New play explores bringing a partner home to meet traditional Indian parents
‘A Nice Indian Boy’Through April 9Olney Theatre Center2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832$54 -$79Olneytheatre.org Zi Alikhan is queer, first-generation South Asian-American, and culturally Muslim.
He’s also an accomplished rising director whose background lends a unique insight into his latest gig, staging Madhuri Shekar’s “A Nice Indian Boy,” currently playing at Olney Theatre Center.“I’ve never worked on anything that’s felt more personal,” says Alikhan, who turns 36 next week. “It’s a tender, funny, layered story about Naveen, a queer first generation South Asian American who for the first time is bringing a partner home to meet his traditional Indian parents who live in the Bay Area.
It’s also about what that means inside the culture and the community.” Like Naveen (Carol Mazhuvancheril), the boyfriend Keshav (Noah Israel) is a Marathi-speaking Hindu conversant with Indian culture.
If Naveen’s parents were ever going to accept a boyfriend for their son, he’d be the one. But there’s a glitch. Keshav is white, the adopted son of an Indian family.
