On a current Friday afternoon, Devon Avenue in West Ridge is abuzz with individuals and households purchasing, consuming and conversing out and in of storefronts. Arya Daire and Anish Jethmalani are my tour guides for an exploration of the neighborhood, a cultural hub for South Asians, which will probably be fictionalized on stage in an upcoming play.
Daire and Jethmalani are actors in Dhaba on Devon Avenue, opening at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, a co-production with TimeLine Theatre Firm, working June 19 via July 27. The present, written by Madhuri Shekar (3 Physique Drawback on Netflix, The Nevers on HBO), tells the story of a family-owned restaurant on Devon Avenue battling monetary hardships and generational divides.
“The play is a couple of chef,” stated Jethmalani, within the function of the patriarch, Neeraj Madhwani. “He has two daughters, and he loves his tradition, which is the Sindhi tradition. He’s attempting to maintain his restaurant afloat, and he’s attempting to protect the type of meals that’s close to to his coronary heart. One daughter is working with him on the restaurant aspiring to take it over; the opposite daughter is a little bit estranged, and she or he’s attempting to take a look at alternatives to promote the restaurant.”
Dhaba On Devon Avenue endured an extended course of to make it to the stage. The present was initially commissioned by Chay Yew in 2018 whereas he was the inventive director at Victory Gardens Theatre. The present’s world premiere was scheduled for spring 2020, however the manufacturing, the final of Yew’s tenure at Victory Gardens, shut down as a consequence of COVID.
“It is a very particular, very private play,” stated Shekar. She just isn’t a Chicago native, however met Yew, who was based mostly in Chicago, whereas a graduate scholar on the College of Southern California. Yew was a responder for her thesis play, “A Good Indian Boy,” which he staged at Victory Gardens in 2015. The 2 fashioned a creative relationship, resulting in Yew commissioning her to put in writing a play in regards to the metropolis of Chicago.
Now, 5 years later, the manufacturing is again with Yew on the helm as director, and lots of actors from the primary run, together with Daire and Jethmalani, on board for the reboot.
Shekar is worked up the forged may have the chance to return to the roles. “It’s not typically that South Asian actors get to painting themselves of their complete selves on stage,” she stated. “For that alone, I believe everyone was actually hoping that we’d make this work.”
Again on the real-life Devon Avenue, exterior of the Patel Brothers grocery retailer, Daire discusses the importance of placing the colourful neighborhood on stage.
“It’s type of wonderful,” she stated. Daire was born within the western suburbs, and her dad and mom nonetheless dwell in her childhood dwelling in Oak Brook. Devon Avenue was an necessary a part of her childhood.
“That was a giant a part of the enticement to do the play,” she stated. “It’s set on Devon Avenue, which is a spot that we got here as kids with our dad and mom. We might come right here and eat at Udupi Palace, which remains to be there, and really scrumptious. My mother would come and purchase sarees and issues right here, and it was a neighborhood gathering spot.”
Jethmalani has related reminiscences. Born in Chicago and raised in Uptown, he moved to the suburbs as a teen. He stated wherever his household lived, they at all times got here again to Devon Avenue.
“My mom had a really robust connection to the neighborhood right here,” he stated. “I grew up coming right here throughout the weekends. We might come right here and store, we’d go to household mates. This place holds a number of reminiscences.”
Leaving Patel Brothers, Daire and Jethmalani head to Sukhadia’s for lunch. Identical to their characters, the actors each relish South Asian meals. At Sukhadia’s, Jethmalani encourages everybody to attempt one in every of his favourite dishes: dosa, a skinny savory crepe full of spicy potatoes.
Requested about her personal go-to meals, Daire provides one thing candy. “Pistachio kulfi,” she stated. “It’s a frozen dessert with pistachio and a cardamom spice. It tastes like dwelling to me. My mother would preserve them frozen in these silver cylinders. After I would go dwelling for a go to, I’d at all times test within the freezer to see in the event that they had been there.”
For the playwright, staging this play about South Asian tradition and telling the story of an immigrant household has taken on a brand new layer of significance within the years since its unique fee. When previews open this week, they may happen within the shadow of nationwide protests towards immigration coverage.
“I believe any piece of storytelling that affirms humanity, that affirms the human situation, and affirms decency between individuals goes to really feel radical simply due to what we’re experiencing proper now,” she stated.
Mike Davis is WBEZ’s theater reporter.
