Lily Abha Cratsley

Lily Abha Cratsley is a playwright and performer of love letters to the Desi-American female diaspora. Popular works include her play ABCD, solo-show The Fairy Who Cried Gems, and comedy special How I Met Your Masi, which have garnered numerous award nominations, sold out audiences, and extended runs around Los Angeles, alongside various multimedia and screenplay commissions. She recently won “Best Use of Character” at the 2024 48 Hour Film Project Horror Comedy Festival for her short film Dead Ringer, which she wrote as a regular contributor to Dog House Productions.

In addition to her writing, Lily can been seen performing in countless stage plays, musicals, concerts, choirs, and films across the country and previously performed as a company member of the acrobatic Occidental Children's...

Lily Abha Cratsley is a playwright and performer of love letters to the Desi-American female diaspora. Popular works include her play ABCD, solo-show The Fairy Who Cried Gems, and comedy special How I Met Your Masi, which have garnered numerous award nominations, sold out audiences, and extended runs around Los Angeles, alongside various multimedia and screenplay commissions. She recently won “Best Use of Character” at the 2024 48 Hour Film Project Horror Comedy Festival for her short film Dead Ringer, which she wrote as a regular contributor to Dog House Productions.

In addition to her writing, Lily can been seen performing in countless stage plays, musicals, concerts, choirs, and films across the country and previously performed as a company member of the acrobatic Occidental Children's Theater. She was born and raised in Massachusetts, attending the Groton School as an Inclusion Scholar, before attending Georgetown University and Occidental College, where she completed an Independent Pattern of Study in Performing Arts & Social Justice.

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Scripts

ABCD

by Lily Abha Cratsley

1
Cast Size
3—4
Genre
biography,
comedy,
drama,
experimental,
immersive,
movement/physical,
political

While preparing dinner, three generations of Indian women clash and comfort one another. Willow, a young academic, is eager to learn all that her Nani can teach her. Aditi, a divorced mom, finds herself stuck between an overbearing mother and a critical daughter. Nani, the family's matriarch, must face Jersey City once again after having moved back to India. What will happen when loss, love, and longing are...

While preparing dinner, three generations of Indian women clash and comfort one another. Willow, a young academic, is eager to learn all that her Nani can teach her. Aditi, a divorced mom, finds herself stuck between an overbearing mother and a critical daughter. Nani, the family's matriarch, must face Jersey City once again after having moved back to India. What will happen when loss, love, and longing are shared across the dinner table?

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The Fairy Who Cried Gems

by Lily Abha Cratsley

Cast Size
1
Genre
adventure,
biography,
comedy,
drama,
experimental,
fable/folktale,
fantasy,
immersive

The Fairy Who Cried Gems is a cross-cultural, sometimes verbatim folk-tale, memoir, and celebration of identity, created and performed by Lily Abha Cratsley. She serves as a storyteller, employing dialogue, music, and movement to transport the audience through the oral histories of Desi American women. Through this fantastical piece, Lily explores her contradicting identities and discovers how Desi joy can be...

The Fairy Who Cried Gems is a cross-cultural, sometimes verbatim folk-tale, memoir, and celebration of identity, created and performed by Lily Abha Cratsley. She serves as a storyteller, employing dialogue, music, and movement to transport the audience through the oral histories of Desi American women. Through this fantastical piece, Lily explores her contradicting identities and discovers how Desi joy can be built out of legacies of trauma.

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Yankees Suck

by Lily Abha Cratsley

Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
political,
radio drama,
young audiences

It’s the bottom of the ninth, and a young fan just realized there are no girls on the field…

It’s the bottom of the ninth, and a young fan just realized there are no girls on the field…

How I Met Your Masi

by Lily Abha Cratsley

Cast Size
11—18
Genre
comedy,
experimental,
movement/physical,
musical,
political

In How I Met Your Masi, award-winning comedic duo Arasha Lalani & Lily Abha Cratsley tell the epic tale of an extraordinary South Asian sisterhood. This sort of two-person, sort of auto-biographical show loosely parodies its namesake sitcom, as Arasha & Lily journey through a series of flashbacks to reveal the unexpected story of how their friendship turned from icy to spicy. Kyah? Joined by a team of surprising...

In How I Met Your Masi, award-winning comedic duo Arasha Lalani & Lily Abha Cratsley tell the epic tale of an extraordinary South Asian sisterhood. This sort of two-person, sort of auto-biographical show loosely parodies its namesake sitcom, as Arasha & Lily journey through a series of flashbacks to reveal the unexpected story of how their friendship turned from icy to spicy. Kyah? Joined by a team of surprising guest stars, these two Desi girls dare to recategorize the typical variety show, combining sketch with the narrative play. Their story utilizes their signature "high-brown" comedy to challenge tired representations of Indian-American women.

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