Dhaba on Devon Avenue runs 1 hour and 30 minutes, with no intermission.

Late seating and re-entry are at the discretion of house management and are not guaranteed.

The use of cameras, video recorders, audio recorders and/or any other type of recording device during a performance is strictly prohibited.

About the Play

• Playwright Madhuri Shekar is the 2020 winner of the Lanford Wilson Playwrighting Award, established by the Estate of Lanford Wilson and presented by the Dramatists Guild Council to a dramatist based primarily on their work as an early career playwright. Her play A Nice Indian Boy was adapted into a feature film and was released earlier this year to great critical acclaim.

• Dhaba on Devon Avenue takes place on Devon Avenue on the far north side of Chicago, an area renowned for its remarkable diversity, and a magnet for immigrants as they settle into life in America. The play is inspired by Chicago’s South Asian community, the third largest population of South Asians in the country.

• Madhuri Shekar has said that Dhaba on Devon Avenue is “my ode to the quiet heroism and daily struggles that are required to be an artist, an entrepreneur, an immigrant, and a parent.”

• Director Chay Yew returns to Writers Theatre where he previously directed Dishwasher Dreams. In May 2025, Yew was highlighted by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union as one of the 65 directors and choreographers whose “work has inspired SDC Members and transformed the American theatre.”

• The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the intended 2020 world premiere production of Dhaba on Devon Avenue at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. The Writers Theatre production, produced in partnership with TimeLine Theatre Company, reunites many of the original cast members and designers.

• This production features onstage cooking and the use of real ingredients and spices. The performance also includes strong language, discussion of death, depiction of vomiting, and alcohol consumption.