A note from the Cab
At the beginning of the season, the Cabaret Artistic team met with many of the School of Drama’s student affinity groups to discuss possible partnerships. These partnerships are intended to decentralize the programming process and create opportunities in our season for affinity groups to pursue work they are interested in and to provide financial and logistical support for this work. This has led to some wonderful collaborations like our Reading Circle with Beyond Borders – the international student group – and a food drive to benefit our neighbors experiencing homelessness with FOLKS – the School’s oldest affinity group for Black artists. The co-leaders of People of Marginalized Genders (PMG) proposed Abaigeal O’Donnell’s over easy. The piece is particularly timely as reproductive rights are under attack in the U.S. right now. This week alone the Supreme Court will vote on whether to uphold Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law. We are grateful to PMG for bringing these necessary conversations forward on to our stage. - Sarah Ashley Cain, Artistic Director
A note from the show team
We’re the leadership of People of Marginalized Genders, one of the David Geffen School of Drama’s many affinity groups. Together, we work to create a space of discussion, connection, and safety for our membership. And along with the Yale Cabaret, we’re proud to present over easy by Abaigeal O’Donnell. over easy follows four individuals going through the process of egg donation. Its settings spanning from a doctor’s waiting room to a hormone-drenched dreamscape, this play encompasses both the realities and surreal-ities of fertility medicine. And more broadly, it centers crucial depictions and discussions of reproductive health. That’s where the topic of our play meshes with our mission as an affinity group. Traditionally, reproductive health has been considered a “women’s issue”— the word “gynecology” does originate from the Greek word for “woman,” after all. But this framing is exclusive and dangerous. It siloes reproductive health as a niche concern, one that doesn’t deserve the funding or attention of mainstream medicine. And it leaves out the many individuals who don’t fall into the rigid, narrow definition that conventionally demarcates “women.” The truth is, reproductive health affects all of us. Whether you’ve never heard of egg donation before or have been a donor or recipient yourself, we hope over easy sparks a conversation for you. How does the intervention of medicine into fertility make you feel? What about the strange intersection of capitalism and reproduction? When was the last time you thought about reproductive health? And, depending on your answer, why is that? Enjoy the show, - Sarah, Anna, and Chloe
over easy
Written by Abaigeal O’Donnell
Proposed by PMG Leadership: Anna Grigo, Chloe Knight, & Sarah Scafidi CREATIVE TEAM Playwright Director Choreographer Scenic Designer Assistant Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designers Sound Engineer Dramaturg Producer Technical Director Stage Manager Marketing Manager
Abaigeal O’Donnell* Sarah Scafidi KIMKIM Anna Grigo Lia Tubiana* T.F. Dubois* Jiahao(Neil) Qiu 邱嘉皓 pati-Pat-pat & Ro Burnett* Liam Bellman-Sharpe Gabrielle Hoyt* Chloe Knight Laura Copenhaver Natalie King Annabel Guevara
CAST Charlotte Katie Taylor Marissa
Anna Gumberg* Elsie Harrington* Hannah Neves Samanta Yunuen Cubias
Special Thanks: Risa Ando, Nate Angrick, Shaoqian Lu, Noel Nichols, and Bryn Scharenberg Content Transparency: This production has discussions of reproductive health, fertility, abortion, and anatomy and depictions of injections. *Yale Cabaret Debut
- xx
Mission
Land Acknowledgement
Yale Cabaret is a beautiful experiment of artistry and process. With every season and iteration, we build a home for David Geffen School of Drama at Yale students to imagine, create, and share their stories alongside our many communities.
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.
Values Build Community Community is central to our work at the Cab. We seek to build intentional and nourishing relationships with each other and the communities of Yale, greater New Haven, and beyond. Keep Experimenting The Cab is the place for students to disrupt their process, take risks, and explore within and beyond their disciplines. Make a mess, try again, re-invent, and grow with us. Welcome All We aspire to create a more inclusive and welcoming theater across our many diverse identities and backgrounds. You are invited to show up as your full self at the Cab.
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 Artistic Director Sarah Ashley Cain Associate Artistic Director Abigail C. Onwunali
Managing Director Sarah Scafidi
Associate Managing Director Allison Delaney
Production Manager Joe Chiang
Collaborators Accessibility Coordinator Rebecca Satzberg
Cabaret Assistant Chloe Knight
Website Designer Laura Copenhaver
Graphic Designer Mikayla Johnson
Queen of Tarts at Yale Cabaret Dana Cesnik Doyle
Videographer Andre Griffith
Artistic Associates Community Engagement Kayodè Soyemi
Lighting Riva Fairhall
Costumes Kitty Cassetti Directing James Fleming Dramaturgy Nicholas Orvis
Projections Hannah Tran Scenic Marcelo Martínez García
New Work Danielle Stagger
Sound Bryn Scharenberg
Performance Cooper Bruhns Isuri Wijesundara
Stage Management Brandon Lovejoy
Producing Natalie King
Inclusivity Jacob Santos
Technical Direction Cam Camden
Board of Directors Matthew Suttor, Chair Benjamin Benne Samanta Yunuen Cubias
Kelvin Dinkins, Jr. Reed Northrup Linda-Cristal Young
Our Supporters 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 2021 and beyond.
Partners ($1,000-$2,499) Santino Blumetti Ann Judd & Bennett Pudlin Matthew Suttor R. Lee Stump & Abigail Roth Clifford Lee Warner Show Sponsors ($500-$999) Nina R. Adams & Dr. Moreson Kaplan Joan Channick & Ruth Hein Schmitt Latiana “LT” Gourzong Andrew D. Hamingson & Sarah A. McLellan Bill & Sharon Reynolds Paul Walsh Enthusiasts ($250-$499) Pamela Jordan
Supporters ($100-$249) Shaminda Amarakoon Audrey Conrad Bonnie L. Kramm Edwin Martin Jim & Eileen Mydosh James Sinclair & Sylvia Van Sinderen Advocates ($50-$99) Katherine & Chava Burgueño Mercedes Eugenia Matthew Sonnenfeld Jessica Wolf
Thank You To Our Sponsors!
$8 crafted drinks during late night happy hour!
What’s Next Radiant Vermin By Philip Ridley A designed stage reading December 9-11 Radiant Vermin is a provocative satire about the housing market, homelessness, and inequality. When a young couple is offered an ideal house by a mysterious stranger, it prompts the question: How far would any of us go to get our dream home?
The Hedgehog’s Dilemma By Harry Davis Proposed by Cooper Bruhns January 27-29 Hedgehogs will try to move closer to one another to share heat during cold weather but must remain apart, however, to avoid hurting one another with their sharp spines. In this queer love story, The Hedgehog’s Dilemma explores the ways humans struggle with the same patterns in their own relationships.
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