Pakistan Times is a community newspaper serving the Pakistani American and broader South Asian population in Northern California. Founded in the early 1990s, it covers local Bay Area events, business, culture, and diaspora issues, alongside national and international news from Pakistan. The publication has played a key role in connecting the Pakistani community through both print and digital formats, offering coverage of cultural festivals, civic engagement, and community milestones.
Its Bay Area edition is part of a long-running Pakistan Times media tradition that began as an English-language newspaper in Pakistan in 1947, later evolving to serve diaspora communities across North America. In California, Pakistan Times remains one of the few Pakistani-led outlets amplifying local immigrant voices, promoting civic awareness, and fostering cross-cultural understanding within the broader South Asian media landscape.
Presented in August 2025, Panchakanya, written by Anindya Chakraborty and Sayoni Roy and directed by Chakraborty, reimagines five women from the Ramayana and Mahabharata—Mandodari, Ahalya, Tara, Kunti, and Draupadi. Blending music, choreography, and varied performance styles, the production invites audiences to reconsider inherited narratives about gender and power.
Drawing on the theme of good old neighborly suppport, this play shows an elderly man who is rescued from abject loneliness and poverty. Althoguh the play is set in Bengal, the value of neighborly relations speaks to everyone in the audience.
Party brought Mahesh Elkunchwar’s incisive social drama to Bay Area audiences. The play unfolds over the course of an elite urban gathering, where intellectuals, artists, and cultural figures assemble for an evening of conversation. Beneath the surface civility, tensions emerge around ideology, privilege, artistic responsibility, and moral complicity.
Pehli Pehli Maruti is a Naatak original inspired by a little-known story from 1983, when India’s first Maruti-800 was officially presented to a government employee, while an earlier car had already been privately delivered to a Delhi shopkeeper. The play reimagines this “first” car as a disruptive presence within an ordinary neighborhood, exploring how a single object can reshape social dynamics, aspiration, and memory.
Blending humor with social observation, the production examines middle-class life at a moment of technological and cultural transition in late twentieth-century India. This image captures the ceremonial arrival of the Maruti, adorned with garlands and treated as an object of celebration and reverence, reflecting its symbolic role as both aspiration and spectacle within the community.
Nora el Samahy (Noor, left) and Fatemeh Mehraban (Maryam) in Pilgrimage. The world premiere examines intergenerational ties and spiritual belonging during Hajj. Presented by Golden Thread Productions and Z Space at Z Space’s Steindler Stage
Nora el Samahy (Noor, right) and Jeunée Simon (Fatima) in Pilgrimage. Muslim women’s voices are foregrounded in this ensemble journey to Mecca. Presented by Golden Thread Productions and Z Space at Z Space’s Steindler Stage.
Isabel Alamin (Sosan, left) and Leda Rasooli (Nadia) in Pilgrimage. Estranged sisters navigate faith and reconciliation on pilgrimage. Presented by Golden Thread Productions and Z Space at Z Space’s Steindler Stage, Oct 24–Nov 9, 2025. Directed by Michelle Talgarow.
Cast of Pilgrimage (left to right: Jeunée Simon, Leda Rasooli, Fatemeh Mehraban, Nora el Samahy, Isabel Alamin). The ensemble highlights lived experiences of Muslim womxn in diaspora. Presented by Golden Thread Productions and Z Space at Z Space’s Steindler Stage, Oct 24–Nov 9, 2025. Directed by Michelle Talgarow.
Nora el Samahy (Noor) in Pilgrimage. Noor’s journey fulfills a sister’s final wish through sacred ritual. Presented by Golden Thread Productions and Z Space at Z Space’s Steindler Stage, Oct 24–Nov 9, 2025. Directed by Michelle Talgarow.
Jeunée Simon (Fatima) in Pilgrimage. A convert seeking belonging joins fellow pilgrims on a transformative journey. Presented by Golden Thread Productions and Z Space at Z Space’s Steindler Stage, Oct 24–Nov 9, 2025. Directed by Michelle Talgarow.
Cast members during a table read for Pilgrimage. Early rehearsals centered on collaborative script exploration and ensemble development prior to the World Premiere in fall of 2025, a Co-production between Golden Thread Productions and Z Space.
Director Michelle Talgarow works with performers during rehearsal for Pilgrimage. Golden Thread Productions’ rehearsal rooms function as spaces of dialogue, interpretation, and cultural grounding.
