One-Man Play Reaches Beyond Immigrant Story (Theatre Notes)
By Vit Wagner

Source: The Toronto Star (January 28, 1999) (Available through paid archive)

Writer/performer Aasif Mandvi left his birthplace, Bombay, at the age of 1, lived in Britain until he was 16, then moved to the United States, where he has resided for the past 16 years. That experience is the basis for his one-man show, Sakina's Restaurant, which recently concluded an acclaimed, six-month run at New York's American Place Theatre. It opens tonight at the Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester St. Mandvi essays six different characters in his story about a young East Indian, Azgi, who leaves Bombay to work in a New York restaurant owned by another South Asian immigrant, Hakim. The restaurateur's family, including his dissatisfied wife and Americanized daughter, flesh out the narrative.

"My family was the starting point," says Mandvi, on the line from New York.

"The father in the show really is my dad. And the mother is based on my mom's experiences.

"The characters are all part of me. They are all based on elements of myself."

Mandvi's success has invited inevitable comparisons to John Leguizamo, who also had his start at the American Place Theatre, before Freak, his solo show about the Hispanic American experience, went on to become a hit on Broadway."
John has a different energy that I do. His show is much more based in standup," Mandvi says.

"My show is more of a story. It's a bit more poignant and sad, as well as being funny. It's more of a play. It has a beginning, a middle and an end."

Like Leguizamo, though, Mandvi has managed to reach out beyond the target audience. The New York Times, describing the show as "funny and endearing," said that "while its characters are living through the Indian immigrant experience, its revelations apply to anyone who feels the pull of two cultures and to a thousand variations on a loss of innocence."

Says Mandvi: "For South Asians, it was a mirror. For others it was a window.

"It's about a family, so it has a universality to it. People whose families are from Greece or Turkey or Eastern Europe have come up to me to talk about how they relate to elements of the show, in terms of the immigrant experience."

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