Anyone who thinks the generation gap closed way back in the 1970s

needs a ticket to Bapsi Sidhwa's hilarious new play An American

Brat. Based on the Pakistani-born writer's novel of the same title,
the charming story, now playing at Stages Theatre, demonstrates
how wide that chasm between parents and children remains. Not
only is it still here, it crosses cultural, religious and national
boundaries and affects us in ways that are both outrageously funny
and horribly hurtful.
We first meet the parents, Zareen (Rahnuma Panthaky) and Cyrus
(Sundy Srinivasan), a Pakistani couple who have sent their daughter
to the United States because Mom worried that daughter Feroza
(Arzan Gonda) was being too influenced by fundamentalist Muslims
in Pakistan. In an effort to help her child find some western girl
power, Zareen has sent Feroza to Houston. But once here, Feroza
does more than find her voice; she learns how to roar. While living
the American dream, Feroza decides to marry a nice American boy
-- a nice American Jewish boy. This information comes to Zareen
and Cyrus in the form of an innocent little letter that sends the
entire family into a tizzy of fainting spells and prayer. The trouble is,
the family is Zoroastrian, an ancient religion that does not allow
girls to marry outsiders. If Feroza marries this non-Parsi boy, she
will shame the entire family.
As shaky as the news makes Zareen, she's a statue of calm compared
to Mumma (Uma H. Nagarsheth), Feroza's well-intentioned but
very manipulative granny. Mumma insists that Zareen fly to
American immediately to talk some sense into Feroza. So, with
Cyrus's blessing, Zareen embarks on a journey that will change both
her and her daughter's lives forever.
This is a long setup, filled with some predictable jokes about
mothers-in-law and the shocking things that kids do these days, but
all of it is handled with such joy by director Brad Dalton and his
wonderful cast that even the stuff that feels fairly old hat comes off
as entertaining.Once Zareen gets to Houston, the story deepens
quite a bit and the real power of Sidhwa's play opens up. Zareen
discovers that her daughter has grown in ways the Pakistani mother
could never have imagined. The first difficulty for Zareen is Feroza's
living situation. She rooms with her fianc David (Luke Eddy) and a
girl named Jo (Alison Coriell). Zareen adores Jo (though she doesn't
realize this lovely girl is a lesbian), but she barely speaks to
David...at first.
Ironically enough, after Zareen spends some time in Houston, she
gets used to American freedoms. And despite her mission -- which is
to break off her daughter's engagement -- the young man starts to
grow on Mom. He even takes her shopping at the Galleria, where
she buys pale pink hot pants, of all things. In fact, Zareen enjoys
America and its freedoms so much that she starts to understand why
her daughter has changed. It almost seems as if she will accept her
daughter's choice. But then Cyrus and Mumma call from Pakistan to
remind Zareen of what she's doing in America.
And Feroza isn't the only one whose family is worried about her
choices. Turns out David's bubbe (Marjorie Carroll) isn't too happy
with the fact that her grandson is planning to marry outside the
faith, and she manages to stick her two cents into the equation. At
the end of one particularly difficult evening, the young couple's
future starts to look very dark indeed.
The real strength in this production lies in the subtle but
surprisingly emotional shift it makes from comedy to drama. The
writing, the direction and the strong cast all contribute to this
change. But Panthaky's Zareen, who is beautiful, tender and
frighteningly powerful after all is said and done, is particularly
impressive, as is Gonda's Feroza. Dalton's direction is layered and
artful, and he adds two perfectly theatrical moments when Zareen
flies both ways across the ocean. There is real visual poetry in the
way she stands alone in a single spot of light while the sound of the
airplane fills the theater. There is quiet and lasting depth in this
image. What starts out as a funny look at the gap between
generations turns into a moving examination of the way those gaps
contort lives and contribute to the seemingly everlasting boundaries
that keep cultures and religions apart.

Characters of "An american Brat" by Bapsi Sidhwa

1. Feroza

Feroza is the heroine of the novel. She is the female protagonist of

the novel. The title of the novel is also related to her character. She is
called, “An American Brat” in the closing chapters. The whole story
revolves around this single character. All other characters whether
they are the major or minor incidents are related to her character.

She is the daughter of Zareen and Cyrus. She is the student of

10th class. She has an attractive and charming personality.

“
2. Zareen Ginwala

Zareen Ginwala is her mother. She is a modern lady who wears

blouses. But Feroza has contrast with her mother’s character. She
wears scarves and is religious-minded.  She has rejected the offer of
acting in a play she criticizes her mother’s dress. In the car, she said
that mummy should not wear that dress. There are also a clear
difference between these two characters and their thinking. Zareen is
broad-minded enough to wear sleeveless dresses and she is social
woman and attends many parties. But on the other hand, Feroza is of a
conservative nature. She is not even ready to attend a phone call.

3. Cyrus

Cyrus is the name of her father. He is a broad-minded and a person

of balanced personality. He is normally a correct person. We come to
know about his habit of drinking when Zareen says:

““It’s okay for you to run around getting drunk every evening, but I
must stop wearing sleeveless blouses.””

At another place, Zareen says that it all might do him all good to
drinkless. Cyrus is happy when he sees that. As we have already
discussed that Feroza is a stubborn child. She was beaten by her
father, when she was four but she spoke not a single word till her lips
started bleeding.

4. Manek

Manek is Feroza’s uncle who is only six years older than Feroza.
Their relation is shown by these lines:

“With only six years between them, Manek and Feroza grew up more
as siblings than as uncle and niece. Their hostilities often assumed
epic proportions.”
They are jealous of each other but later on we see that when Feroza
goes to America, they become very good friends of each other. They
called each other ‘boochinai’ and his nick-name is guardian in
the USA.