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Mandvi Is Back In A New Show

The writer and playwright who recently won the Obie, an award given to off-Broadway plays by Village Voice weekly, plays two parts in The Brave. He plays the policeman and barman.

Bombay-born Mandvi, who has appeared in small but important roles in several Hollywood films, including the recent hit Analyze This, says theater is his first passion. After Sakina's Restaurant ended its record-setting six-month long run in New York, he has been taking it to Indian community events, often to raise funds for such organizations as Manavi.

Set in north Africa, The Brave, a political thriller examines violence, racism and inter-racial relationship.

The play by Sharman Macdonald tells the story of a Scottish housewife, Ferlie, who has traveled to north Africa for a long-awaited reunion with her estranged sister.

As the play opens, an Arab overpowers her and tries to rape her beside a hotel swimming pool. She kills him. Her action turns her and her sister Susan into fugitives.

Susan, a radical in exile and a woman of action, is forced into a situation where she has to seek the help of two Scottish expatriate engineers in disposing of the body.

The Brave was first produced at London's Bush Theater 11 years ago. Algiers, the setting of the play, was a refugee for many Western radicals who took direct revolutionary action, among them the Black Panthers and possibly the West German, Baader Meinhoff.

"I can't condone their action but I understand the temptation," the playwright says.

The Brave will open on July 22 at The Atlantic Theater, 336 West 20th Street. It will close on September 5; tickets, $35.

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