A note from the Cab
Marcelo first mentioned Radiant Vermin during the Cabaret’s annual Pitch & Mix, where students can pitch different show ideas and find potential collaborators. It’s a fantastical, wild, and thought-provoking script. It’s also a beast of a show to tackle in the time allotted for a Cab production. A moment came during our Thanksgiving break when we realized that moving forward with a full-scale production would not be conducive to upholding our values of making art together in a healthy way. So, we got together as a team and discussed alternatives. We landed on a designed stage reading that would honor the original beautiful designs of the production team, while also making space for more rest. A full semester being back to in-person productions and always being ready to pivot in response to the ongoing pandemic has led to an evaluation of “the show must go on” mentality and whether that’s an ethos we should uphold. Instead, we created a process together to present this show in a way that is honest to the needs of the story and ourselves and has led to a beautiful production where the playwright’s words can take center stage. - Sarah Ashley Cain, Artistic Director
A note from the show team
Our class experience sticks to our skin. It shapes our body from the core and manifests in the way we move, the words we use, the sound of our voice, our clothes, the spaces we inhabit and how we occupy them. Because class is more than our numbers in the bank or the property our family owns: it is tied to the communities we belong to and materializes in our bodies. Class can be regarded as something temporary, a trait that can change during the life of a person. Class mobility would be possible in terms of merit: if you are good enough, you´ll make more money; if you are a billionaire, you must be brilliant. But this is not always true. Class mobility requires resources, and access to them is restricted. Huge wealth can come from huge extraction. Radiant Vermin grabs the audience by the throat to immerse them in the struggles of Jill and Ollie. Coming from “the underclass”, they don’t even have a decent house to live in. A baby is coming soon: what to do? What happens when the access to basic housing, education or healthcare is tied to class mobility? For Philip Ridley, the answer lies in gentrification and blood. But hey, the new kitchen is beautiful. And if our house is looking great, our clothes are gorgeous (and cheap), the tv is huge, and the food tastes amazing, are we willing to ignore all the human cost behind it? The truth is that, usually, yes. We are. Ours are strange times to inhabit, and having decent living conditions is becoming a privilege. We choose to do a comedy about this, because the wounds are so fucking deep that we need to laugh to stop bleeding. But comedy can make the lesions bigger, and theater, at least, can offer a group hug to embrace our own pain. Or acknowledge the complicities we accepted to get a new Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo. - Sebastián Eddowes
Radiant Vermin
Written by Philip Ridley
A Designed Staged Reading Proposed by Marcelo Martínez García CREATIVE TEAM Director Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Dramaturg Producer Technical Director Stage Manager
Jacob Basri* Marcelo Martínez García Aidan Griffiths Jiahao(Neil) Qiu 邱嘉皓 Bryn Scharenberg Sebastián Eddowes Samanta Yunuen Cubias Nate Angrick* Shen-Vey Lai*
CAST Jill Rebecca Kent Miss Dee/KayTaylor Sarah Lyddan Ollie Nomè SiDone
Content Transparency: This production contains gunshot noises, discussions of homelessness, and descriptions of violence and death. RADIANT VERMIN received its world premiere on February 27, 2015, at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London, produced by Supporting Wall and Metal Rabbit. RADIANT VERMIN is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com) *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 Grace Zandarski Enthusiasts ($250-$499) Pamela Jordan
Supporters ($100-$249) Shaminda Amarakoon Audrey Conrad Cornelia Evans Bonnie L. Kramm Edwin Martin Jim & Eileen Mydosh James Sinclair & Sylvia Van Sinderen Advocates ($50-$99) Katherine & Chava Burgueño Mercedes Eugenia Matthew Sonnenfeld Rosalie Stemer Jessica Wolf
Thank You To Our Sponsors!
$8 crafted drinks during late night happy hour!
What’s Next 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.
And more Cab shows coming this Spring! Cab 8: February 10-12 Cab 9: February 24-26 Cab 10: March 10-12 Cab 11: March 31-April 2
217 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 432-1566 || yalecabaret.org