Sorry for Bringing a Knife to the Party but in Fairness We're Way Too Old for Y'all to be Renting a Bounce House
This is the zoom recording of Rishi's play "Sorry for Bringing..." a recipient of the 2021 Agnes Nixon Playwriting Award, an honor of the Northwestern Theatre Department.
Synopsis: In Garden City, Michigan schools are underfunded, over-surveilled, and operate with a strict code of ethics designating "right" from "wrong." When Momo is accused of a crime he didn't commit, fellow students Clam and Yamini help him enact a pursuit of justice, for his own sake and their own. Rishi Mahesh's new dramedy spotlights how hard it is to escape the label "bad kid," if such a pursuit is even possible.
Director: Savior Complex - Cover by Zeke Albro
Rishi storyboarded, directed and edited this cover of Savior Complex by Phoebe Bridgers, performed by indie musician Zeke Albro. This story follows a man showing care to someone he loves, another man who isn't prepared to receive it. It aims to ask what it would look like if those of us who are inclined to care for others could redirect that love towards ourselves.
Harmonic Interference (or a soul's emigration from spacetime)
Rishi wrote and produced a radio play for the Lovers and Madmen Adaptation Festival. It is an adaptation of a Hindu myth, discussing cycles of grief within a South Asian family, through the lens of quantum mechanics and spirituality. The piece is scored with original music, coordinated by Morgan Mastrangelo. Your best headphones are recommended!
Using Protection Web Series
Using Protection is a four episode web series currently in post production. The web series was co-created by Rishi Mahesh with Madi Hart and Valen-Marie Santos, and follows the unlikely friendship between two isolated college students during a pandemic.
The series was selected for and premiered at SeriesFest in Denver, Colorado, in 2022.