Carmel performer heads to Broadway while in high school

By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com

Aarthi Eswaran is a Carmel High School (CHS) student who is headed to New York City next month to take part in the prestigious Broadway Artist Alliance (BAA) summer program. BAA is an elite, audition-based program that connects young performers with Tony Award winners and top casting directors for an intensive week of education, rehearsal, and a performance.

The Reporter spoke with Eswaran about her passion for being on stage and what she expects from the BAA program in late July.

“I have been specifically invited to join Session 4, which is the most selective ‘triple-threat’ [singing, dancing, and acting] track that culminates in a performance at an Off-Broadway showcase,” Eswaran said. “This feels like the next major step in my career, and I am grateful to represent Indiana’s performing arts scene in NYC.”

Eswaran had to audition with three videos, one for each portion of the triple-threat program.

“I will be learning all about those three fields and mastering certain performances, and group performances as well,” Eswaran said. “Then we will be performing for a bunch of casting agents and directors on an off-Broadway stage in New York.”

Eswaran is involved in the CHS theater and in two CHS competition show choir programs: Accents and Ambassadors. Accents is an all-female group, while Ambassadors is a group composed of both young men and young women.

Eswaran has also been acting in both musical and dramatic plays both at CHS and in community theater for years.

“I’ve performed with Meridian Music Theater Camp,” Eswaran said. “It’s called M3 Theater Camp. I recently did a review at the Civic Theater. I’ve also performed at the Switch Theater in Fishers. I will be performing with Summer Stock Stage this summer in their show Ragtime. I was also at the Palladium through Songbook Academy in 2025 and I’ll be returning in 2026.”

Add to that a full school schedule, hobbies playing both guitar and drums, and even time spent bike riding as leisure activity. Thus, The Reporter had to ask how she balances so many activities.

“You’ve got to become really good at juggling many things and make sure to not waste your time,” Eswaran said. “So I’ve been trying to get pretty good at that. If I’m not on stage during rehearsal, I’m usually studying. And even in car rides, I try to get stuff done. Even on the bus ride home. I’m always trying to find those little pockets of time where I can fit in schoolwork throughout all the performing. Honestly, it’s been pretty fun because I enjoy doing all those extracurricular activities and I still was able to manage my junior year of high school, which is notoriously the most difficult year of high school.”

Eswaran caught the acting bug early, but one of her standout memories was the chance play the role of Anna Van Helsing in the CHS production of Dracula.

“Anna Van Helsing is actually Abram Van Helsing in the original, but they genderbent the role as a woman empowerment type thing,” Eswaran said. “It was just very cool to play that kind of role. Van Helsing kills Dracula and makes the plan to defeat the vampire.”

That role allowed Eswaran to stretch her talents a bit by working with a dialect coach to perfect her Dutch accent to better portray Van Helsing.

Next month, Eswaran will learn from world-class instructors at BAA in New York, then bring those skills back home to Hamilton County stages.

In a few years when Eswaran is off to pursue a career on Broadway or in Hollywood, remember that you read about her first in Hamilton County’s Hometown Newspaper: The Reporter.