Rhodes, Petrell in Pains of Youth Directed by Shane Bosher and the short film Jigsaw directed by James Ashcroft. Since graduating, Justin has enjoyed performing across New Zealand stage and screen. Straight after drama school Justin played Jamie in the musical The Last Five Years directed by Jon Hunter and musical direction by Mark W. Dorrell. In 2016 he toured the show Matariki with the Court Theatre which performed to ten thousand kids across Canterbury. In 2017 he toured the show Maui Me Te Ra with Auckland Theatre Company. Justin also continues to pursue his work as a magician and magic consultant for theatre. He is a proud equity member.

Justin Lewis

Company Director, Writer & Artistic Director

Justin is a founding partner of Indian Ink and collaborated with Jacob Rajan to create the company’s works: Krishnan’s Dairy, The Candlestickmaker, The Pickle King, The Dentist’s Chair, Guru of Chai and Kiss the Fish.  Indian Ink’s productions have won numerous awards including two Edinburgh Fringe First Awards and Three production of the Year Awards in New Zealand. Justin has produced numerous national and international tours.  He is Deputy Chair of Q Theatre and has been heavily involved in its development from the beginning. In 2008 he received a Kaupapa Oranga Award for his services to theatre. Justin is a graduate of the John Bolton Theatre School and University of Auckland.

Jacob Rajan

Company Director, Writer & Performer

Jacob is an Arts Foundation Laureate and founding partner of Indian Ink. He collaborated to create Krishnan’s Dairy, The Candlestickmaker, The Pickle King, The Dentist’s Chair, The Guru of Chai and Kiss the Fish and has performed them throughout New Zealand and internationally.

Jacob won “Best Actor” in the 2010 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for ‘The Guru of Chai’. He has also received an accolade for acting excellence and was nominated for the Stage Award for Best Actor at the   Edinburgh Fringe. Jacob has featured on New Zealand TV series (Outrageous Fortune and Shortland Street). In 2013 Jacob was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the New Year’s Honours List.

Jacob’s family originates in Kerala, Southern India. He was born in Malaysia and immigrated to New Zealand at the age of four. Jacob has a degree in microbiology, a teacher’s diploma and is a graduate of Toi Whakaari – The New Zealand Drama School.

Murray Edmond

Dramaturg

Murray has been dramaturg on all of Indian Ink’s productions. A poet and founder of Town and Country players (NZ), Murray has recently retired from his role as Professor of Drama at Auckland University where he headed the Drama course.

Aaron Paap

PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGER 2018

Aaron has worked in the Theatre and Arts industry for 15 years on numerous productions and for venues across New Zealand. Recently he has taken on projects such as Te Po presented by Nightsong, and Technical Manager for the Maidment Arts Centre.

John Verryt

Set & Costume Design

John has worked on all of Indian Ink’s productions to date. With over 30 years experience he is one of New Zealand’s leading performance designers with an extensive portfolio of work including designs for NBR New Zealand Opera, Black Grace Dance Company, Douglas Wright and Auckland Theatre Company.

Fiona Nichols

Fiona has previously worked with Indian Ink as assistant to John Verryt making costumes for The Dentist’s Chair.

She has worked in the costume department on a large variety of productions including Star Wars Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in Australia, Spartacus, local telefeature Jean, The Westside TV Series and numerous theatre and opera productions.

Fiona recently costume designed the short film 21 Points.

Jane Hakaraia

Lighting Designer

A designer with a degree in product design but her first and longest love is lighting for theatre. This year Jane has toured Daffodils with Bullet Heart Club, designed the set for a TV game show, lit Hikoi for Auckland Arts Festival and Eight Gigabytes for Silo Theatre and is currently working on a veggie garden for Aotea square.

Liam Kelly

Liam Kelly is a 21 year old theatre maker and musician from Wellington. He has acted, directed and written music for various shows in Wellington over the last 3 years, including shows such as Fred is Cold, Suddenly! A Musical and SUPER CLEAN in the 2017 Fringe Festival. Liam is currently a part of Playshop, where he often musos, and in the past has been a part of Long Cloud Youth Theatre, with whom he went to Canberra for the STAB show Dead Men’s Wars. He is currently studying his Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Practice at Victoria University.

Ankita Singh

Ankita has recently graduated from AUT with a Bachelor in Communication Studies and is ready to take on the world armed with a passion for the arts and a copious amount of caffeine. Ankita is a multi-disciplinary photographer and filmmaker specialising in digital media. She worked as the Marketing Intern for Indian Ink in 2017, producing the marketing campaign for “Mrs Krishnan’s Party” and is back as Concept Designer for “Welcome to the Murder House”.

Bala Murali Shingade