Caste Away Arts is a Midland’s-based theatre company led by Rena Dipti Annobil, Reena Bhatoa and Ravina Rai.

It all started in 2004 when Rena and Reena joined the charity CasteWatchUK which aims to eliminate caste discrimination in the UK. The two Re(e)na's wanted to help with this good cause and decided to use their skills and experience in writing and drama to write a play about caste discrimination which was based on true life experiences of people that they met. They finished the play (The Fifth Cup) in early 2006 and decided to produce it themselves and create a platform for future projects. And thus Caste Away Arts was born.

After working themselves to the bone for a while, Rena and Reena joined forces with the amazingly efficient and well organised Ravina Rai in 2007. The small, but perfectly formed, circle of three went to work producing their debut production The Fifth Cup which sold out at The Drum theatre in Birmingham in December 2007.

Caste Away Arts are currently working on a UK tour for The Fifth Cup, new material and several artistic collaborations. They remain passionate about using theatre to break down barriers and eliminate discrimination. They are commited to producing high quality entertainment with a strong social message.

Caste Away Arts is the artistic arm of charity CasteWatchUK and is supported by them in all their endeavours.

Rena Dipti Annobil graduated from Aston University in 2001 with BSc (Hons) in Managerial and Administrative Studies. Whilst at university Rena trained in Indian Classical and Contemporary Dance, focusing on the ancient dance form Bharata Natyam, and performed at various theatres around the Midlands as part of Coventry based Mrittika Arts Dance Company. Rena joined the BBC in 2002 and now works as a Broadcast Assistant for BBC Audio and Music and as a freelance presenter, fronting several shows on Vectone TV in 2005 (the company has since dissolved but Rena had nothing to do with that!) and voicing BBC 7's Chain Gang readings in 2007. Passionate about poetry, music and dance, Rena has performed at several poetry nights in Coventry and London and has carried out singing and poetry workshops for Coventry Arts Week. In September 2005, Rena co-organised and presented a conference and talent show for children from the Valmiki community. She recently did a drama and story-telling workshop at Connect India's LEAD event for 18 to 21 year olds. Making the most of her creative ideas and experience in planning and producing, Rena has recently turned her hand to play-writing and production and is one half of Caste Away Arts.

I’m Reena Bhatoa, I won’t disclose my age as I have lied about it to every child in teach! Hey it’s an art for teachers to lie to kids! Once upon a long long time I was born at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry. I am the Granddaughter of two late ‘Untouchable’ warriors. I was a forceps delivery and it took my mum 37 hours to give birth to me. Ouch! During childhood I was slow I learned to speak, read and write very late. - Now I can’t shut up or stop writing! Me and my Cousin Bally were crazy about Wham back in the day and we thought ‘’hey lets go and see them, there not far there in London where Big Ben is (I said pointing to Cov Cathedral) we walked along Richmond Street and hit a brick wall we looked back and the whole clan came running after us with a rolling pin, a stick and a old chuppal (sandal) Our adventures didn’t stop there but I will stop here!

At secondary school I predictably failed my GCSE’s and my teachers told me I wasn’t going to get anywhere in life. I took that as a challenge and approached Mr. Rattinghan who saw the determination in me and allowed me to sit in on the A’ level classes when really I was supposed to do an intermediate course. I pushed my self in class and passed. Sadly Mr Rattigham died and I will never forget him, so I never sat down since that day he gave me life. My Grandfather also said on his death bed “you’ll get a degree’’ I didn’t agree but went on a mission to Uni and studied Sociology anyway. It was easy just add an ‘ism’ after everything. I was getting somewhere. I was diagnosed very late with Dyslexia – brilliant excuse for driving in the wrong lane and parking anywhere. Uni was on of the best times of my life. I took a year out and did a fab placement at Sampad –South Asian Arts where I got a taste of the Arts world and lead workshops, did Outreach, evaluated a regional Arts project and did some filming/ photography in a nutshell. This is hwre my passion for Arts began. Got my degree and graduated ironically on the 5 year death anniversary of my Grandfather – Gosh my life’s a tale isn’t it? Then I and my soul mate had some dough saved and decided one day to buy two of the busiest shops in the inner cites of Coventry. I ran the Video shop and completed my MA (University of Birmingham) in there and also got a degree in LIFE at the same time! There is nothing I haven’t seen here in the ghetto trust me. Ok back to MA I pioneered research into people’s experiences of Caste Discrimination in the UK and that lead me to where I am today – the other half of Caste Away Arts. I am so passionate about campaigning Castism as I suffered bullying as a child, teenager and adult!

Currently I work as Supply Teacher. I specialise in Performing Arts and have delivered and ran workshops around schools and special need intuitions. I am passionate about working with young people and there’s nothing more motivating than a disruptive, wild and crazy class. I love all my little sprogs.

I am crazy about love poetry. I have performed on radio and write for an online magazine. There are so many things I love but then I’ll be writing forever because that’s what I love most and that’s to cut a long story short.

Ravina Rai graduated from the University of Leicester in 2005 with a BA (Hons) in English, and an MBA in Management Studies in 2006. She currently manages a property investment company. Nevertheless all her spare time is devoted to the success of ‘The Fifth Cup’ and making Caste Away Arts a nationally recognised production company. Ravina is a regular theatregoer as well as a Shakespearean enthusiast. It was only natural for her to join Caste Away Arts in its endeavour to ‘eliminate caste discrimination through theatre’. As Assistant Producer/Stage Manager for Caste Away Arts, Ravina oversees all business aspects to The Fifth Cup and helps with the logistics of the production. She is currently working hard to generate media attention by liaising with local and leading media publications. She is also developing links with other theatre companies and community leaders to take ‘The Fifth Cup’ on a national tour sometime next year. Ravina hopes that ‘The Fifth Cup’ will educate the younger generation to look outside of the box and accept caste for what it is, ‘just a job title’. She also feels it is important to teach the younger generation that “Caste should not and does not shape your identity; instead your life experiences should do that”.
Ravina says:
there is no doubt that this project is time consuming, but the challenge, experience and the chemistry in our team, makes it all the worthwhile. We have a great team behind us, which is oozing with confidence and determination to ensure The Fifth Cup is a success! I am so glad to be given this opportunity to be involved in this pioneering project. To see change, you have to be the face of change, hence why I got involved.