SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was a show worthy of a Broadway stage. There were dance solos, fight scenes, acrobatics, comedy sequences and puppets. A fire-breathing dragon and a massive spider straight out of Harry Potter stole the show at Mount Madonna School’s 43rd production of the Ramayana!
The annual production — performed at the Mexican Heritage Plaza here — had a two-year hiatus amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It was Gitanjali Rivera’s first time as director but not her first interaction with the epic tale itself. She had played the role of Princess Sita years before, when the Ramayana! had adult performers. Over the past 30 years the Ramayana! has been performed by the K-12 students who learn at the Mount Madonna School.
Photo Gallery
Isaiah Orozco as Samapti (center) surrounded by the Monkey Army during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Patrick Hofmeister as Kumbhakarna (left) and Addison Catteral-Pendleton as King Ravana (right) during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Addison Catteral-Pendleton as King Ravana performs a solo during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Gitanjali Rivera, Director of Mount Madonna School’s 43rd production of the Ramayana! addresses the cast circle at the Mexican Heritage Theatre in San Jose, California. Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Ben Pearson as Prince Rama during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Zoey Ocampo-Sobkoviak as Jatayu during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Sky Weir as Prince Lakshmana, Ben Pearson as Prince Rama and Alyssa Manzur as Princess Sita during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Summer Howley as Lord Shiva and Kayla Goldstein as Goddess Parvarti during Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Erin Kavitsky as Manthara (center) for Mount Madonna School’s production of the Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
A young student playing a jungle creature looks out during the cast circle for Mount Madonna School’s production of Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local. 
Performers stand outside getting ready for cast circle before Mount Madonna School’s production of Ramayana! Photo: Sree Sripathy for India Currents/CatchLight Local.
“It feels amazing to perform in front of a live audience,” said Rivera. “You can feel the difference.”
High school students who graduated in 2020 and 2021 did not have the opportunity to perform their senior year as they would have normally. During the cast circle, when all cast members gathered around backstage, Rivera encouraged alumni and performers to be considerate of those students who missed out on their senior year experience.
All the pomp and glitter did not take away from the main message, the teaching of the Ramayana to the students. “We try to teach the kids what Baba Hari Dass taught us,” said Rivera. “Every character in the Ramayana is a part of us, she said. “Every seed is in us.”