Yale Cabaret: there is a thing at the end of the loop (2022)

A Note from the Cab Team

When we first thought about leading the Cab, we wanted our community to know how magical Yale Cabaret was for us. We wanted to make theater that reminded everyone about why the human connection is so important — from the kitchen reopening to the red parachute mark in our logo, we want to people to know great art can come from the most determined places.

thereisathingattheendoftheloopby Dylan Guerra is a perfect example of our mission. It’s almost an impossible play on paper, but the theatricality laced in between the pages was even more impossible to ignore. It was a risk we were called to take. But just like our parachute, this play lifts us up and reminds us of the beautiful horizons we can catch a glimpse of if we just take that leap.

So thank you for taking the leap with us, into the loop, and kicking off Parachute: A Soft Landing: Yale Cabaret’s 55th season.

A Note from the Director

Dylan Guerra’s new play gives us a panoramic view of the human condition- six views of souls tumbling forward endlessly, grasping at the nearest clearest constant.

At its root are two luminaries on a mission to identify the thing at the end of the loop.

There is an algorithm for everything, even chaos.

How close can we get to answer key of existentialism? And/or

What if we’re actually the calm before the storm? And/or

How come we don’t talk about Robyn more? What’s she been up to?

Huh.

Anyway, thanks for coming! Enjoy the show.

ThereisaThingattheEndoftheLoop

By Dylan Guerra

CREATIVE TEAM

Director Christina Franklin*

Producers Adrian Hernandez & Fanny

Abib-Rozenberg*

Scenic Designer Suzu Sakai

Asst. Scenic Designer Patrick Blanchard*

Costume Designer Aidan Griffiths

Lighting Designer Graham Zellers

Sound Designer Evdoxia Ragkou

Recording Engineer Bryn Scharenberg

Projections Designer Hannah Tran

Asst. Projections Designer Christian Killada

Dramaturg Lily Haje

Technical Director Ro Burnett & Matteo

Lanzarotta*

Stage Manager Adrian Hernandez*

Asst. Stage Manager Fanny Abib-Rozenberg*

CAST

Miranda, Joyelle, Daniel, Hannah, Cassie, Frank, Marsha

David, Mary, Danny, Beth, Tanner, Nancy, Lanny

Jacque Brown

Kayodè Soyemi

SPECIAL THANKS

yao

Cain Freeman

Aholibama Castañeda González

Content Transparency: This production contains swift lights and explicit language.

*Yale Cabaret Debut

Mission

Yale Cabaret 55 is a transition; a space to place your art and watch it transform. We do not suggest that your art begins or ends with us, but it will change with us. We invite our community to take risks with us. Failure is not an option; it is an illusion. Like Pantone Color of the Year: Very Peri, we know that “as we emerge from an intense period of isolation, our notions and standards are changing, and our physical and digital lives have merged in new ways.” We seek to be a holding space to explore these changes. Cabaret 55 is a shared experiment of what it means to come back to theater.

Values

• The Cab is a studio

• The Cab is a space for trial and error

• The Cab is a space for fellowship

• There is no utopia, only risk and commitment

• There are no assignments, only invitations

Land Acknowledgement

The state of Connecticut and Yale University occupy the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, Quinnipiac, and other Algonquian speaking peoples. We honor and respect their continued relationship with and stewardship of this land, and we acknowledge that Yale University, Yale Cabaret, and those affiliated have benefited from the oppression of these Nations.

Labor Acknowledgement

Yale University does not exist independently from the centuries of forced labor and economic extraction of enslaved people, primarily of African descent, on which this country was built. We are indebted to their labor and their unwilling sacrifice, and we must acknowledge the ongoing violence inflicted on Black and brown people and the resulting impact and generational trauma still felt today.

Leadership Team

Executive Artistic Director

Jason Gray

Graphic Designer

Mikayla Johnson

Website Designer

Kayodè Soyemi

Stage Management

Nakia Avila

Theater Management

Fanny Abib-Rozenberg

Dramaturgy

Lily Haje

Producing Artistic Director

Kayodè Soyemi

Production Manager

Cameron Waitkun

Collaborators

Community Engagement

a.k. payne

Marketing Associate

Roman Sanchez

Advisory Board

Sound

Evdoxia Ragkou

Scenic

Cat Raynor

Projections

John Horzen

Producing Artistic Director

Ashley M. Thomas

Anchor Spa x Yale Cabaret

Chef Kendall Thigpen

Cabaret Assistant

Adrian Hernandez

Technical Design

Eugenio Saenz Flores

Lighting

Adrian Hernandez

Directing

Garrett Allen

Playwriting

Danielle Stagger Acting

Lucas Iverson

Board of Directors

Chair

Wendy Davies

Jacob Basri

Samanta Yunuen Cubias

Eric M. Glover

L.T. Gourzong

Doug Robinson

Linda-Cristal Young

Costumes

Kyle Artone

What’s Next Fall

By Harron Atkins

Augustine Lorrie

Zora Howard

By John Horzen & Austin Channell

About the Cab

In 1968, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale students established a basement performance venue in the former home of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at 217 Park Street. Envisioned as an alternative outlet for drama school students’ creativity and experimentation, Yale Cabaret became a forum for our expanded New Haven communities, whom we invite to gather around food, drink, conversation, fellowship, and artistry.

Since its founding, the Cabaret has remained in continuous operation, including pivoting to virtual performance during the 2020/21 season. The Cab has produced hundreds of plays, old and new, alongside musicals and musical revues, comedy shows, dance, performance art, and genre-defying performance.

Our supporters have made this storied history happen. With their partnership, we continue this tradition into 2022 and beyond.

Our Supporters

Honorary Season Producer ($7,500+)

Indira Etwaroo & The Benevity Community Impact Fund

Parachuter ($5,000-$7,499)

Santino Blumetti

Brian Tyree Henry Champion ($2,500-$4,999)

Wendy Davies Partners ($1,000-$2,499)

Nina Adams & Moreson Kaplan

Joan Channick

James G. Hood

Bennett Pudlin & Ann Judd

Bill & Sharon Reynolds

Elaine Ring

R. Lee Stump

Show Sponsors ($500-$999)

Audrey Conrad

Betty & Josh Goldberg

Jim & Eileen Mydosh

Anne Renner

Enthusiasts ($250-$499)

James A. Bundy & Anne Toffelmire

Sarah Cain

Pamela C. Jordan

Erin Rocha