READY TO ROLL: The upbeat cast of Hayavadana poses backstage

What could be common between a clutch of desi lawyers, investment bankers and architects living in New York? A collective desire to go beyond their nine-to-five professional careers and channel their latent creative talents.

The non-profit organisation spun off in May, turned this motley group of professionals by day into a budding stage group by night. Their play den: community spaces in the confines of swanky upper-East apartments. At the end of two months of a dedicated dual existence, the group finally staged its first professional performance last weekend. Performed in the modest confines of a theatre located just off Orchard Street in lower East Manhattan, Hayavadana (The Talking Horse) turned out to be more than a satisfactory debut.

Not because the show ran to a near full house on all three days but because it had, as the play's director Bhavna Thakur says, managed to tap the creative energies of the 30-odd members of Alter Ego. "The inspiration for putting together this group came from the need for space for those of us who have a passion for theatre. We hope this play helps some of us question the boundaries that we have in our minds."

DRAMATIS PERSONAE: A scene from the play

"We hope this play helps us question the boundaries that we have in our minds." Bhavna thakur, Director, Hayavadana

The director should feel pleased as it has already inspired Karam Puri, who essays the title role, to kick his job as an investment banker and pursue a full-time career as an actor. The 30-year-old has joined the Lee Strasberg Theatre, the school that trained Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as method actors. "I have always had a passion for acting. Now I have decided to take the plunge and have saved up money from my days as an investment banker. That should see me through the initial period. Eventually, I want to get into the mainstream."

The play-a satire by Girish Karnad revolving around the philosophical question of whether an individual's identity is derived from the head or the body-explores the nature of reality. Drawing from the concept of Sanskrit theatre, where rules about time and place are flexible, the play adopts the popular nautanki form to tell its story. The Alter Ego objective of combining the two idioms is to transcend performance into a spectacle that would be evocative enough for the audience to question accepted social boundaries.

The play, as Thakur sees it, also handles issues of identity particular to the immigrant community. "The play addresses questions about how identity issues are handled-something particularly relevant to the immigrant community. Just because you look and speak differently, you are treated differently," she says, adding that it is an issue that has become more apparent after 9/11.

"I always admire groups of people who are willing to do everything to create a production from the ground up, especially in New York, which is the most difficult city in the US in which to do such a thing," says Michael Johnson-Chase, a viewer of the play and international programme director, The Lark Theatre Company. "It was a clear case of community theatre. But I acknowledge their energy and excitement. It was a real treat, especially for a non-Indian like me, to see how an Indian play is performed. I am now interested to see how they perform as the group grows," he added.

For now, the group is planning to take a break in July and use the interim period to open up its membership. And the motto at the end of the performance remains unchanged: "If we can do this, then you can do it too."