As Sepia Mutiny mentioned, the NYC run of the London hit musical Bombay Dreams closed this past weekend. Rediff reports, however, on an interesting, far more long-term development within the cast –

As Manu Narayan, Tamyra Gray, Sriram Ganesan and Anjali Bhimani joined 34 of their peers in Bombay Dreams to take the final Broadway bow on New Year’s Day, at least one actor was taking home more than memories and an impressive resume. Aalok Mehta, part of the ensemble cast, is now engaged to Anisha Nagarajan who played Priya, the idealistic movie director, in the musical for about six months.

Some interesting financial info & hope for a Bombay Dreams road tour –

Most among the cast of Bombay Dreams are hoping to join the road tour that could start this summer, provided the producers, who have lost about half of their $14 million investment in the Broadway production, are able to raise fresh investment and get good backing from regional promoters.

Playbill.com has a preview of Gheri Dosti which is a series of five short plays with a “South Asian bent,” opening tomorrow in NYC:

The red-hot issue of same-sex marriage became a sticking point during the past election year in the United States. It’s no secret, however, that this controversial topic extends well beyond American soil to even the most remote reaches of the planet. Circle East, a New York-based company, will present Gehri Dosti, a collection of five short plays exploring same-sex relationships in South Asia, beginning on Jan. 6.

Playwright and director Paul Knox has conceived the work, which had its world premiere last fall at Harvard University’s Leverett Old Library. Prior to that production, the individual sections that comprise Gehri Dosti: 5 Short Plays with a South Asian Bent had been developed in festivals the world over, from New York to Cape Town, South Africa. The Harvard production represented the first time the pieces was combined to form a full evening of exploratory theatre.

With the AIDS epidemic spreading exponentially through developing countries, Gehri Dosti is as much about spreading knowledge as it is about civil rights advocacy. In addition to serving as Circle East’s executive director, Knox is the co-founder of the Tides Foundation’s India Fund, an organization that facilitates community building efforts and educational initiatives among South Asia’s gay groups. He has also conceived and co-produced Mela: A South Asian Festival of performances on the Indian subcontinent. For his work with the Russian Academy of Theater Arts, Mr. Knox has been a co-recipient of the United Nations Society of Writers Award.