About The Event
Noah/Manu is a bold intercultural theatre experience weaving together two ancient flood myths–Noah`s Ark (Abrahamic) and Manu and the Fish (Hindu)–into an urgent, modern political story.
Noah/Manu hosts a beloved children`s TV show, spreading messages of peace and harmony as political violence rises around a looming election. When he is warned that a flood of destruction is coming, one that will sweep away everything unlike love, he must find a way to survive it, and rebuild what remains.
Rooted in the U.S. creator`s firsthand six weeks of study in India this past summer, including a 10-day Vipassana silence retreat in Bodh Gaya and Sound Healing Teacher Training in Rishikesh, the play draws on singing bowls, chanting, and silence to ask: How can community get built when everything else gets destroyed?
The performance runs 50 to 60 minutes, followed by a fifteen minute talkback with the creative team and audience. Please note that sounds of war are depicted, though no violence is shown on stage
About the Creator: William Schmitt is a current undergraduate university student coming from the U.S. He has spent his past two summers studying and researching in northern India. Noah/Manu extends a research fellowship he conducted as 6 weeks of fieldwork and interviews in northern India this past summer focused on theatre, sound healing, and silence. Noah/Manu was first performed in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A, in February 2026.
