Sari to Skin is local actor/poet Neelam Patel’s third solo show, currently running at the spartan Apothecary in this year’s Capital Fringe Festival. The tastefully staged production is without a clear storyline. Rather, it is set as a series of biographical poems and monologues through which Patel communicates her struggles with her identity as someone who is “too Indian to be American, and too American to be Indian.” Patel’s writing is lucid and her…

Neelam Patel … and Neelam Patel Local actress/poet/dancer Neelam Patel’s first foray into the arts was through the world of dance, training and performing in the classical Indian styles of Bharatanatyam and Odissi. An injury forced her to take a hiatus from dancing and in order to feed her creative hunger, she began taking acting classes at Studio Theater, Dody Desanto’s movement-based classes at The Center, as well as classes in New York. Patel…