Mahendran Radhakrishnan
Massachusetts native and son of South Indians Mahendran Radhakrishnan dabbled in pre-med and anthropology before declaring a theatre major. Next year, the thespian goes on the road as part of a children's theatre program before pursuing graduate school. In April 2002, he completed his final college theatre production, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Where did you go to high school?
Mahendran I went to Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass. I was a day student there. My high school advisor's daughter went to Wheaton and did pre-med, which is what I thought I wanted to do, so that's how I became interested in Wheaton.
And when I came to campus, I really liked Elita Pastra-Landis, one of the pre-med advisors. She mentioned to me that one of her students was doing some drama stuff at the same time (as pre-med). That sounded cool to me because I was very into drama in high school. So, for two months of my freshman year, I wanted to be a doctor and act on the side.
What changed your mind?
Mahendran I went to Brigham and Women's for an internship--one of the benefits of being so close to Boston. The experience in one of the country's best hospitals helped me realize that a career in medicine wasn't what I wanted.There's probably more stability in medicine, but I really preferred theatre, so that's where I focused.
I also began taking a lot of anthropology courses, which I found fascinating. Doing anthro coursework helped me think beyond my own values and beliefs; it helped me think about the big picture and put other things I learn into perspective.
You considered doing pre-med or anthropology. Any regrets, now that it's the end of your undergraduate career?
I plan to go to graduate school in a year or two, so I feel like the possibilities are still wide open. It's funny, I was in the Loft listening to [Professor] Donna Kerner and she was saying, 'You know, it doesn't really matter what you major in in college, it matters whether you do well in college.' That really makes sense to me. Coming from a liberal arts background, I do a lot more stuff than just theatre. I was talking to an alumna who was visiting campus. She came to a Jewish holiday dinner for my friend. The alum is a Jewish rabbi who always wanted to become a religious leader, so I figured she majored in religion. But no; she was a bio major. It doesn't always matter.
How did your interest in theatre develop?
Mahendran I did theater in high school all four years. At my school, we had to do sports, but I had allergies and asthma so they said I could do theatre. I decided to make the most of it.
What's been one of your favorite theatre experiences while at Wheaton?
In the beginning of my junior year at Wheaton, I was in a production of Twelfth Night I had done the same play in high school, but this time I had a different role.
Twelfth Night is a typical Shakspearean drama with disguises, a fool and arrogant characters. It's about twins Sebastian and Viola who are separated. Viola dresses up as a man, so you have these male twins running around. It causes a bunch of confusion. Olivia, a countess, falls in love with Viola because Olivia thinks she is a man. Late, Oliva confuses Sebastian for Viola, his twin sister.
Shakespeare is a great playwright for actors. Each word and phrase tells you about your character.
At Wheaton, you've acted, stage-managed and directed. What's it been like, playing so many roles?
In the theatre, there can be a kind of tension between stage manager and actor. I've been on both sides and think that the actor often has a less structured sense of theatre. Many actors, if you gave them the chance to go out and do whatever they wanted to, would go out there and use their crazy amount of creative energy. But the stage manager's mission is to make sure the actors make it on stage on time.
Last year, I directed for the first time, at the suggestion of David Fox [theatre department chair]. It was multi-cultural piece. It was basically about black and white relations, and I wanted to push the line as far as I could, accentuating the Martin Luther King kind of perspective as well as the Malcolm X viewpoint, as embodied by the characters. It was really hard but it was a good experience. I would like to direct again. This past fall I was in Waiting for Godot. I think it was the hardest play, but I would
probably do it again... it's weird. You're really left with so little to work with in that script [because of its post-modernism]. You basically have your whole acting thing pulled apart. And then I finished A Midsummer's Night's Dream. I played a fairie, assistant directed and designed the sound.
What was the concept for sound design?
David [Fox] said he wanted a non-Western perspective. For the first song, we used a Japanese flute; it sounds really cool. Then it blends into Afrocelt Sound System, a group that combines African music with Celtic music. Then you have one song from Guyana, which is a lullaby. We have Andean music and then Mendelssohn, who wrote music specifically for Midsummer, and then the last song is flute.
What are you doing after graduation?
I just got a call from a theatre company in Connecticut, Dandelion Productions. I'll start with them in August doing children's theatre on tour. My parents said I could go travel in India before I start my job, which I'm thinking about. My parents are from South India.
Next year, I may take the LSATs or decide what to do for graduate school. I'm becoming interested in becoming an agent [when I finish]. So we'll see what happens.