Pomona College Stages Biting Yoga Satire Skewering Wellness Culture and Capitalism

Dipika Guha's Yoga Play landed at Pomona College's Allen Theatre from March 5 through March 8, and it didn't pull its punches. Directed by theatre professor Lina Patel and staged in the black box space at the Seaver Theatre Complex, the production took direct aim at the wellness industry's commodification of Eastern culture, the hollow language of corporate authenticity, and the capitalism-soaked world of athleisure branding.

The plot centers on Joan, newly appointed CEO of a scandal-hit yoga apparel company called Jojomon, who hatches a plan to save the brand: bring in a "real" Indian guru to re-center the company's image. The catch, as the play makes clear, is finding a guru who fits both the glossy brand aesthetic and the corporate timeline. Phebe Mason (PO '26) played Joan, with Annsh Kapoor (PO '26) as CFO Raj and Chris Chow (PO '26) as COO Fred rounding out the executive trio at the center of the story.

What separates Yoga Play from a straightforward corporate send-up is the emotional territory it covers underneath the satire. Joan works through anxiety and panic attacks. Raj has to shake off the apathy the corporate world has baked into him. Fred is somewhere between his past in Singapore and the life he's built in America. Caoilainn Christensen (PO '28) played the overenthusiastic employee Nooyi, Fabi Parés Gutiérrez (PO '28) took on idealistic yoga instructor Romola, and Eli Hamre (PO '27) played the mysterious Guruji.

Patel described the tonal challenge directly: "This play walks a tonal tightrope - from farce to pathos - and I'm looking forward to exploring that emotional range with students who bring curiosity and heart into the room. We'll be laughing, asking big questions, and creating something that feels timely... and dare I say... authentic!"

The production carried particular weight for Mason, Kapoor, and Chow, all three of whom used it as their senior thesis and final show, combining the performance with a written paper to fulfill Pomona's theatre major requirements. Kapoor said the choice was straightforward: "I suggested 'Yoga Play' because I love the play, and I think it's such a funny play. It's so relevant and so fast-paced and so witty at the same time. I just thought it was a great play to do as a thesis."

For anyone embedded in yoga culture, Guha's script hits recognizable targets: the brand-speak around "authenticity," the fetishization of Eastern spiritual traditions stripped of context, and the breathless sincerity of corporate wellness. That the play also insists on genuine human longing beneath all that performance is what gives it staying power beyond the jokes.