An Indian widow pays an unexpected visit to the adult daughter she hasn’t communicated with in over fifteen years, her daughter’s African-American husband, and the teenage granddaughter she has never met in Wendy Graf’s cross-cultural family drama Marsela Dabba, an impressive International City Theatre World Premiere.

 American-born Nisha Byrd (Ansuya Nathan) has been living the good life in Northern California since her marriage to U.C. Berkeley Asian studies professor Charlie (Jon Joseph Gentry) while making a name for herself hosting My Cooking Table, a popular web series that has her preparing pretty much every type of international cuisine save the one she grew up with.

 Nisha and Charlie’s 14-year-old daughter Tina (Timylle Adams), meanwhile, dreams of being the next Serena Williams, and if she knows little to nothing about her Indian roots, she’s got her dad’s extended family to fill in the void.

The arrival of the Indian “Nani” she’s never met (Nandini Minocha’s Aditi) is about to change all that, much to Tina’s delight, her father’s satisfaction, and her mother’s consternation, though to say that Nisha is dismayed by her mother’s sudden visit after fifteen years spent incommunicado would be putting it mildly.

 Is Aditi here in an attempt to mend broken fences, or is it simply because her local doctor in India wants her to consult a medical specialist about “nothing really, a little pain,” as if that were reason enough for her to travel 8000 miles?

Why did Aditi, raised Hindu, leave her native country for the United States following her marriage to an Indian Christian, and why did she return to India immediately following his death and leave her grown-up daughter behind?

Why has she never sent her American granddaughter even a birthday card, let alone paid her a visit?

And why is it that Adita has never once shown Nisha the love a daughter both deserves and expects from a mother?

 As she did two years ago at ICT in the adjacently themed Exit Wounds, playwright Graf will keep you guessing all the way up to Masala Dabba’s emotion-packed final scenes, and as in Closely Related Keys and No Word In Guyanese For Me, Graf (who is neither South Asian nor Black) proves that a writer need not be of the same race or culture as her protagonists to write about them with intelligence, understanding, and empathy.

Director Marya Mazor brings out the best in Graf’s script and from her talented cast, ensuring that Masala Dabba (Hindi for “spice container” or “spice box”) gets a top-drawer World Premiere.

 Though a tad too soft-spoken to be heard as clearly as her fellow players, Minocha (who faced the daunting task of joining the cast mid-rehearsal) gives Adita equal parts grandmotherly warmth and enough charm to win over a son-in-law she’s only met once before.

Nathan makes for a fierce and forceful Nisha, her outward rage concealing a lifetime of hurt; the always terrific Gentry is as salt-of-the-earth as husbands and fathers get; and feisty, fabulous newcomer Adams is absolutely convincing as girl just entering her teens, i.e., 100% sure she’s right, and frustrated when grownups just don’t get it.

 Designwise too Masala Dabba is another ICT winner, Destiny Manewal’s set suggesting the “well-appointed Berkeley Hills home” of Graf’s script and Donny Jackson’s lighting making it look even more inviting.

Kimberly DeShazo has designed some just-right contemporary costumes, and the saris Aditi and Tina sport are just plain gorgeous. Kudos too to Patty Briles for a great big bunch of props (including plenty of kitchen accouterments) and Anthony Gagliardi for his hair and wig designs.

Last but not least, I absolutely loved the hope-establishing musical theme with which sound designer Dave Mickey underscores scene changes.

Masala Dabba is produced by caryn desai. Ian James Booth is assistant director. John H. Freeland, Jr. is stage manager and Filisha Jones is assistant stage manager. Harold Kast is technical director and Kaushal Pandya is script development consultant.

Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

 As she has proven in play after play, there’s probably no L.A.-based playwright more adept at exploring dysfunctional family dynamics than Wendy Graf, and she does just that once again in her powerful, pungent latest, Masala Dabba.

International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach.
www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
September 13, 2025
Photos: Jordan Gohara

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Tags: International City Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Wendy Graf