Manhattan Theatre Club Announces Casting for India Pale Ale & The Niceties

Casting is set for two upcoming productions from NYC nonprofit theater company Manhattan Theatre Club: the world premiere India Pale Ale (October 2-November 25), written by Jaclyn Backhaus and directed by Will Davis, and the New York premiere The Niceties (October 12-November 18), written by Eleanor Burgess and directed by Kimberly Senior. The previously announced productions will play New York City Center's Stage I and Studio at Stage II, respectively.

India Pale Ale will star Alok Tewari (The Band’s Visit), Angel Desai (Company), Purva Bedi (East Is East), Sophia Mahmud (The Blacklist), Nate Miller (Ripcord), Shazi Raja (High Maintenance), Nik Sadhnani (The Invisible Hand), Lipica Shah (Bunty Berman Presents…) and Sathya Sridharan (An Ordinary Muslim).

India Pale Ale takes place in a small Wisconsin town, where a tight-knit Punjabi community gathers to celebrate the wedding of a traditional family's only son, just as their strong-willed daughter announces her plans to move away and open a bar. As they come together for feasts filled with singing and dancing, one generation's cherished customs clash with another's modern-day aspirations as ghosts from the family's past linger in everyone's thoughts—until one sudden event changes everything.

The two-hander The Niceties will feature Lisa Banes (Present Laughter) and Jordan Boatman (The Path).

The Niceties is set at an elite East Coast university, where an ambitious young black student and her esteemed white professor meet to discuss a paper that the college junior is writing about the American Revolution. Very quickly, discussions of grammar and Google turn to race and reputation, and before they know it, they’re in dangerous territory neither of them had foreseen—and facing stunning implications that can’t be undone.

The design team for India Pale Ale will include Neil Patel (scenic design), Arnulfo Maldonado (costume design), Ben Stanton (lighting design), Elisheba Ittoop (sound design) and Will Davis (Choreography). The Niceties' design team will include Cameron Anderson (scenic design), Kara Harmon (costume design), D.M. Wood (lighting design) and Elisheba Ittoop (sound design).