YALE CABARET: MY SIX THERAPISTS

A NOTE FROM THE CAB LEADERSHIP

Welcome back to Yale Cabaret for My Six Therapists by Julia Izumi. We are excited to be presenting this new work in partnership with Theater Mu for the first time in Yale Cabaret history. We hope this will be a first of many partnerships with outside theaters that will expand our network here at Yale Cabaret for the years to come.

We’ve been lucky to be able to present many new works this season, giving artists a chance to see their work on stage and learn from the process. We’re grateful all for you in the audience for being the most vital final step to that process. Thank you for helping artists explore, experiment, and grow with us.

We hope you will continue to join us for our FINAL two shows of our season here at Yale Cabaret! Out of the box and into our Sandbox!

— Doaa, Kyle, & Annabel

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG

Therapy, and finding the right therapist, is an art. It requires trust; trust in yourself, trust in those around you, and trust in the process. Mina, our protagonist, finds herself in a spot many of us can relate to: feeling that therapy is a good idea but having no idea how to begin. Before she can even begin the work of therapy itself, Mina has to overcome her own doubts and stigma surrounding what therapy is, and whether it can be a helpful tool.

In the depths of Mina’s mind lies an undercurrent of discomfort that she cannot run away from, no matter how hard she tries to pretend she’s fine.

Playwright Julia Izumi has created a world inside of Mina’s brain where her thoughts and experiences are refracted, interpreted, and transformed. The memory from an experience long ago has ripple effects through Mina’s life in ways she doesn’t acknowledge or even realize. If you think about yourself as an amalgamation of all of your thoughts and memories and feelings, how would you make sense of all of it? Where would you even start?

Mina, like many of us, has to learn that the goal of therapy isn’t to eradicate pain from her life – it’s about learning to feel pain without letting it drown her. It’s about learning to honor these feelings. When the water is rising, the right therapist cannot and will not drain the lake – but they might be able to teach you how to swim.

ABOUT THEATER MU

— Jane Peña & Shefali Gauri Das

Located in St. Paul, Minnesota, Theater Mu’s priority has always been to empower and celebrate Asian American artists and the stories of our communities. Over the years, we’ve trained artists, commissioned new plays, and grown our audiences. Theater Mu produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience.

SPECIAL THANKS

Claudia Campos | Iyanna Huffington Whitney | Cathy Ho | Annie Wang Theater Mu Literary Committee

MY SIX THERAPISTS

Written By Julia Izumi

PRODUCTION TEAM Producer

Producer

Adrian Alexander Hernandez Producer

Producer

Mikayla Michelle Stanley Director

Maya Louise Shed Sarah Machiko Haber

Stage Manager

Kavya Shetty Costume Designer

Set Designer

ty ruwe*

Silin Chen*

T.F. Dubois

Celia Weiqing Chen

Lighting Designer

Projection Designer

Sound Designer

Technical Director

Steph Lo

Co-Dramaturg

Shefali Gauri Das

Co-Dramaturg

Production Manager

Assistant Director

Minjae Kim Jane Peña

Ein Kim

Leo Surach

Hiếu Bùi*

CAST Mina

Sarah Suraiya Saifi* Monday / Sam

Tuesday / Sara

Roman Sanchez

Daria Kerschenbaum*

Thursday / Samara

Friday / Sam

Emilee Biles

Wednesday / Sara

Matthew Chong*

Hiếu Bùi*

Saturday / Samara

Sage Fortune*

SHOW SPONSORS

Andy & Sandra Hamingson | Audrey Conrad People of Marginalized Genders (PMG) “My Six Therapists” is presented in partnership with Theater Mu

*Yale Cabaret Debut

MISSION STATEMENT

Sandbox by definition, is “a shallow box in the ground partly filled with sand for children to play in”. We hope to create a similar sense of curiosity and playfulness, allowing artists to access creativity only possible when given the opportunity to dig and unearth treasures within themselves. Our season will focus on performance arts as a whole, not just script-based plays or musicals, it’s open to ALL. We aim to look at collaborators as they are, without limiting them to the role they hold within the DGSD community. We believe in a theater without labels, where artists are not limited by the hats they wear, but by the experience they bring into the room with them. As a collective, we will create theater that continues to reshape our ever-changing view on the world.

OUR SANDBOX IS...

A Celebration of Ideas: A place where no ideas are bad ideas Experimental: A space to try, fail, learn, and grow as a community A Resource: A pool of combined knowledge and artistry An Outlet: Magnifying unheard voices and underrepresented stories A Continuum: An application of skills learned Our Sandbox is a place where you can make your wildest dreams come true.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT 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.

LABOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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 Co-Artistic Director

Co-Artistic Director

Doaa Ouf

Kyle Stamm

Managing Director

Annabel Guevara

COLLABORATORS Associate Managing Director

Adrian Alexander Hernandez Graphic Designer

Production Manager

Aholibama Castañeda González Cab Assistant

Restaurant Partner

Michelle Foley

Taylor Ybarra

The Anchor Spa

ADVISORY BOARD Acting

Grayson Richmond Dramaturgy

Costume Design

Caroline Tyson Lighting Design

Directing

Alexis Kulani Woodard Playwriting

Karoline Vielemeyer

David DeCarolis

Projection Design

Scenic Design

Kim Zhou

Joe Krempetz

Stage Management

Technical Design

Theatre Management

John Horzen

Colleen Rooney

Leo Surach

Doug Robinson Sound Design

Natalie King

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair

Wendy Davies Eric M. Glover

L.T. Gourzong

Linda-Cristal Young

Samanta Cubias

Gabrielle Hoyt

Lawrence Henry

ABOUT THE CAB

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 2024 and beyond.

JOIN US FOR DINNER The Anchor Spa at Yale Cabaret will be offering a dinner service for our 8pm Thursday through Saturday performances accepting orders from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

at Yale Cabaret

The Anchor Spa boasts a pan-Caribbean menu and an outstanding cocktail program that represents a voyage around the world, including some unique international spirits rarely sampled in the U.S. From picking herbs a la minute from their garden to brewing up syrups and roasting their designer garnishes, The Anchor Spa applies the highest level of craft bartending principles in the pursuit of fun like no one else.

Chef Kendall Thigpen welcomes you!

JOIN US AT THE BAR Yale Cabaret will have a bar open 30 minutes before all performances including at intermission and after the show. You can find a range of alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, and snacks for sale at the bar.

OUR SUPPORTERS

Yale Cabaret is DGSD’s student-run theater and operates with the support of our generous donors. Your donation goes a long way to support the many artists that work in our theater.

Season Sponsor ($5,000 - $7,499) Santino Blumetti Champion ($2,500 - $4,999) Wendy Davies Partner ($1,000 - $2,499) Nina Adams & Moreson Kaplan Joan Channick Lynn Doucette-Stamm Eileen & Jim Mydosh Bennett Pudlin & Ann Judd R. Lee Stump & Abigail Roth Show Sponsor ($500 - $999) ActOUT Miles Benickes Shawn Boyle Donald & Mary Brown Audrey Conrad Kelvin Dinkins Jr. Eric Glover Josh & Betty Goldberg L.T. Gourzong Andy & Sarah Hamingson The Mooney Basile Family People of Marginalized Genders (PMG) Bill & Sharon Reynolds Matthew Sonnenfeld Josh & Erin Taylor Paul Walsh Nancy Yao Enthusiast ($250 - $499) Chris Brindley Suzanne Bruhn & Michael Kane

James Bundy & Anne Tofflemire Ramiro Daniel Diaz Kenneth Elliott Pamela Jordan Tlaloc and Megan Rivas Chantal Rodriguez Florie Seery Supporter ($100 - $249) Ikenna Aberdeen Frances Anne Black Shaminda Amarakoon Geoff Cohen Jennifer Corman Samanta Cubias & Ben Jones Robert Emmons Carol Gallagher & Delmar Doucette Alicia Guevara Chloe Knight Jerry Lodynsky Sarah Masotta Max Okst A.J. Roy Chris E Wall Advocate ($50 - $99) Casey Grambo & Nathaniel Gagnon Carla L. Jackson Cathy & Matthew Levesque In Honor of Edgar Melgar Steven Padla Susan & Michael Ryan Jacob Daniel Santos Henry & Socorro Stamm Nicole Stamm Ariel Welch Grace Zandarski

THANKS TO OUR TECH WEEK SPONSORS

UPCOMING SHOWS! PRIDE OF DOVES

April 11th - 13th Written By Doug Robinson Directed By Jasmine Brooks Survivors of the end of world Sylvia, Emmett, and Viktor search for what caused the brutal murder of a dove. With flying grenades, broken court systems, and a puppet show, Pride of Doves is an absurdist exploration of inaction, apathy, distraction and violence.

S’MORES

April 18th - 20th Written By Augustine Lorrie Directed By Doaa Ouf Buried in the ungovernable wilderness of the Sierra Nevada pines, two strangers on solo camping-trips kindle an unconventional bond around a flickering campfire.

Sheltered only by their own secrets, this night at a glacial lake becomes a transformative exploration of love, grief, and the ineffable bond between two Queer souls longing for connection.

GET READY FOR...

SEASON 56: SANDBOX CELEBRATION EVENT MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON YALE CABARET 217 PARK STREET | 203.432.1566 YALECABARET.ORG