The Employee Dharma Handbook
TheatreWorks World Premiere Blockbuster
By: Victor Cordell - Jul 14, 2026
Just as the United States will forever be stained by the racism of slavery, so will India’s dominant religion, Hinduism, for its caste system. Although the latter has made great strides in providing opportunity for Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, the shadow persists.
American culture increasingly interacts with Indian culture in many ways. As companies use international outsourcing to take advantage of skills and lower costs available outside of the U.S., India has become a prime beneficiary both for call centers and high-tech units. And in addition to educational opportunities and general immigration by Indians, many of them come to the U.S. on H1-B visas, especially for high-tech jobs in Silicon Valley.
TheatreWorks world premiere of Geetha Reddy’s The Employee Dharma Handbook deftly directed by Snehal Desai, pierces that space with an extremely well-acted, dramatic, yet very humorous look into a social issue that has arisen in this country in contemporary times. The result is a thoughtful skewering of both an ancient code of social hierarchy and capitalism whose only denomination is money.
Most Americans accustomed to what they believe is egalitarianism, give little or no thought to which Hindus they engage with or how they engage with them, even those Americans who know something about the caste system. But what about Hindus in America?
The play’s title appropriately implies that the action occurs in a workplace environment. The inclusion of the complex Hindu word dharma, which can relate to righteousness or social order, clearly signals that this play concerns Hindus.
Sequoia Dynamics, a fictional Bay Area aerodynamics company, prepares for the launch of a probe to one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa. Mission Manager Krish (male) has just appointed Baasu (male) as a director reporting to him, passing up Leela (female), who was of equal organizational level and slightly more senior to Baasu and had superior evaluations on all critical criteria. Leela wants to file a protest, but not based on the obvious, gender discrimination.
It turns out that Krish, played as dignified and righteous by Kapil Talwalkar, is Brahmin, the highest caste, and he retains many beliefs and practices from the country of his birth. Baasu represents those who abandon their religious heritage. The easy-going Baasu, portrayed by a true comedian Kunal Dedheker who extracts laughter from the most trivial comments, advocates atheism, though he acknowledges that his parents are Brahmin. Thus, it is easy for him to be dismissive of caste, as he will always be known as being from the highest one.
As the central character Leela, Megan Suri captures her assured, well-prepared, and unerring way. The daughter of two physicians, American-born Leela has only recently learned that contrary to the stories she was told as a child, that she is Dalit, and that becomes the central issue. Her workplace complaint is based on religious, or more specifically, caste discrimination.
Thrust into the breech is Val (female). With art imitating life, the play draws from real incidents at Cisco and Google. Val is black and used to suffering bias, but she is burdened with adjudicating discrimination in another culture. Many such cases balance on a knife’s edge, and in this case, since Krish knew that Leela is Dalit, it could come down to “did he touch her?” – not in a sexual way, but anything like shaking hands or a pat on the back.
Human Resource management is a mine field in the best of circumstances, but dealing with established law and the overlay of the Trump administration’s antipathy toward DEI makes the work of people like the breezy but competent Val, played by a vibrant Kathryn Smith-McGlynn, even harder. Val must keep to protocol and constantly censor herself and others to avoid legal liability. And who does this pseudo-politeness favor? The ones who are already in power - a universal phenomenon.
Added complications occur when Chief Technology Officer C.K. (female), who is more concerned about the consequences to a planned IPO and the launch should Krish be derailed, tries to placate Leela by imposing remedial requirements on Krish that don’t benefit Leela at all. One of the funniest scenes with the whole cast of five on stage is that after we know that only English is to be spoken in the office, C.K., Krish, and Baasu have a heated but funny argument with wild gesticulations in Telegu, an Indian language unknown to Leela and Val (or the audience) who stand by befuddled. Is it odd that the three in a chain of command all speak the same native tongue?
Beyond the exquisite ensemble cast, the final star is the scenic design by Wilson Chin. Not only does a model of engine thrusters from a rocket hover over humanity, but the vertical scale of the sets makes the humans look appropriately small.
Other issues are explored as well, including another with universal resonance. How often does a person not receive a promotion because they are so competent at what they are doing that rewarding them with a higher position might be detrimental to the company?
It’s often difficult to communicate about humor without successfully repeating the humor itself. Sometimes it’s one of those “you had to be there” things. If you have a chance, you want to be there.
The Employees Dharma Handbook, written by Geetha Reddy is produced by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and plays at Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA through August 2, 2026.