tertulia: When I Was Mexican: A Bollywood Musical

This event features live singing and music from When I was Mexican: A Bollywood Musical, and is a project for which Kristin Terhani received a 2026-2027 Milagro Artist Fund grant to support the musical’s development. For song composition, she is collaborating with two additional local artists: acclaimed vocalist, choir director, composer, arranger, and dedicated music educator Lynn Mendoza-Khan and playwright, producer, director, and teacher Alisha Christiansen.

When I was Mexican: A Bollywood Musical tells the story of Ana, who has a big birthday on the horizon and decides that it’s finally time to find the answer to a life-long nagging question. It’s a story of identity (and mis-identity), family (and found family), an unexpected multi-cultural sense of self, and what it means to experience these things as an adult woman—all with the support, encouragement, and cajoling of Ana’s friends.

Led by Tehrani, Christiansen, and Mendoza-Khan, this tertulia features three to six songs from the musical and short bits of the script, highlighting Ana’s journey, one that will resonate with many who travel their own paths of cultural identities, life surprises, and chosen family. Mendoza-Khan will share new songs from the musical, including work by fellow composer Balamurali Balu.

As an emerging writer drawn to storytelling based on her lived experiences as an ambiguously brown girl, Tehrani is particularly interested in the stories and lived perspectives of first generation bi-racial and bi-cultural individuals and communities, and When I was Mexican: A Bollywood Musical is based on her journey of cultural identity, life surprises, and chosen family.

Running time: 90 minutes
Age recommendation: All ages