The Indian American

38 THE INDIAN AMERICAN OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2018 -NEW YORK hat’s the bizarre link between the massacre of six Sikhs at a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in 2002, by a white supremacist shooter who committed suicide after the dastardly act, and India Pale Ale beer which originated in England in the 19th century? Find that out in the play ‘India Pale Ale’, which debuts at the Manhattan Theatre Club, on October 23, 2018. Don’t expect to be much enlightened, though. India Pale Ale, which won the 2018 Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play, written by Jaclyn Backhaus, and directed by Will Davis, is a confused tragi- comedy that’s as flat and funny as some- body falling down a flight of stairs in a heap, with a broken spine being the result. W India Pale Ale play struggles to mix tragedy with humor Purva Bedi as Deepa Batra, Shazi Raja as Basminder “Boz” Batra and Angel Desai as Simran Rayat, in the play ‘India Pale Ale’. Photo: Joan Marcus By Sujeet Rajan Arts & Books