"...Insomnia Is Funny, Important, Timely, and You Should Watch It"

Media

SEASON One
Excusively on

TRAILERS, TEASERS, AND EXTRAS

INSOMNIA Limited Series Trailer (2019)

Teaser 2

About The Show

ABOUT THE SHOW

INSOMNIA is a new dark comedy series about Nikhil - a queer, Indian American going through an identity crisis. When his aunt's medical bills begin to pile up, a chance encounter with a stranger introduces him to the world of escorting. Through these adventures, he explores his sexuality, experiences euphoria, deals with racism, and suffers with loneliness - all while trying to get a good night's rest!

Mental Health. Sexuality. Racism. Stereotypes. Grief.

These issues intersect many people's identities and have been in the forefront of our contemporary world. INSOMNIA explores bisexuality, gender, the escort experience, and more, all which rarely enter mainstream conversations.

Cast

CAST AND CREW

Vishaal Reddy

Creator, Head Writer, & Playing Nikhil

Vishaal Reddy is an actor, writer, and producer from Tennessee and based in NYC. He received his undergraduate degree at Boston University, studying Business Administration and
Theater. He was recently selected as one of 2019 Tribeca Film Festival Creator N.O.W.
creators. Upon moving to NYC, he was a part of numerous Off-Broadway plays and musicals,
while also delving into the television/film world. His recent credits include The Punisher, Bull, and Big Dogs. Feeling frustrated with the industry's portrayal of Indian characters, he started writing and producing his own screenplays and sketches. His ultimate goal is to use Insomnia
as a platform to launch a production company, focusing on the stories of Asian Americans and people in the LGBTQ community

Nikki Renee Daniels

Madam Linney

Nikki is an acclaimed Broadway actress and concert soloist. She is currently starring as
Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago company of Hamilton. Her Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi) The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara) LesMisérables (Fantine)
Anything Goes Promises Promises and Lestat. She recently played Martha Jefferson in 1776 at
Encores, and Rose Lennox in The Secret Garden at David Geffen Hall. She made her New
York City Opera debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess. She has been seen on TV in “Madam
Secretary” and “The Sound of Music: Live.” Nikki has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras in Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, Omaha, Indianapolis, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and at Carnegie Hall.

Aneesh Sheth

Kat

Ms. Aneesh Sheth is a singer, actress, producer, director, writer, and transgender activist. Born in Pune, India and relocating to the United States at an early age, she quickly found a passion
for music. After receiving her BFA at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for Musical
Theatre, she enjoyed the tour life performing in various musicals including the Broadway
National Tour of A.R. Rahman's Bombay Dreams as Sweetie in 2006. Aneesh made her
network debut as a guest star on NBC's Thursday night sitcom Outsourced (2011) and has
since appeared in Hulu's Difficult People and HBO's High Maintenance. She also had a cameo
in IFC's A Kid Like Jake, alongside Jim Parsons. She currently recurs as "Lila" on NBC's
Tuesday night medical Drama, New Amsterdam. Along with her work in theatre, film, and
television, she is an event host, trans activist, panelist and committee member with many
national organizations. In March 2013, Advocate Magazine honored Aneesh Sheth on their 40 Under 40 List.

Cheech Manahar

Savan

Cheech Manohar is a recent Syracuse Drama graduate and made his Broadway Debut in Mean
Girls. His regional credits include: Mean Girls at the National Theatre, West Side Story at Finger
Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, and Marry Poppins at Syracuse Stage. Cheech is also a trained
Bollywood dancer, and has taught Bollywood fusion workshops all over.

Alison Barton

Lila

Alison Barton has had featured roles in shows on Hulu, MTV & ABC, national tours,
off-broadway plays, multiple national commercials. You can catch her in season two of "Master of None" and on the Netflix series "Friends from College." Alison is an accomplished writer, who
pilot project “Granted” was selected to be a part of the New York Television Festival. She graduated with her BFA in Drama from UCONN. http://www.hialisonbarton.com

Verma Kuhoo

Leela

Kuhoo Verma is a recent graduate of New York University and concentrated in Vocal Performance. She was recently seen in the Academy Award nominated film The Big Sick,
starring Kumail Nanjiani and Holly Hunter. Additionally, she was featured in the stage adaptation of Monsoon Wedding and is currently a cast member of a new musical, Octet, premiering at Signature Theatre in NYC.

Nandita Shenoy

Meera

Nandita Shenoy is an actor-writer who lives in New York City.

As an actor, Nandita was most recently seen in the Off-Off-Broadway production of Adam Szymkowicz's play, Marian, or the True tale of Robin Hood at the New Ohio Theater produced by Flux Theatre Ensemble. Prior to that, she starred in the Off-Broadway Production of her own play, Washer/Dryer. She has also been a part of the World Premier casts of Trouble Cometh by Richard Dresser at the San Francisco Playhouse and of Some Other Kind of Person by Eric Pfeffinger at Philadelphia's InterAct Theater. She was a member of the Repertory Company of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for a season where she played the roles of "Ursula" in Much Ado About Nothing, "Miss Poppenghul" in Moonlight and Magnolias, and "Lucius" in Julius Caesar. She can also be seen in national commercials for IBM, GoDaddy, and HP.

Nandita's latest full-length play, Satisfaction, was presented as part of the "Main Stage Live" program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her last play, Washer/Dryer, had its Off-Broadway premier at Theatre Row in February 2016, produced by Ma-Yi Theater. Washer/Dryer received its World Premier at EastWest Players in February 2015 as a part of their 50th Anniversary Season. Her one-acts Marrying Nandini, By Popular Demand, Rules of Engagement, and A More Perfect Date have received full productions in New York City from Green Light Productions, New Perspectives Theater, New Ground Collective, and Eating Theater respectively. She is also the recipient of the 2014 Father Hamblin One Act Commission Prize from the Abingdon Theater. Nandita’s plays have been read at the Kennedy Center, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Second Generation, Salaam Theater, the Bleecker Street Theater, The Lark Play Development Center, and by the Red Harlem Readers.
In addition to creating theater, Nandita is an advocate for diversity in the theater and sits on the Steering Committee of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition and is a member of the advisory board of the Bingham Camp Theatre Retreat, a development space for musical theater. She has also been a participant of the South Asian Theater Arts Movement.
Nandita holds a BA from Yale University in English literature with a distinction in the major. She is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers' Lab, the Dramatists Guild, and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab.

Jason Veasey

Don

Jason Veasey is currently in rehearsal for the world premiere musical “A Strange Loop at
Playwright’s Horizons.” Past credits include the Broadway and National touring companies of
The Lion King. Off Broadway credits at The Public, Theater Row and Barrow Street theaters. He also been seen across the country from the Denver Center to the Humana Festival.

James Seol

David

James Seol is an accomplished film and stage actor whose recent credits include Broadway’s A Naked Girl on the Appian Way and the off-Broadway hit, K-Pop, for which he was nominated for Lucille Lortel Award. He is a Juilliard trained actor and will next be seen in Netflix’s Living With Yourself, starring and executive produced by Paul Rudd.

Daniel Burns

Frank

Originally from Parkland, Florida (and a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School), Daniel graduated from Syracuse University’s Department of Drama with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. Daniel has trained at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London
and the Los Angeles Symposium with Aaron Sorkin and the Arielle Madover Tepper Semester
in New York City. Daniel originated the role of Nicholas Hodges in the World Premiere of Carey
Crim's new play Conviction, directed by Scott Schwartz and starring Sarah Paulson, Garret
Dillahunt, Elizabeth Reaser and Brian Hutchison at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY. The
New York Times regarded his performance as "painfully believable" while The East Hampton
Star called him "a dynamo of talent." Immediately following, Daniel reprised his performance [as
Nicholas Hodges] in the West Coast premiere of Conviction with Elyse Mirto, Tom Astor, Julie
Granata and Joseph Fuqua at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, CA. Daniel is a founding
member of and serves as Co-Artistic Manager for the New York City-based Diverging Elements
Theatre Co., reimagining the limits of the theatrical experience through the magic of physical
and improvisational storytelling. In November, Daniel's original play, KIM, was awarded 'Best
Premiere' at the United Solo Awards in New York City.

PRODUCED

AND

DIRECTED BY

Directed by Michelle Cutolo

Executive Producers Milan and Dipali Goswami

Producer Neal Ludevig

Producer David Tao

Producer T. Zhang

Producer Scott Langley

Producer Denise Fisher

...AND

Billy Mason as Guy

Piyali Syam as Arpta

Sherz Aletaha as Samira

Devon Kolluri as Varun

Michaell Hull as Ethan

Christopher Romero Wilson as Manager

Shawlini Holbrook as Kaajal

Christian Sineath as Katie

Ross Neal as Jeff

Onkur Singh Dhindsa as Rakesh

Vick Krishna as Paul

Associate Producer Mauricio Marces

Director of Photography Michael Cerisano

1st Assistant Director Lina Lansky

1st Assistant Camera Operator Zanin Lindsay

Editor Aaron Duffy

1st AC Thomas Foy

1st AC Vishvak Prakkruth

1st AC Sam Schrag

Gaffer Nicolas Vallejo

Gaffer Vic Roxas

Grip Tommy Walters

Sound Mixer Allistair Johnson

Sound Mixer Sam Weiner

Sound Mixer Michael Moote

Production Designer Heliose Wilson

Art Assistant Marine Brun Franzetti

Art Assistant Jazmin Ali

Wardrobe Director Nicole Joy Pettis

Hair and Makeup Lily li

PA Charlie Kehler

Special Thanks to Vijay and Radhika Reddy, Saima Huq, Alex McSweeney, Leslie Schwartz, Kevin Kantor, and Jon Marcus

PRESS

"Meet Vishaal Reddy, the creative genius behind a new dark comedy series, Insomnia"

- Avani Thakkar, ELLE INDIA

"...Refreshing and revolutionary...the best thing Reddy does is to embrace his nuanced identity in a way that previous representations rarely do."

- Proma Khosla, MASHABLE

"Insomnia finds a hearty dose of laughs and sexuality to keep things entertaining, and Reddy injects Nikhil with enough charm and vulnerability to keep him relatable, even at his most neurotic."

- David Reddish, QUEERTY

"Vishaal Reddy is Telling a Different Indian-American Story with ‘Insomnia’"

- Lakshmi Gandhi, THE TEAL MANGO

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"If you are looking for something that examines American culture and the world surrounding sex and sexuality in a humorous way you need to add Insomnia to your list"

- Katherine Kleffner, THE NERDY GIRL EXPRESS

"South Asians aren’t often painted as desirable,’ says Vishaal Reddy"

- Chintan Girish Modi, THE INDIAN EXPRESS

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"You learn more about these characters in the short episodes than you do in many of the TV shows trending on Netflix."

- Sharan Dhaliwal, BURNT ROTI

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"New Miniseries Insomnia Set to Premiere Wednesday, June 5, 2019"

- Guest Editor, THE HYPE MAGAZINE

"Raunchy Upcoming Mini-Series Insomnia Will Redefine South Asian Media Representation"

- Aaron Mok, ASAMNEWS

"'Insomnia' : A peek Into the life of a queer, desi escort"

- Bhargavi Kulkarni, INDIA ABROAD

"Stage & Screen Stars Jenna Ushkowitz and Shoba Narayan to Read INSOMNIA TV Pilot in NYC"

- TV News Desk, BROADWAY WORLD

Vishaal Reddy/ "I wrote Insomnia for those who feel like outsiders. I wrote Insomnia for those who are messy, funny, awkward, sad… but I most importantly wrote Insomnia for humans who need to feel seen and heard."

- Samantha Riedel, THEM.US

"A Bi Sex Worker's Life Is Explored in a Darkly Comedic New Show"

- Jeffrey Masters, ADVOCATE

“Insomnia has quickly become a-don’t-miss web series and an important source of adding shade and color to what can seem like black and white issues"

- Anubhuti Kumar, BROWN GIRL MAGAZINE

"Laced with dark humour, this show weaves in conversations around racial discrimination, mental health, sex work, cultural appropriation and queer loneliness."

- Chintan Girish Modi, MEDIUM

"Insomnia deals with a barrage of issues pertaining to questions of identity, but it does so with a humor and a style that makes it incredibly endearing."

- Caemeron Crain, 25 YEARS LATER