A note from the Cab: Live. Online. Together. The 53rd Yale Cabaret is a season like no other. We are reinventing every aspect of the way we tell stories, connect with audiences, and support artists. In the midst of uncertainty, we are inspired by the artists who rise to and beyond the challenge of our times. The team of A Doll’s House has risen courageously, bringing their love, humor, and wholeness to tell this story. We are so grateful to them for kicking off this historic season with a play that makes visible that which has been hidden. Niru’s story rings out across centuries of erasure of South Asian women’s voices and demands liberation. Her dance reveals the ugliness in the beautiful, the labor behind the luxury, and the many complex currents of oppression that course beneath a culture of colonization. Thank you for being together with us, and please enjoy A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, in a new adaption by Tanika Gupta. -The Cab Leadership Team Maeli Goren, Jisun Kim, Nicole E. Lang, & Matthew Sonnenfeld
A note from the show: Having grown up for nineteen years in Sri Lanka, this culture is everything I know. Having moved to America six years ago, this culture is everything that I’ve been made to hide—to adapt, to seem desirable, to fit. Having lived here for six years, this culture, and these female relationships, are a few of the many things I miss about that side of the world. Part of my generation finds comfort in the world that was built for us by the colonizers, and so much of us growing up into adults is about ownership and recognition of that familiarity that is the farthest thing from the world our ancestors created for us to blossom into. This play is not only relevant to what it means to be a South Asian woman, but is so relevant to what it means to be a South Asian young adult interrogating the world that we love and adore; interrogating our habits that are so innate not by nature but by nurture and sitting in the discomfort of our discoveries. I’m tired of not being able to explore these narratives that are far removed from my immediate surroundings because I moved halfway across the world. I’m tired of solely longing for the familial relationships that turn into cravings and homesickness. I’m ready for my familiar world to become my present world, and I think this play is the starting point—to bring my world to the community I now belong to, to end erasure, and to demand inclusion. - Isuri Wijesundara
A Doll’s House By Henrik Ibsen In a new adaptation by Tanika Gupta
Proposed by Patrick Ball, Shimali De Silva, Mehr Dudeja, Rebecca Kent, Mihir Kumar, Adam Shaukat, and Isuri Wijesundara.
CREATIVE TEAM Director/Dramaturg HenriĂŤtte Rietveld Producers Estefani Castro & Isuri Wijesundara Set Designer Costume Designer Sound Designer Assitant Sound Designer Vocal Performance
Cat Raynor* Dina El-Aziz* Evdoxia Ragkou Bryn Scharenberg Sohini Alam
Stage Manager Joanie Polk* Assistant Stage Manager Nakia Shalice Avila* CAST Niru-- Shimali De Silva Uma-- Isuri Wijesundara Tom-- Patrick Ball Mrs. Lahiri-- Mehr Dudeja* Kaushik Das-- Mihir Kumar Dr. Rank-- Adam Shaukat Stage Directions-- Rebecca Kent *indicates a Yale Cabaret Debut
Special Thanks: Our homelands, mother(is)lands, and ancestors, Julie, Noodle, Elisavet, and Midge, Ammi, Thaththi, Zack, and Aunty Bundle, Joan Macintosh, Shaminda Amarakoon, James Bundy, Walton Wilson, Gregory Wallace, Cynthia Santos DeCure, Rafael Silva, Caitlin Nasema Cassidy, Pierce Ducker
- xx
Scenic Design
By Cat Raynor
Costume Design
By Dina El-Aziz
Niru
Uma
Tom
Dr. Rank
Das
Mrs. Lahiri
Fancy Dress
Tom
Dr. Rank
Niru
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 A.J. Roy Annabel Guevara
Accessibility Assitant Madeline Seidman
Graphic Design Mikayla Johnson
Website Design Camilla Tassi
Accessibility Researcher Madeline Charne
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 PartnerS Nina Adams & Moreson Kaplan Ann Judd & Bennet Pudlin Matthew Suttor Cabaret Show Sponsors Joan Channick & Ruth Schmitt Sylvia Van Sinderen & James Sinclair^ Paul Walsh Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration^ Cabaret Enthusiast Pamela C. Jordan Cabaret Supporters Andrea Graham Ellen Lange Cabaret Friends James Ball Christine Barker David Budries Leon & Megan Doyon Bill & Sharon Reynolds Kenneth Sonnenfeld ^ indicates the show sponsor(s) for this Live Production
Cab Potluck Come and join us for a cabaret cooking experience! October 17th at 8pm EST
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 this month’s theme!
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
• •
Cabaret Champions $2500 • • •
Cabaret Supporters $100
One Full Season Membership Dinner virtually with the Artistic Directors and Managing Director Plus, all the perks below
Cabaret Partners $1000 • •
•
• •
Invitation to all Cabaret donor parties throughout the season Plus, all the perks below
Cabaret Friends $20 • •
Recognition in all pre-show reels Plus, all the perks below
Listing in the Cabaret progams Plus, all the perks below
Cabaret Supporters <$20
Cabaret Show Sponsors $500 •
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
•
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 October 9th-10th Untitled Bathtub Theatre Project An Auditory and Sensory Experience Proposed by Jimmy Stubbs Social distancing practices have numbed our senses and led many of us to feel more isolated than ever before. Comforting, rejuvenating, and exfoliating, Untitled Bathtub Theatre Project is a devised piece that seeks to connect audience and performer through a live auditory event experienced in the unique privacy and solitude of our own bathtubs or bathing places.
217 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511 203-432-1566 www.yalecabaret.org