The Yale Cabaret has announced its offerings for the Spring semester. You could say it’s a slight more mainstream selection than the nine autumn shows were, because a couple of titles are very familiar (even if the contents of the shows themselves are not) and a couple of others are well-known in college theater circles. The rest, in keeping with the last few seasons of antic Cabaret experimentation, are all-new.
One new wrinkle in this announcement is the new credit “Proposed by” where “Directed by” or “Produced by” or “Adapted by” or even “Written by” might customarily be. This reflects how open-ended certain behind-the-scenes roles have become in the space, and unhierarchical things have become in this era of “devised” projects and “ensemble” works. “Proposed by” conveys the value of the initial inspiration for a production without getting bogged down in details too early on.
In any case, here’s the spring Cabaret season:
January 12-14: reWILDING, proposed by Martyna Majok. Described as “a haunting … hidden woodland community of memories and mysteries, strange humor, complicated beauty, private stories and live music.
Jan. 19-21: The Cabaret is dark.
Jan. 26-28: Brainsongs, or The Play About the Dinosaur Farm, proposed by Gabe Levey. Described as “part clown show, part vaudeville … an eensy-weensy piece of handcrafted theater that celebrates the power of the imagination and the implicit risk in shamelessly pursuing one’s fun.”
Feb. 9-11: The Cabaret is dark.
Feb. 16-18: Dracula, by Mac Wellman, proposed by Jack Tamburri. Wellman may well be the most produced playwright in the history of the Yale Cabaret. Personally, I’ve seen two different productions of his Sincerity Forever there, two different productions of his Seven Blowjobs, and an unusual-for-the-Cabaret stop on a tour of his play about Ambrose Bierce, Bitter Bierce, starring Steve Mellor. I seem to remember Cabaret productions of Wellman’s Whirligig and Crowbar happening as well. The playwright’s Dracula dates back to 1987. Jack Tamburri, in the directing program at the School of Drama, helmed the Yale Summer Cabaret Shakespeare Festival production of The Tempest this past June.
Feb. 23-25: Clutch Yr Amplified Heart Tightly and Pretend, proposed by Adam Rigg. Described as an upbeat “an exaltation of dance for anyone willing to give us a hug.” Adam Rigg is a scenic design student who was responsible for the multi-disciplinary, fantasy-filled puppetry adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Cabaret last April.
March 1-3: Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy, proposed by Miriam Hyman. Surrealist social critic Kennedy’s breakthrough one-act play was written over 50 years ago now, but is more often read than seen. Miriam Hyman was The Queen in this week’s Yale School of Drama production of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, and also appeared in the YSD productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and the Carlotta Festival premiere of The Tall Girls, among other things.
March 8-10: The Yiddish King Lear, by Jacob Gordin, proposed by Whitney Dibo and Martha Kaufman. A revisiting of a late 19th century example of a reconceptualized classic, Der yidisher kenig was Gordin’s attempt to bring naturalism and contemporary relevance to Shakespeare. Interesting that the Cabaret would be doing this mere weeks after the Long Wharf Theatre premieres its Vietnam-era reworking of Macbeth. Whitney Dibo is in the School of Drama dramaturgy program (she produced the dramaturg-heavy evening of monologues The Creation at the Cabaret last semester) and Martha Kaufman is a playwriting student.
March 15-17: The Cabaret is dark.
March 22-24: Underworld, proposed by Ethan Heard. A new version of the Orpheus myth, “blurring the boundaries between concert, play and multimedia event.” Kind of like what Offenbach did with it? I’m guessing much different. Ethan Heard is in the YSD directing program, and was also active in theater on campus as a Yale undergrad. He directed the musical Trannequin! at the Cabaret last March.
March 29-31: Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit, proposed by Katie McGerr and Carmen Ziles. Chamber Music is a one-act ensemble drama of female identity and empowerment beloved by school drama programs because its large cast of young female performers, yet no two productions of this versatile and shaded script are ever alike. New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts performing arts high school did a production a few years ago, and the great Kopit actually visited the class to discuss his work with them. Katie McGerr directed the recent Cabaret producer of Howard Brenton’s Christie in Love. Carmen Zilles acted in the Cabaret’s fall semester-ending production of Wallace Shawn’s A Thought in Three Parts and also had a small role in Persona earlier in the season. Like Christie in Love, which was based on an actual murder investigation, Chamber Music is history-minded. Its cast includes representations of Amelia Earhart, Joan of Arc, Gertrude Stein, Spain’s Queen Isabella the First and other strong-willed women of yore.
April 12-14: Carnival/Invisible, proposed by Benjamin Fainstein. Described as “a festive variety show inspired by American circuses and nomadic tent shows.” The current Cabaret regime probably doesn’t realize this, but for several seasons in the mid-1990s the Cabaret season ender was a circus-styled show. It’s a wonderful way to cap the semester and welcome spring. Fainstein is a YSD Dramaturgy student who most recently worked on the Yale Rep production of A Doctor in Spite of Himself.
Yale Cabaret shows each have five public performances: Thursday at 8 p.m., then Friday and Saturday at both 8 & 11 p.m. at 217 Park St., New Haven. Tickets are $15, $10 for students. Discount memberships are available. All details at www.yalecabaret.org, (203) 432-1566.
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