A note from the producers: To all the astrologers who said 2020 was going to be rough… We’re sorry we didn’t listen. Between coronavirus, Four Seasons Landscaping, and the continued murder of Black trans womxn, 2020 threw our asses into concentric Dantean circles of hell. But! It’s almost 2021, and if you’re reading this, you’re still here, which is something to celebrate, even as we commemorate what we’ve lost--be that friends, family, or faith in American democracy. And, what better way to spread some light than Yale Cabaret’s first (and hopefully not final) Black Theater Festival? The impetus for BTF came from the Cabaret’s commitment to anti-racist theatermaking and our own desire to produce more work by Black artists. We asked our community to entrust us with their pet projects, their wild ideas, and dramatic experiments… Which they did! We watched these amazing proposals roll in with a mixture of excitement and terror. Was this an impossible task? We wanted to create a digital festival for an entire weekend that would provide relief, and not be an energy drain. Because, we get it. People are Zoomed out. Too many calls, too many emails, too much stimulation. The struggle is real. Nevertheless, we did our best to curate a weekend full of joy, reflection, and innovation; theater, even when it’s virtual, has the capability to bring people together and ask us important questions. All the artists and collaborators in this festival have worked incredibly hard drafting, sound editing, rehearsing, and pitching these shows. Though no two shows are alike, they are all wonderful in their own way. We hope that you feel just as inspired watching these pieces as we did reading them. With love (and Ivy Park),
Ashley M. Thomas & Faith Zamblé Artistic Producers
The Black TheatER Festival A Virtual Celebration of Black Artistry
Festival Producing TEAM Artistic Producers Ashley M. Thomas
Faith Zamblé
Associate Producers Sarah Cain
Carl Holvick
Festival Stage Management Team Production Stage Manager Edmond O’Neal Stage Manager HyoJu Hong* *indicates a Yale Cabaret Debut
Special Thanks: Jennifer Archibald, Emmanuel Onwunali and Gift Onwunali, Eliza Orleans, Henry Rodriguez, Emalie Mayo, Jake Hurwitz
A note from the CAB TEAM: The 53rd season of the Yale Cabaret began with a collective commitment by the Cabaret Company of Leadership Team and Artistic Associates to uplift Black work, Black stories, Black artistry, and Black joy. The original vision for the Black Theater Festival arose from that commitment, and we are overcome with appreciation for how far-reaching and full the celebration has become. Our gratitude overflows. Thank you for helping make Yale Cabaret’s first ever Black Theater Festival a reality. Our deepest thanks go out to all of the artists (more than 60 total!) who gave generously of their time, their spirit, and their expertise to create a festival that affirms, in the words of visionary Artistic Producers Ashley M. Thomas and Faith Zamblé, that “the spectrum of Blackness is infinite.” It has been an honor to support your work, and we are grateful that you chose to make an artistic home at the Cabaret. Thank you also to everyone who gave love and support to these artists and came to experience their work. May this festival become a tradition celebrating Black art at YSD and beyond. -Cab 53 Leadership Team Maeli Goren, Jisun Kim, Nicole E. Lang, Matthew Sonnenfeld
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Festival Lineup For more information, visit the Festival Hub at www.yalecabaret.org/btf-hub/
Friday 12/11 Trivia Hour ...........................4pm ET hosted by Anthony Holiday
Short Play Readings ..........5:30pm ET Love Has Taken Over by S.C. Murray I AM NOT YOUR TEACHER by Kayodè Soyemi the human is sad; let’s start a band by juliany taveras Willow by Whitney Andrews
10 Minute Meditation..............8pm ET led by Amelia Windom
Cooking Class..................8:30pm ET an interactive course with Chef Bailey Trierweiler
Saturday 12/12 30 Minute Yoga Session.......10:30am ET led by Sky Sealey-Otero
UNCUT, A New Play Reading...12pm ET written by Gloria Majule
Levi & Toonk ...............................3pm ET a live children’s book reading free performance for all audiences sponsored by the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration
Music & Poetry Session.......4:30pm ET original musical & spoken word performances by Sean Avery Medlin, Zhalarina Sanders, and Rudi Goblen Voisey Vibes
Sage: the Podcast.....................6pm ET ft. Millennial Soul Food hosted by Paige Elizabeth Gilbert & William Sinclair Moore
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Trivia Hour Hosted by Anthony Holiday Try your hand at some trivia with the Black Theater Festival team! The winner will recieve a $25 gift card to Buttah Skin by Dorion Renaud!
Access Instructions: This event will have A.I. closed captions available. Run Time: 1 hour
Short Play Readings 4 plays, live online.
Access Instructions: These performances will have live closed captions available. S.C. Murray’s Love Has Taken Over i am not your teacher by Kayodè Soyemi the human is sad; let’s start a band, by juliany taveras willow By whitney Andrews Run Time: 2 hours For the full castlist and creative teams for the short readings session, see the next page!
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Short play Readings cont. S.C. Murray’s Love Has Taken Over Love Has Taken Over is a witty and playful cast that tempts the audience to imagine the unthinkable between two recently divorced friends. A quaint cafe owner named David and a successful pastry chef named Anika try to cope with their pain after their hidden passions and pain collide, revealing their true desires. CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright, Co-Director, & Nzingha Co-Director & David Anika Trisha Eric Michelle Woods Esquire James Sound Designer
S.C. Murray* Kalay Kambui* Chantal Yawson* Ayisat Ishola* James Monroe* Dinah Kinney* Evelyn Watkins* Bryn Scharenberg
i am not your teacher Inspired by America’s refusal to reckon with slavery and its repercussions in American textbooks, I AM NOT YOUR TEACHER is a satirical piece set in the distant and very near future, post-Obama and post-Trump, about how the potential last Black person on Earth navigates an ordered retelling of “The True History of The Blacks.” CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Performer Director Sound Designer Projections Designer Dramaturg
Kayodè Soyemi Garrett Allen* Stan Mathabane* John Horzen Eric M. Glover*
Content Advisory: For mature audiences. Coarse language, sexual content, violence, and discussion of racial trauma. The banned books reading list for this perofrmance is available here. *indicates a Yale Cabaret Debut
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Short play Readings cont. the human is sad; let’s start a band, by juliany taveras Today is unlike any other day. The sun is shining, the plants are thriving, but the human is getting sadder and sadder. As the sun reaches every corner of this vibrant apartment, eight characters come together to narrate what they are witnessing in hopes of sparking some joy and spreading the love. CREATIVE TEAM
Director hope fig cassie rhaphi aura the pothos chorus Sound Designer Costume Designer
Alexandra Maurice Matthew Elijah Webb Adrienne Wells Abigail C. Onwunali a.k. payne Anthony Brown Tyler Cruz, Nomè SiDone, Maal Imani West Stan Mathabane* April M. Hickman (YSD ‘20)
The Cab Leadership had the opportunity to interview playwright juliany taveras about their work. You can access that interview here.
willow A modern reimagining of the Willow scene from Othello in the setting of an Instagram Livestream. CREATIVE TEAM
Creator & Performer Whitney Andrews*
Content Advisory: Alcohol consumption *indicates a Yale Cabaret Debut
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10-Minute Meditation Led by Amelia Windom*
This meditation will start off with some Nadi Shodhana breathing, or alternate nostril breathing, and then focus in on being grateful. Two things that I feel when I feel happiest in life are presence and gratefulness. So I’d like to share a calming/balancing meditation that will also focus on being thankful! Access Instructions: This meditation will have A.I. closed captions available. Run Time: 10 min *indicates a Yale Cabaret Debut
Cooking Class With Chef Bailey Trierweiler and Sous Chef Ashley M. Thomas
Whether you’re an experienced cook or just beginning your culinary journey, curiosity is the key to making delicious food. This class invites everyone to embrace a beginner’s mindset and try something new in the kitchen! Together we’ll cook up a meal so indulgent you’ll forget it’s budget friendly. Bring your ingredients, your tools, and your creativity, and get ready to cook outside the lines! Access Instructions: This class will have A.I. closed captions available. For a recipe and ingredients list, look to the next page! CREATIVE TEAM
Sound Mixer Daniela Hart Boom Operator Noel Nichols Camera Operator Brandon Pro*
Run Time: 75 minutes
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Cooking CLass Cont. Recipe and Ingredients list Vegetarian Benedict with sautéed spinach and tomato | Bacon Benedict | Roasted Potatoes Ingredients you will need: 1 Large Russet Potato
Butter (2 Cups - 3 Sticks)
1 Large Sweet Potato
English Muffins
1 Lemon
White Vinegar
1 Tomato
Olive Oil
Spinach
Salt
Garlic
Pepper
Bacon
Paprika
Eggs (7 or more)
Cayenne Pepper
Kitchen tools: Metal Bowl A Pot A Pan Whisk Slotted Spoon 2 Baking Sheets
-Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 deg (F). Peel and dice potatoes (rough, 1 inch cubes) and speed out on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season evenly and thoroughly with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Bake until crispy and cooked through. About 25 minutes. - Step 2: Heat roughly 1 Tbs. of olive oil in a skillet and sauté 2 cloves of minced garlic until fragrant. Add ½ cup diced tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add 1 cup spinach and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. - Step 3: Cut bacon strips in half and lay on a baking sheet (you’ll need 8 pieces for 2 servings). Bake at 400 deg (F) until crispy. About 12 minutes. - Step 4: Make the hollandaise. Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Remove pan from heat; keep warm. Whisk 2 egg yolks, 1 Tbsp water in a medium metal bowl until frothy. Place bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch the water). Drizzle in the melted butter 2 Tbsp. at a time, whisking constantly, until all of the butter is fully incorporated and the sauce is thick. Season to taste with cayenne, salt and lemon juice. Keep warm and stir occasionally. Add water, 1 Tsp. at a time if too thick. - Step 5: Poach the eggs. In a medium pot, bring water, 1 Tbsp white vinegar, and a pinch of salt to a gentle simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl. Once the water is GENTLY simmering, swirl the mixture around with a slotted spoon to create a gentle vortex. Carefully drop your egg into the water and allow the vortex to swirl the egg white around the yolk. This takes some practice, so be patient. Cook for 4 minutes on a gentle simmer, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer the egg to a paper towel. Immediately season with salt. - Step 6: Melt butter in a pan over medium high and slice English muffins in half. Toast both sides to desired crispiness. - Step 7: Assemble. Lay 2 ½ strips of bacon, or a spoonful of sautéed spinach onto each English muffin. Top each with a poached egg and enough hollandaise to completely cover the egg. Sprinkle with paprika or cayenne pepper. Add a side of roasted potatoes and serve hot!
Mission and Values Yale Cabaret is an artistic community that invites students from the Yale School of Drama and our neighbors throughout greater Yale University and New Haven to imagine utopia. We artist-explorers join in spirit and space to make theater that manifests our wildest collaborative visions. Fueled by the values of symbiotic collaboration, neighborliness, accountability, and wonder, we discover how much we can make, experience, and imagine together. The state of Connecticut and Yale University occupy the ancestral lands of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and Quinnipiac and other Algonquian speaking peoples. We honor and respect their stewardship of this land. Symbiotic Collaboration.
Neighborliness.
We approach each collaboration in pursuit of our utopian ideal- that every team member is fed and fulfilled artistically, intellectually, and spiritually. We will pursue new channels of collaboration and support artists in our community to develop sustainable and generative ways to work together, because that creates JOY.
The Cab is a space for learning, growth, and the joy of storytelling for current YSD students as well as for our neighbors at greater Yale and throughout New Haven. The stories and artistic approaches on our stage will be inclusive and accessible to all in our community.
Accountability. The Cab has a responsibility to foster open and direct communication between our leadership, artists, and the communities we serve. Each member of our community is empowered to contribute to its betterment, and every member makes a difference.
Wonder. The Cab will cultivate surprise and artistic innovation. We are explorers in search of “wow”. Pushing the boundaries of theatrical expression and innovation with a well-proportioned season of courageous new plays, reinventions of established plays, and devised and multidisciplinary works, design-driven explorations, and work that is non-text-driven, The Cab strives to ignite our community’s imagination.
Please visit our website to see more about our advocacy work including our community spotlight and our features on Black Women and TGNBGNC playwrights www.yalecabaret.org
Leadership Team Co-Artistic Directors Maeli Goren Jisun Kim Nicole E. Lang
Managing Director Matthew Sonnenfeld
Staff Technical Supervisors Laura Copenhaver Cameron Waitkun
Cabaret Assistants Allison Delaney Natalie King
Graphic Design Mikayla Johnson
Website Design Camilla Tassi
Accessibility Assitant Chloe Knight Accessibility Researcher Madeline Charne
Preshow Design John Horzen
Artistic Associates Collaborative Leadership Leyla Levi
Design- Lighting Graham Zellers
New Works Benjamin Benne
Communication Management Edmond O’Neal
Design- Projections Henry Rodriguez
Performance Tavia Hunt
Community Collaboration Madeline Charne Eliza Orleans
Design- Scenic Miguel Urbino
Producing Estefani Castro
Design- Sound Bailey Trierweiler
Storytelling Faith ZamblĂŠ
Design- Costumes Phuong Nguyen
Imagination Manifestor Laura Copenhaver
Board of Directors Matthew Suttor, Chair Benjamin Benne Sami Cubias
Kelvin Dinkins, Jr. Anna Glover Reed Northrup Linda-Cristal Young
Our Donors Since its founding in 1968, the Yale Cabaret has been a place where Yale School of Drama students can experiment with new theatrical forms and develop our artistry outside of the classroom. With the generous support of our donors, we build on our rich legacy to make space for students and the greater New Haven community to grow together through self-expression and artistic exploration.
Cabaret Contributors Cabaret Friends Jessica Armstrong Joan MacIntosh Terrease Aiken James Ball Hannah Marsh Igor Akimushkin Christine Barker Gary Marx & Joanie Banks-Hunt Laurie H. Beitz Donna Sonnenfeld Christine Barker Martha O. Boateng Bryan Mcgill Chad S. Birmingham Cabaret Show Sponsors John Carlson Vestak McIntyre Molly Boyle David Budries Katie E. Chipungu Janet Miller Ruth A. Brown Joan Channick & Ruth Schmitt Lissa M. Drewniak Max Monnig Edwin Buckingham Betty & Josh Goldberg^ Monica Fennell Walter Lynn Mosley Bobby Burvant Matthew & Molly Goren Dianne Moira Hamilton Vivien Ng Aaron Calrderon Bill & Sharon Reynolds^ Colleen M. Hyche Cleo M. O’Brien-Udry Rhona Ceppos Sylvia Van Sinderen & James Sinclair Benjamin Kent Joshua Olin Rebecca Cramer Ken Sonnenfeld & Peg Brivanlou Maggie Lally Andrew Paton Janet E. Davidson Paul Walsh Mary-Margaret McLeod Katherine M. DiGiulio David Porter Yale Center for the Study of Race, Jim & Eileen Mydosh Nora Proops Claire Dunnet Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration^ Jenny Nelson Elizabeth Schell Hugh D. Farrell, Jr. Katherine Ann Profetta Thomas Seller & Cassie Fraser-Ball Cabaret Enthusiasts Oakton A. Reynolds Gideon Lester Helen Haje Pamela C. Jordan Andrew Scharenberg Lois Shaukat Laurie Heineman Patrick T. Seaver Bryn Scharenberg Nome SiDone Robert Homer Audrey Sostak Laura Silvestri Winston Hovekamp Cabaret Supporters Evelyn Spann Robert Stubbs Beth A. Jones Donald & Mary Brown Carolee Walker Ricarda Tomlin Katherine A. Kay Liz Diamond Walton Wilson Philip Toop Karen A. Killeen Leon & Megan Doyon Marilyn G. Zieserl Elizabeth A. Tullis Irwin Krieger Andrea Graham Jenny Weiss Raphael Lecat Ellen Lange Noelle Wiggins Samuel Lopez Lockheed Martin Darron Leigh Wolf Amy Povich & David Agus Jessica Wolf ^ indicates the show sponsor(s) for this Live Production Bob & Theresa Simon Scott Zotto Cabaret PartnerS Nina Adams & Moreson Kaplan Ann Judd & Bennett Pudlin Santino Blumetti Matthew Suttor
Thank you for your generous contributions!
Giving Levels Cabaret Season Sponsors $5000 • • •
Cabaret Enthusiasts $250
Recognition in the footer of our website Recognition in all pre-show reels Plus, all the perks below
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Cabaret Champions $2500 • • •
Cabaret Supporters $100
One Full Season Membership Dinner virtually with the Artistic Directors and Managing Director Plus, all the perks below
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Recognition in all pre-show reels Plus, all the perks below
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Listing in the Cabaret progams Plus, all the perks below
Cabaret contributors <$20
Cabaret Show Sponsors $500 •
Invitation to all Cabaret donor parties throughout the season Plus, all the perks below
Cabaret Friends $20
Cabaret Partners $1000 • •
Personalized thank you video from the Artistic Directors and Managing Director Plus, all the perks below
Recognition during your show’s curtain speech & preshow reel Plus, all the perks below
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Listing on the Cabaret website
**Corporate matching gifts are also a great way for you to double your contribution to Yale Cabaret. Check to see if your company has a gift matching program.
For more information, please visit our website, www.yalecabaret.org or call the Managing Director at 203-432-8338.
What’s Next December 19 8pm Cab Potluck member & donor Holiday Party Cab Potluck is a community-centered event focusing on connection through nourishment of body and soul. Come into the kitchen and converse with a group of cooks attempting to create a delicious, edible meal from a basket of secret ingredients. In true Potluck fashion, we ask you to bring a contribution for the table: your art, your words, your photos, your stories, your videos, your music, anything that fits with the monthly theme! This event is exclusive for Cabaret members and donors. A Spring Cabaret membership makes a great holiday holiday gift! To purchase a Spring Cabaret membership, please contact our box office at 203-432-8338 or at ysd.cabaret@yale.edu.
217 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511 203-432-1566 www.yalecabaret.org