Displaying items by tag: Madhuri Shekar

In its world premiere at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, “Dhaba on Devon Avenue” is a strong play, from a promising writer, Madhuri Shekar, winner in 2020 of the Lanford Wilson Playwriting Award. A TimeLine Theatre production, it is directed by Chay Yew.

Another of Shekar’s plays, “A Nice Indian Boy,” produced by Chicago’s Rasaka Theater Company in 2015, was adapted to a 2024 film released theatrically (now streaming) —a kind of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” crossed with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” set in India and with a gay white American boy as the surprise fiance.

“Dhaba on Devon Avenue” is in that vein, but a more serious drama: the widower Neeraj (Anish Jethmalani), patriarch of the struggling Dhaba Canteen, a South Asian restaurant on Chicago’s Devon Avenue, is coaching his sous chef daughter Rita (Tina Muñoz Pandya) on the eve of the restaurant’s 30th anniversary banquet. As Neeraj reveals his secrets of Sindhi cooking (Sind is a region of what is now Pakistan) we move into “The Bear” territory—a bit of demanding “Yes Chef” performance as Rita never seems to get the sauce up to Neeraj’s expectation—despite having made it for years.

We suspect Neeraj is tasting with his emotions rather than his palate, and indeed this proves to be the case. Neeraj is one of those old timers that thinks if we can just get things back to exactly where they were in the old days, the problems will go away. But that’s complicated by a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, with early symptoms just beginning to show.

Though she is frustrated by her father’s demands - Rita has been successfully making these dishes for years - she submits to Neeraj’s demands, starting dishes over multiple times to get the flavors just right. The pressure for this “Big Night” banquet is seasoned with urgent calls between Neeraj and his bank, with a deadline for satisfying his loan closing in. When Rita suggests forestalling foreclosure may be more important than perfecting the meal, Neeraj is dismissive. “We always have money problems,” but we can’t serve “substandard food,” in a cruel slight to his daughter Rita.

While the dramatic force plays between father Nareej and daughter Rita, it is the supporting roles that provide color and flair to “Dhaba on Devon Avenue.” Enter Neeraj’s daughter Sindhu (Arja Daire is terrific), an emancipated married professional living the upper middle class life in Seattle. She tries to connect with her dad, and could advise him well, if Neeraj would only give her the chance. He won’t.

Enter brother-in-law Adil (Muheen Jahan, in an excellent comedic performance), who is inspired to invest in Dhaba Canteen. Reluctant to admit his impending failure, Neeraj responds with a wall of “No,” even as the pressure builds. To add more fuel to the dramatic fire, Rita has struck up a romantic tryst with the line cook, Luc Fuentes (Ina Arcinegas in a solid performance), the one non-South Asian character.

All these components add a lot of baggage to the core of the drama - Neeraj’s resistance to the changes necessary for the business to survive. Or more broadly, a man facing the end of the road by doubling down on the past, and with little grace.

How all this gets resolved is nicely packaged in a 90-minute, no-intermission show. But I couldn’t help feeling that keeping the focus on the patriarch, making it more like Lear or Death of a Salesman, might have made for better drama.

The set (Lauren M. Nichols) with a fully equipped kitchen—commercial range, stainless work surfaces, under counter coolers, even tiled floors—was spot on, but props seemed scant for a truly working kitchen. Transition music between scenes was rather too loud. And in certain scenes—such as Rita rummaging around in a file box for a long lost recipe book—she finds it in seconds. It should have taken longer, perhaps, with more stuff in that box.

Definitely worth seeing, if only to get on the track to follow Madhuri Shekar’s next work, “Dhaba on Devon Avenue” runs through July 27, 2025 at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, IL.

*This review is also featured on https://www.theatreinchicago.com/! 

Let's cut to the chase on this review: Queen is the best show in town. 

Having its world premiere at Victory Gardens Theater, in Queen, Madhuri Shekar has delivered a knockout script, deftly directed by Joanie Schultz, and brought to life by a strong cast. 

Two PhD students - Sanam Shah (Priya Mohanty) and Ariel Spiegel (Darci Nalepa) - have spent six years examining a true-life dilemma: why honey bees are dying – a real-world environmental crisis.

Ariel does the field research, and Sanam – a highly regarded math wonder - crunches numbers for the data, which point to a farm chemical from Monsanto as the culprit. Or so five years of data have shown. But something is amiss.

Queen is a gripping account of academic intrigue laced with ethical challenges, along the lines of David Auburn’s provocative Proof, but with a much livelier pace.

The two are working under Dr. Philip Hayes (Stephen Spencer) who is to deliver within a few days a presentation on their work to an influential scientific group. The paper based on their research has been accepted for the journal Science. Dr. Hayes is gleeful about the prospects for his program, and promising access to big funding for the University.

A crisis looms as the latest research data does not support the earlier findings. Believing it stems from a glitch in the programming, Sanam searches desperately through the code. The pressure is on to bring the numbers in line with expectations.

If this sounds drab, it is anything but. Shekar lays out the science, and describes the culture of academia, in digestible bites. The human side of the drama comes to the fore in the relationship between the two women researchers, Sanam and Ariel, as the pressure mounts to get the results required by their academic overseer. BFFs, the two struggle through this growing professional chasm.

But it is the side-story about Sanam and a potential mate, Arvind Patel (Adam Poss) that leads to some exceptionally well-played scenes that steal the show – at least for me. Sanam’s diffidence about a date with Arvind (set up by her parents back in India) eventually leads to an unexpected romance.

Patel plays Arvind with a smooth, purring, throwaway manliness of that on-the-make single guy everyone knows. Sanam, who parries Arvind’s advances with vigor as he helps her puzzle out the math (he’s a math guy too, an investment manager who works in quant theory), and debate the ethical issues. To see the chemistry between Mohanty and Poss is worth a trip to the converted Biograph Theater.

Queen has been portrayed as an Earth Day oriented story, and a story of friendship among women. But it's also a showcase of great writing and acting.  Don’t miss Queen. It runs through May 14th and it's very highly recommended. 

For more show information click here.