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An Interview with Sunil Mahtani - Maya Khankhoje Maya Khankhojeis a Montreal-based story teller and poet who also enjoys reviewing other people's work. Her bilingual (Spanish/English) anthology for children A Panther in your Dreams, will soon be published by Gyldan Edge Publishing.

Sunil Mahtani, Artistic Director and co-founder of Townships Stage, a new professional company in North Hatley, Quebec, kindly acceded to an early morning phone interview, scrunched, I assume, between rehearsals and logistics for the next round of performances. For a writer more used to wielding the mouse than dealing with live albeit disembodied voices over the phone, I found the prospect rather daunting. My fears were completely unfounded. Sunil Mahtani's voice was as sunny as the Sunshine Theatre he had originally founded in Knowlton. In fact, Mahtani's sunny disposition came directly from his native Bombay from where he migrated to Canada at the age of seven.

At forty, Mahtani has come into his own. A journalist by training and profession for over ten years and author of a couple of coffee-table books, he became enamoured of the theatre after doing many review for his newspaper. 'Before you knew it', Mahtani said, 'I had developed my eye for theatre so well that I decided to make it my full-time occupation.' His expertise makes up for the lack of government funding to commercial theatre. Townships Stage is maintained alive by subscriptions and donations from the public. Mahtani strongly believes in presenting plays that have an optimistic attitude towards life - plays that have a strong moral centre, a message and a meaning. He also believes in hiring Equity Actors at the same level as other professional actors. Not bad considering our troubled times!

There aren't many South Asians doing theatre steadily in Quebec, as Mahtani pointed out. One of them, Rahul Varma, has become an institution in multicultural theatre circles in Montreal, and the other one, Rana Bose, is better known for cutting-edge independent plays which have been relegated to the backburner as Bose is busy completing his second novel. Sunil Mahtani, on the other hand, has made feel-good theatre his life and livelihood. His philosophy can be summarized in two words: good vibrations. Mahtani's strength lies in comedies. He directed I love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, (June 22-July 10), The Love List ( July 27-Aug 14) and Tourist Trap (July 27- August 14) , the three of them popular summer fare. He also wrote the libretto for Louisa's Story, a historical musical composed by Donal Patriquin, set in Quebec.

Sunil Mahtani believes that running your own company is better than trying to eke out a living in different ones, but it demands a big push in terms of subscriptions and fundraising. A big push, he repeats. With a public eager to drive down from Montreal or from neighbouring towns across the border to enjoy theatre, Mahtani will not have to push too hard.

[Townships Stage may be contacted at 819-565-4957 or 866-565-4957 or estage@townshipstage.org]

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