STAGE WEST: "House of India" at the Old Globe Theatre

Left to right: Supriya Ganesh (seated), Tommy Bo, Mahira Kakkar and Deven Kolluri in "House of India." Photo by Jim Cox

            Whenever I observe that a family restaurant has closed, I feel a tinge of sadness, an empathy for someone’s blood, sweat and tears dissolved. It’s worse if it’s a place I’d frequented.
            From such circumstances came San Diego playwright Deepak Kumar’s “House of India,” and for him it was even more personal. House of India was a restaurant he and his family frequented when he was growing up in Michigan. It was a place, he has said, to connect with his community, his culture and with the cuisine of his heritage.
            In writing the one-act “House of India,” which is making its world premiere at the Old Globe in the round, Kumar moved that Michigan restaurant south to Ohio, integrated dishes and recipes taught to him by his mother, and imagined an Indian family bravely holding on while their business falters.
            Directed by Zi Alikhan, “House of India” is an endearing, well-crafted dramedy heightened by a sincere, star performance from Mahira Kakkar as the estimable family matriarch.
            Situated in a strip mall in Akron, Ohio (until this play familiar to me only for Firestone Tires and the quirky band DEVO), little House of India is enjoying fewer and fewer customers. The dream of an Indian immigrant who has passed away, the restaurant is now in the hands of his widow, Ananya (Kakkar), who remains steadfast in her love for the spouse she’s lost and in her iron will to keep the doors open.
            From the very outset of the story Ananya resists the unflagging enthusiasm and determination of Jacob (Tommy Bo), her young Thai-American cook who is much more than that: He’s been part of the family from childhood and calls her “Auntie.” Seeing the writing on the wall, Jacob is pushing hard for a reinvention of the menu and the restaurant, convinced that a fast-paced, modernized fusion eatery will not only save House of India but, dream of dreams, could become a money-making franchise.
            Ananya wants no part of Indian tacos or quesadillas, to say nothing of a restaurant completely unlike what her American dream-seeking husband had founded.
            Her steel-willed daughter Vaidehi (Supriya Ganesh) is in complete agreement. Her response to Jacob’s high-energy pitches is more like contempt than like her mother’s exasperation.
            Then entering the picture is Ananya’s wayward son Vikram (Deven Kolluri), who has been in New York for three years ostensibly trying to meet a book-writing deadline. He’s there “to do research,” he informs everyone, though his story feels dubious from the start.
            The ensuing sparring over House of India’s future proceeds beningly and amusingly enough until with everyone gone, the lights low and the restaurant closed a hooded figure breaks in, overturns chairs and spray-paints a hate-crime message on one of the woven carpets.
            In spite of his business fervor, it strains believability a little when almost immediately Jacob suggests that Ananya exploit the hate-crime incursion for publicity. He seems to genuinely love his “auntie” and had to know the idea would upset her, which it does.
            So it equally stretches the imagination a little when not long after Ananya agrees, and before we know it the transformation of House of India is under way.
            This is physically achieved in a remarkable sequence in which before audience eyes all of the traditional Indian restaurant furnishings, including the intricate carpets, are removed and then replaced with the neo-modern trappings of every trendy fast-food-fusion joint you’ve ever patronized. There’s even a hip-hop soundtrack. The new restaurant is now called Toor, and much fun is had with the otherwise savvy Jacob’s hapless inability to pronounce that properly.
            There’s more to “House of India” than this transformation. Both Vai and Vik harbor secrets from their mother, later revealed. Vik also confesses a resentment to Jacob, less of him than of Vik’s own father.
            The interpersonal workings of “House of India” are when the play functions at its highest stakes and most affecting. What these have in common is the presence of Kakkar as Ananya, whether it’s her tender reminiscing with Jacob about her friendship with his mother or his childhood involvement with the family, or the stern passion in her confrontations with her children. Playwright Kumar’s narrative decision as to Ananya’s ultimate destiny may surprise some but will gratify most, as it did me.
            Aside from Kakkar and earnest supporting performances from Bo, Ganesh and Kolluri, this production is enhanced by Chika Shimizu’s scenic design of the two restaurant settings with the connecting outside doorway into both, and Cha See’s alternately bright and moodier lighting. The White Theatre’s in-the-round environs comes with its viewing challenges depending on where one is seated, but then the size is just right for what House of India/Toor is supposed to be.
            The chief contribution of “House of India” is its honoring of deeply rooted Indian traditions, embrace of family and of course cooking. Your heart may be full afterward, but you’ll hunger for a dosa or a spoonful of sambar stew.
            “House of India” runs through June 8 in the Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in Balboa Park.