BARSHA BADAL: A MONOLOGUE

by Asher Wyndham

ONE-ACT. BARSHA BADAL, an Indian immigrant, comes to terms with her new life in the United States, doing laundry in a motel somewhere in Nebraska. 20 minutes. This is part of SOME AMERICANS: SOME MONOLOGUES, VOLUME 3. This is one of my first monologues, it's from 2006 with a few tweaks.

ONE-ACT. BARSHA BADAL, an Indian immigrant, comes to terms with her new life in the United States, doing laundry in a motel somewhere in Nebraska. 20 minutes. This is part of SOME AMERICANS: SOME MONOLOGUES, VOLUME 3. This is one of my first monologues, it's from 2006 with a few tweaks.

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BARSHA BADAL: A MONOLOGUE

Recommended by

  • Cheryl Bear: BARSHA BADAL: A MONOLOGUE

    A powerful and richly human monologue about the immigrant experience in America as one chases the dream. Well done.

    A powerful and richly human monologue about the immigrant experience in America as one chases the dream. Well done.

  • Dennis Danziger: BARSHA BADAL: A MONOLOGUE

    In a few pages, in a matter of minutes, Asher creates an unforgettable character, Barsha Badal, and we experience her entire world, the world she escaped from, the numbing world she inhabits and the world beyond her motel's front door that she yearns to explore. Barsha is both ridiculously funny and desperately sad and unforgettable. In his monologue plays, Asher Wyndham has created a cavalcade of Americans who at first glance we ignore or scoff at, but who he forces us to examine and discover their depth and their humanity and most of all, their need to be heard.

    In a few pages, in a matter of minutes, Asher creates an unforgettable character, Barsha Badal, and we experience her entire world, the world she escaped from, the numbing world she inhabits and the world beyond her motel's front door that she yearns to explore. Barsha is both ridiculously funny and desperately sad and unforgettable. In his monologue plays, Asher Wyndham has created a cavalcade of Americans who at first glance we ignore or scoff at, but who he forces us to examine and discover their depth and their humanity and most of all, their need to be heard.

  • Emily Hageman: BARSHA BADAL: A MONOLOGUE

    Barsha is fully fearless even though she has plenty of reasons to be afraid. Yet again, Wyndham has written a monologue for a person who doesn't get written for often--an Indian woman. Barsha is brassy and loud and larger-than-life and you don't know whether you should envy her husband or feel bad for him, but she is determined and admirable. Your heart breaks for her, but you certainly don't feel bad for her. Wyndham is a master at writing monologues that are meant to be SPOKEN, not just read. His stream-of-consciousness style is incredibly fun. Another hit, well done.

    Barsha is fully fearless even though she has plenty of reasons to be afraid. Yet again, Wyndham has written a monologue for a person who doesn't get written for often--an Indian woman. Barsha is brassy and loud and larger-than-life and you don't know whether you should envy her husband or feel bad for him, but she is determined and admirable. Your heart breaks for her, but you certainly don't feel bad for her. Wyndham is a master at writing monologues that are meant to be SPOKEN, not just read. His stream-of-consciousness style is incredibly fun. Another hit, well done.

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Character Information

  • BARSHA BADAL
    A motel owner. She wears a kameez (long shirt). Instead of a salwar (trousers), she wears men’s swim trunks that belong to her husband. (Her trousers are in the laundry.) She has the bindi. A narrow scarf (dupatta) over her shoulders and new sporty sneakers on her feet.
    Any size.
    Character Age
    Mid-late 30s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    Indian-American
    Character Gender Identity
    Female

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Playwrights' Center, Minneapolis MN, Year 2017
  • Type Reading, Organization Member Stage Reading, Playwrights' Center, Year 2017
  • Type Reading, Organization Cabaret Theatre, Temple of Music and Arts, Tucson, AZ, part of the 16th Annual City Festival produced by Old Pueblo Playwrights, Year 2007

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Bohemian Caverns, part of Subcontinental Drift: South Asian Open Mic, Washington D.C., February 28th. , Year 2008
  • Type Professional, Organization Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, part of the spork Festival, February 6th, 8th, 9th, NYC, Year 2008