skitish
by Surina
Flip your script into a skit.
A film/theater-based mental health literacy & skills after-school program, turning our kids' interests & anxiety into three acts -- developed with world-class entertainment & healthcare leaders.
Students write the story, then cast & direct professional actors/creators to bring them to life.
From one Creator
to your inner one
Over six-weeks we guide students to write their stories, cast professional actors/creators and direct their very own three-act skit!
What makes our film/theater program special is they're therapeutic -- entertainment that goes beyond the screen, beyond simply "having fun" to becoming an essential course in human development. It is embedded with a credible, curriculum of mental health literacy & skills.
Awards, prizes and internship opportunities are presented to students who achieve dedication milestones.
Example: Maya's story to show "Outside in"
2024 SoulHouse Story Award
Lincoln Center Theater
After channeling your story into a Skitish, then the real journey of connecting with other likeminded souls begins. The decisions for each crossroads are up to you -- from sharing your Skitish anonymously online to finding sponsors and venues to put on a show. Which ever path you choose, Instagram becomes optional while meaning becomes mandatory.
"Social Media Vaccine" without the drugs
Our Programs
Making Headlines
As SoulHouse is like a ClassPass for Mental Health, Skitish is the Film/Theater class for the kids out there who either already have the performance fire in their belly or could benefit from a new spark.
Students learn how to explore their interests in a healthy way and be fearless of their curiosities during one of the most clinically significant crossroads ever -- the Instagram era.
Our practices follow evidence-based methods for Affinity Groups to access students' "adaptive mode for best-self," leaving behind our "disconnected mode" and harnessing the science behind our affinities (A. Beck et al, Recovery-oriented Cogntive Therapy, 2012).
Over six weeks: an opening instructor-led performance inspires, followed by three weekly workshops to serve as mental health skills & literacy boosters for students -- to natural build "immunity," or resiliency (our program's Key Performance Indicator) before rehearsal and showtime.
2025: Our Programs Officially Debut NYC Public Schools
About The Director
As a Creative Executive with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, I’ve spent the last 5 years helping set the standard for Public Health Entertainment.
I feel like a "Mary Poppins for Mental Health," using a spoon full of entertainment to make the mental health skills go down.
My career as an actress (Succession, Outsourced, 90210), award-winning movie producer, immersive theater producer, takes me from places like HBO and Comedy Central to Netflix and Audible
And now as a member of the SoulHouse collective, I work with world-class leaders to help bridge the healthcare, education and entertainment industries and unlock unprecedented opportunities for Public Mental Health.
SoulHouse assembles a credible team of partners for each public health production and helps secure grants & awards, ranging from $10,000-$250,000, to not only finance the entertainment production but research & develop it's public mental health impact through third-party, academic medical centers with trusted Community Based Organizations (CBO).
In 2023, I was the Co-Creator, Co-Director & Executive Producer for "Outside In," an immersive play exploring "Maya's" interests and anxieties as she discovers 'Cognitive Glimmer Therapy.' Developed with The Child Center of NY serving 50,000 families.
In 2024, I was the Co-Host & Executive Producer for "Fashion On Trial," an immersive, three-part, therapeutic theater series. A mock-trial with a improv Hip-Hop cast debating the interest of Fashion and an audience of jurors, developed with New York Public Radio and The Greene Space.
In 2025, I was a Creative Development Producer for "Fashion Show of your Life," a six-week after-school program using students' interest in Fashion for healthy development & Identity with support through NYU School of Medicine. Students became the designers, creating collections from scratch to then model for a fashion show for their school, families & neighborhood.
Beginning 2026, I'm the Director of “Skitish,” bringing together all of my incredible experience and the culmination of all the research & development over the past four years to help lead film/theater-based mental health programming for students.
Evidence-based entertainment,
I love it and I hope you do too!
Surina Jindal Entertainment Industry Highlights
Co-Creator, Executive Producer & Star of Comedy Central Feature Film 'Hot Mess Holiday' (2021) landing two NAACP-nominations, making history as the first studio-backed Diwali movie addressing representation gaps in mainstream American media. Executive Produced with Kal Penn, Associate Director of White House Office of Public Engagement (2009-2011). The Giants (2021) a sumo wrestling docuseries, which received four nominations and won the Sports Industry Award in 2022 for Best Original Content Series. Co-Producer Lemon (2017), a comedic short, premiering at Tribeca and winning "Most Watched Shorts On Amazon." Title Fight: Between Two Worlds, Feature Documentary featuring Russell Peters and Justin Trudeau.