What
"Extraordinary underground/experimental student-run dinner theater space, presenting a different show nearly every weekend for most of the school year. The offerings are rehearsed by the high-stamina students late at night, after classes, fueled with passion and the need to find new ways to communicate with audiences, and range from new works to radically rethought old ones...Many Off Broadway and New York Fringe hits were born here, and actors such as Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti were known here before the rest of the world found them." - The New Haven Advocate, 2008 Annual Manual
Mission
The Yale Cabaret's mission is to provide a laboratory for Yale School of Drama students' daring and illuminating experimentation. For the 2008-2009 season, the Yale Cabaret commits to producing performance work that:
- Demands both quality and risk.
- Foregrounds diverse voices, stories, and ways of storytelling.
- Asks questions relevant to the times in which we live.
- Promotes hope.
- Ignites meaningful dialogue between artist and spectator in an intimate and interactive space leaving all feeling challenged, entertained and renewed.
apr 16-18
Language of Angels
by Naomi Iizuka
directed by Jesse Jou
Naomi Iizuka’s Language of Angels is a stunning ghost story set amidst the rural mountains of North Carolina. The tragedy of a horrific night in a cave returns to haunt a group of friends as they grow up, grow apart, and revisit one another.
Previous Shows of the 2008-2009 Season
Oct 2-4 SPECIAL EVENT!*
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
by Lanie Robertson
musical arrangement by Danny Holgate
directed by Patricia McGregor
The Yale Cabaret is converted into Emerson’s Bar & Grill for a special event: one of Billie Holiday's last shows. Join us as Lady Day herself invites us all to examine the things that get us through the day and keep us warm at night.
See our promotional video.
Oct 9-11
Whose Cabaret is it Anyway?
Directed by Rebecca Phillips
An unpredictable, uproarious, raucous, cutthroat, irreverent (and quite possibly irrelevant), fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants competition for comedy teams from all over Yale University, Whose Cabaret is it Anyway? seeks to find the funniest jokesters on campus.
See our promotional video.
Oct 16-18
Three Sisters, or The Dormouse’s Tale
Book by Christopher Mirto & Brian Valencia
Music & Lyrics by Brian Valencia
Directed by Christopher Mirto
Inspired by a Play by Anton Chekhov and a Story by Lewis Carroll
Olga, Masha, and Irina live in a provincial house in Russia at the bottom of a treacle well. But all they can think about and talk about sing about is going to Moscow getting out. So what's stopping them? Chekhov gets a little help from Lewis Carroll in this new play musical.
See our promotional video.
Oct 23-25
Be Aggressive
by Annie Weisman
directed by Jen Wineman (DRA ’10)
Ready? OK! Cheerleading is life in Vista del Sol, California, and Laura and Leslie are the underdogs on the squad! When Laura's mom is killed in a hit-and-run and her family life is turned upside down, cheer becomes even more important to her. Be Aggressive is a dark comedy that has it all: insane cheerleaders, standing-back-tucks, 64-ounce Diet Cokes, and a terrifying road trip. So check it out. OK! It is a show about cheerleaders, which means it, definitely will be amazing and there are just so many great people in it and its directed by Jen Wineman who like totally knows what she's doing. It's totally going to be worth it!
Oct 30–Nov 1
16 Bars//Soundtrack of our minds
written and performed by Kevin Alan Daniels (DRA ’10)
directed by Brenna Palughi (DRA ’10)
Using history of Hip-Hop and rap has his road map, one man goes on a journey to find the true identity of black males and to define his own relationship with his father. Full lyrical verses, dance, and character monologues; this show dares to get on stage, grab a mic and show the world the black male that Hip-hop kept in the dark.
Nov 6-8
Mask Ritual: Electra
adapted by Minsun Jung (DRA ’09) from Euripides’ Electra
directed Jesse Jou (DRA ’10)
Present day. A mental hospital. Electra in a straitjacket. The weight of her grudge (HAN) would not let her let go. And she remains. In order to heal her pain, a Shaman conjures up the spirits of Agamemnon, Orestes, and Clytemnestra. Now Electra's long overdue story is about to unfold in a mask ritual where East meets West and B.C. 5 meets now.
Nov 13-15
Gay Play
written by Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco (DRA ’09)
directed by Michael Walkup (DRA DFA)
Drag star Didi Coquette takes up residence in the gayest penthouse ever to perform the perfect seduction. Little does she know her would-be Prince Charming has eyes for a different Queen. A glittering comedy that dares to ask: can the truth come in again once it's already come out?
Nov 20-22
One For the Road
by Harold Pinter
directed by Erik Pearson (DRA ’09)
Nicholas considers himself a virtuous man. But according to whose standards? In this gripping play, Harold Pinter examines the idea of fundamentalism and how it can cloud even the most noble of ideals.
Dec 4-6
Pamela Precious: A Balls out Love Story
written by Matt Moses (DRA ’09)
directed by Devin Brain (DRA ’11)
A Jacobean-inspired farce about two men and their unstoppable love for a woman.
Dec 11-13
See What I Wanna See
words and music by Michael John LaChiusa
based on short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
as translated by Takashi Kojima
directed by Timothy R. Mackabee (DRA ’09)
jan 15-17
Funy as Hell
Abandon every hope, all ye who enter here.
Created by Russell A. Taylor, Brian Dambacher and Dave Dambacher
directed by Brian Dambacher, Russell A. Taylor
jan 22-24
The Little Prince
To see a star. To smell a flower. To love.
written by Antoine de Saint‐Exupéry
adapted by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar
directed by Katherine Owuor
Click the play button to watch a video preview:
jan 29-31
Bones in the Basket: An Hour of Russian Fairy Tales
In this new theater piece based on children’s stories of shadow and evil from the Motherland, a troupe of actors will transform the Cabaret stage into a magical realm of Russian fairy tales, bringing to life what is truly horrifying in the stories we tell our children before they fall asleep at night.
based on Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanas'ev
and
Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise Van Franz.
conceived by Alexandra Henrikson
directed by Devin Brain
feb 12-14
Hold for Beauty
In 2009, the average person living in North America sleeps less and works more than ever before. In this furious pace, what is lost to the daily shuffle? Hold for Beauty is a theatrical experiment for the audience to navigate. By looking closer at a series of repeated actions normally taken for granted, what emerges, as if seen for the first time? Hold for Beauty attempts to facilitate these discoveries, challenging the connotations of routine and shining extraordinary light on the motions that get us through our day.
conceived and directed by Frances Black
feb 19-21
The Underneath
Against the shadowy landscape of downtown Honolulu, a man returns in search of his missing younger brother.
by Susan Soon He Stanton
directed by Jen Wineman
An enigmatic S.O.S from his estranged brother Jem brings Col back home to Hawaii, only to find that Jem is missing... and in mortal danger. In the shadows of downtown Honolulu, against a seedy landscape they don't show on postcards, Col tries to make sense of his brother's disappearance. He gathers clues from a beautiful stranger living in his mother's house, a homeless man who knows too much, and the fading memories of his own guilty conscience. But with every discovery, the truth seems farther away. Susan Soon He Stanton's The Underneath is at once a modern thriller, a poetic new take on film noir, and the mystery of a man who goes to paradise--but winds up in Hell.
feb 26-28
Babs the Dodo
ACT NOW
before she’s gone!
Meet the incomparable Babs Gillespie! Babs is a Home Shopping Network saleswoman who suddenly realizes that her life is as empty as the spacious designer luggage she peddles on air. (Poor Babs!) So come, follow Babs on her quest to find those things in life that money can't buy—before it's too late.
written and directed by Michael Mitnick
mar 5-7
Flowers and Other Stories
The first time…
by José Rivera
directed by Jesse Jou
Four rarely seen short plays by academy-award nominee Jose Rivera arrive at the Cabaret for an evening of theatre that navigates the tempests of youth, the surreality of adolescence, and the magic, pain and transformative absurdities of growing up.
Rivera, who brought us Boleros for the Disenchanted seen last season at Yale Rep, and the screenplay for The Motorcycle Diaries, is known for colliding the epic with the domestic. In Flowers and Other Stories a young woman discovers a winged man in a cave, a girl undergoes a mysterious metamorphosis, and an angel may or may not have landed on earth as four women attempt to forge their way in the world.
apr 2-4
A Portrait of the Woman as a Young Artist
James Joyce, Swan Lake, and Greek mythology all collide in a fantasia about a muse with creative ambitions of her own. Hovering between inspiration and insanity, this is a visually-arresting investigation of gender, race, and the artistic process.
by Meg Miroshnik
directed by Devin Brain
apr 9-11
Waking
Up in the attic, Chris finds more than just a place to hide away: he discovers a family history rooted in a love of jazz. As Chris delves deeper, he learns new ways to experience the music of his past (with a live band!), and ultimately uncovers the real King of Swing.
written and directed by Phillip Owen