It takes a special person to balance a demanding college life and a promising acting career. Roshni Shukla is not your ordinary 18-year-old Sacramento State student. Shukla, a freshman communications major and business minor, is the star of “Queen of the Remote Control,” a Sacramento Theatre Company production.

Shukla portrays Shilpa Shah, a 17-year-old American girl of Indian descent with conservative parents. Shah is struggling with the college application process and her parents are too busy to help.

This neglect causes Shah to become enamored with television. “TV is her window to the outside world,” Shukla said. She said that Shah is a bit “out there” and uses plenty of vulgar language throughout the play.

The play, she said, relies heavily on comedy, but tackles serious immigrant issues ?” including contrasting religions in a relationship. “The play shows that parents and children need to break down the walls and be able to communicate with each other,” she said.

The play marks Shukla’s first lead role with the theater company. It is her third major role with the company, she said, but she also had two minor roles in the past.

“This is a big leap forward for me,” Shukla added.

Shukla grew up in Elk Grove and attended Laguna Creek High School, where she took her first acting class. She began calling theaters and accepted an audition for the Sacramento Theatre Company-2 training program.

“The program is for young professionals looking to get their foot in the door,” Shukla said.

She said the program offers hands-on classes and workshops twice a month, teaching the basics of theater professionalism.

“I auditioned, and out of 200, I was one of the 20 picked to join the program,” she said.

Shukla began acting in 2003 and made her theater company debut in “Arranged Marriage,” which was also an Indian-based play. She said she was cast in that play because of her prior Hindi dancing experience and Indian heritage. “They like to try new pieces, such as Indian films, which can be risky,” Shukla said.

The theater company, she said, has branched out and deviated from the classic themes of theater. “If it wasn’t for the new pieces, I may not be where I am today,” Shukla said.

Shukla enjoys being on stage, but has also done film and TV work. “I did a smaller film for the Sacramento Film Festival,” she said.

Shukla said that being live on stage is completely different from shooting a film.

“Being on stage, you can feel everyone’s presence and you have to be on,” she said.

Shukla said that performing on the smaller Stage Two, which only holds 90 people in three rows of seating, forces her to feed off the energy of the crowd.

“Shooting a film was a bit awkward because you don’t have an audience,” Shukla said. Her lack of exposure in film makes it hard to compare the two, but she feels film is more tedious. “You must have a lot of patience to work in film,” she said.

Shukla put together and hosted a telethon for victims of the tsunami that hit India last year. She also worked on a televised teen hotline that dealt with everything from helping teens with homework to more serious matters.

Before acting became so time consuming, Shukla took part in community service and volunteered at an animal shelter for two years.

Shukla wants to continue acting, but has school to fall back on. “It’s a passion of mine, and I would love to continue it,” Shukla said.

Theater actors struggle to make it and Shukla realizes that. She said if acting doesn’t work out, she wants to be a broadcast journalist. “Both fields are hard to get into, but I set my goals pretty high and they are hard to obtain,” she said.

Between school and acting, Shukla is busy. She doesn’t spend as much time with her friends or family as she’d like to, but is fully supported in everything she does. “My parents are extremely supportive, which is abnormal for an Indian culture,” she said. “It’s nice to know I have their support,” she said.

“The end product of doing a play shows that the sacrifices I made are well worth it,” Shukla said.

“Queen of the Remote Control” is currently playing on Stage Two at the Sacramento Theatre Company and can be seen through Jan. 8, 2006. For ticket and time information visit www.sactheatre.org or contact the Box Office at (916) 443-6722.

Vincent gesuele can be reached at [email protected]