As he added healthy scoops of “pepper” from the metal canister into the boiling pot, the audience groaned.
No, too much, too much, several people called out, but James, the wannabe DJ and host of what he billed as the best-ever Onam party, laughed it off.
Until he learned moments later that the pepper wasn’t actually pepper.
We’re not going to tell you what it was that James put into Mrs. Krishnan’s Dahl; you’ll have to figure that out on your own when you see the Indian Ink Theatre Company‘s production of “Mrs. Krishnan’s Party,” which opened its eight-show Tucson run Thursday at Maya Tea Company, 2861 N. Flowing Wells Road. Arizona Arts Live is presenting the show through March 8.
Arizona Arts Live promised us an immersive, interactive theater experience, but “Mrs. Krishnan’s Party” delivered so much more.
For 80 minutes, we got to forget the world outside the walls of Manish Shah’s sprawling Tucson warehouse and make friends of strangers, folks of different ethnicities, religious backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances brought together by wonderful storytelling and a pot of spicy red lentils.
The premise of the story: An overzealous James (Justin Rogers) is throwing a party to celebrate the festival of Onam and the return of his landlord’s son, only she knows nothing about it. When Mrs. Krishnan (Kalyani Nagarajan) enters the back room of her convenience store and sees 100 strangers — that would be us, the audience — getting their party on, she’s not happy as she sputters about the room awkwardly greeting the strangers. She reluctantly agrees to allow them to stay until 9:30, which quickly becomes 9, and over the next hour-plus, she opens up about how she became a widow, her disappointment when her son cancels his homecoming, and her despair over how her community would see her should she start seeing the mysterious caller who she speaks to with school girl giddiness.
We also learn that James has been keeping a secret from his landlord, that beneath his party-boy veneer is a young man who can’t quite figure out his life after he flunks out of college. When Mrs. Krishnan tells him she is considering selling the store and moving back to India, he realizes he has nowhere to go.
The drama is wrapped in humor that comes largely from Rogers and Nagarajan’s interactions with one another and the audience, including Nagarajan plucking Demion from the front row to help open cans for her big pot of Dahl (a North Indian dish of lentils in a spiced broth) and making small talk with Todd and Julie, two singles who Mrs. Krishnan suggested could become a couple. Rogers gets a guy in the front row to sweep up spilled rice and then brings Todd and Julie on stage to stir the Dahl while he deals with a customer.
That was the true magic of “Mrs. Krishnan’s Party,” seeing the audience become willing actors. Todd and Julie played up the potential of budding romance as they stirred the pot and Casey, a woman sitting in the front row, didn’t miss a beat when James asked her to vouch for him to Mrs. Krishnan; nope, she said, not gonna happen.
Rogers and Nagarajan played off one another and the audience with such impeccable comedic timing that it was hard to see when the actors were going off-script. When we started the night, James and Mrs. Krishnan were characters in a play, but Rogers and Nagarajan brought them to life and made us feel like we were close friends invited to that party.
The show continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Maya Tea. Tickets available at arizonaartslive.com.
