Summer Cabaret provides emerging Yale School of Drama professionals with the opportunity to put their academic study into practice by creating an artistic aesthetic in conjunction with managerial, strategic planning, and administrative methods to create their own theatre company
Summer Cabaret, dedicated to sharing the unique theatrical talents and resources of the Yale University Community with the people of the Greater New Haven area and the Yale University community, has been producing and presenting quality theatre since its incorporation in 1974. Located at 217 Park Street in New Haven, Connecticut, this basement theatre with 70 seats has mounted over 178 main stage shows and numerous special event productions. Included in its operations is a professional kitchen that serves a full menu and drinks. Known best for the exceptional talent it has attracted, “Summer Cabaret” is a mainstay of professional theatre during its eight-week performance season in the months of June, July, and August. For 31 years, it has been an important source of entertainment, education, economic stimulus, as well as employment for emerging artists and theatre professionals in the Greater New Haven Community and beyond.
Summer Cabaret’s 2005 season is informed by the legacy of Frank Wedekind and Max Reinhardt – the cabaret artists of early Europe who entertained their audiences and challenged them to question the conditions of their modern existence. Otto Julius Bierbaum said in his “Manifesto for a Cabaret Theatre” (1897), “Yes, yes: all art and all life, [is] to be reborn,” by way of cabaret – a cabaret that speaks of and to our times. By re-examining the history of cabaret and by presenting contemporary, full-length productions that will effect audiences in a similarly provocative way, Summer Cabaret will provide audiences with a season that is specially suited not only to its space, but also to its community thereby establishing an interchange between the world of our artists and the world of our patrons.
Summer Cabaret is currently under the leadership of Artistic Director Kristina Mendicino and Managing Director Emily Gresh. Studying dramaturgy at Yale School of Drama, Mendicino is a graduate of Dartmouth College and is pursuing her interests in theatre at Yale. In the fall of 2005, Mendicino collaborated with ECPA Associate Artistic Director Tea Alagic and created a work that was recognized as one of the best fall semester student-produced works. Associate Artistic Director Tea Alagic is an international artist who has traveled the world and has worked with experimental artists Robert LePage and Richard Foreman. Mendicino and Alagic will stage all four of this season’s productions. Managing Director Emily Gresh is a former Boston Ballet soloist with 14 years of experience in multiple arts settings. Gresh is currently a second-year MFA candidate in Theatre Management at Yale School of Drama.