Yale Cabaret 54: PENIS INSPECTION DAY (2021)

A note from the Cab

One of Yale Cabaret’s core values is Build Community. When School of Drama students Meg Powers and Stephen Marks proposed a play written and directed by Connecticut artist Matthew DeCostanza, we were excited for the opportunity to expand our Cabaret community and bring new collaborators into our doors. This play really came alive for me when I heard Matthew’s own boarding school story, which he shares below. During the process, we also added five Yale College undergraduate students, all from different residential colleges, into the cast and production team. Maya, Bradley, Noelle, Chesed, and Clara have brought great energy and joy into this show and into the Cabaret family. It’s been a lovely reminder of the ways the Cab can be an artistic haven for all students at the University. How perfect that this is also the first production that we can welcome ALL our community members and long-time patrons back into our doors. We are so grateful to be able to bring the public back to the Cabaret basement! We can’t wait to share Penis Inspection Day and the rest of our season with you!

- Sarah Ashley Cain, Artistic Director

A note from the show team Writing Penis Inspection Day in my early twenties was an intuitive process; I took the doom and glamour of Jacobean drama, the criminals and rakes of Brecht-Weill, and Gide and Genet’s enfant terribles and put them all into a boarding school comedy of manners that burst magnanimously, I thought, with the splendor and color of antique dramatic literature. A work of pastiche, occasionally tilting into parody, that playfully recycled some of the books I had read and loved, and could be brought out among friends as a parlor game or party favor.

But now, over half a decade later, I look at this play again and see more going on under the hood. It’s still funny (I hope) but I see more of myself in it, and a more personal story being told.

I was once a miserable kid at boarding school (an institutional therapy school, actually) wishing I was anywhere else, escaping into books and breaking all the little rules I could. I encountered abuses and disregard, neglect and suicide. I began to loathe and distrust adults. In the world of my adolescence, adults were either useless, or absent, or insane. And so it is in Penis Inspection Day. And then, this play begins to feel very dark. Why must the charming Lafcadio be brought so low? Why is the nature of his game so explicit? Why, at the end of the play, has no one learned anything? Why do they perform the asinine and irrelevant Ape of Naples every single year?

Shallow Fen is a place that’s better suited to serve itself than to serve the individual.

Yet, there are joys to be had here. Clownery and carnivalesque and a benevolently Wildean wit are employed towards a healthy skepticism of authority and institutions. It is a silly play about serious things, and as such, is a kind of cathartic act. And what was once bitter is now a figure of fun.

At least I hope it’s fun. Keep it clean!

— Matthew DeCostanza, www.decostanza.com

PENIS INSPECTION DAY or, The Ape of Naples

Written and Directed by Matthew DeCostanza Proposed by Stephen Marks & Meg Powers CREATIVE TEAM Playwright & Director Matthew DeCostanza* Scenic Designer Stephen Marks* Costume Designers Aidan Griffiths & Stephen Marks* Lighting Designer Riva Fairhall Sound Designer Bryn Scharenberg Intimacy Coordinator Kelsey Rainwater Producer Natalie King Technical Director Cam Camden Stage Manager Maya Li*

CAST Johannes of Duncaster Clavius Grasscourt Simon Quick Prunilla Samuel Pepis Lafcadio

Chesed Chap* Matthew DeCostanza* Patrick Roon Denney Noelle Mercer* Clara Montgomery* Bradley Nowacek*

Special Thanks: Laura Copenhaver, Stan Mathabane, Jen McClure, James Mountcastle, Meg Powers, Jimmy Stubbs, and Léa Tubiana.

Content Transparency: Contains implied suicide and some sexual humor. Don’t tell the headmaster! *Yale Cabaret Debut

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Mission 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.

Values

Land Acknowledgement

Build Community

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.

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.

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 A.J. Roy

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 Santino Blumetti Ann Judd & Bennett Pudlin Matthew Suttor Clifford Lee Warner Show Sponsors Nina R. Adams & Dr. Moreson Kaplan Joan Channick & Ruth Hein Schmitt Latiana “LT” Gourzong Andrew Hamingson & Sarah McLellan Bill & Sharon Reynolds Paul Walsh Enthusiasts Pamela Jordan Supporters Shaminda Amarakoon Bonnie L. Kramm Edwin Martin

Advocates Katherine & Chava Burgueño Mercedes Eugenia Matthew Sonnenfeld Jessica Wolf

And Thank You To Our Sponsors!

$8 crafted drinks during late night happy hour!

What’s Next BLANK Produced by Sarah Ashley Cain and Kayodè Soyemi November 4 - 6 No directors, no sets, and no rehearsals. Each night, a new performer is handed a script they’ve never seen before. The script, riddled with blanks, leaves the audience in charge of how the story will unfold. Following the international success of White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Yale Cabaret, 2012), Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s piece invites critical reflection on how our identity is constructed around the stories we tell.

Giving Levels Honorary Season Producers $7,500+ • Invitation for two to a technical rehearsal and exclusive dinner with Cabaret leadership and artists (in-person, pending COVID restrictions) • Plus, all the perks below Season Sponsors $5,000-$7,499 • Recognition in the footer of our website • 28 total comp tickets or virtual access links (pending COVID restrictions) • Plus, all the perks below Champions $2,500-$4,999 • Dinner with the Artistic Director and Managing Directors (in-person, pending COVID restrictions) • Highlighted recognition in the lobby • 1 additional Cabaret 54 T-shirt (2 total) • 14 total comp tickets or virtual access links (pending COVID restrictions) • Plus, all the perks below Partners $1,000-$2,499 • Recognition in all pre-show curtain speeches and in the lobby • Advance access to Dragaret tickets (inperson, pending COVID restrictions) • 8 total comp tickets or virtual access links (pending COVID restrictions) • Plus, all the perks below

Show Sponsors $500-$999 • Recognition during your show’s curtain speech and in the lobby • 1 Cabaret 54 T-Shirt • 4 comp tickets or virtual access links (pending COVID restrictions) • Plus, all the perks below Enthusiasts $250-$499 • Personalized thank you video from the Artistic Directors and Managing Director • Plus, all the perks below Supporters $100-$249 • Invitation to all Yale Cabaret donor parties throughout the season • 1 Cabaret 54 Face Mask • Plus, all the perks below Advocates $50-$99 • Listing in Cabaret program • Plus, all the perks below Contributors <$50 • Listing on the Cabaret website

The unique art created at Yale Cabaret is made possible by the generous support of our donors. Your contribution will go directly towards supporting the work of the Cabaret and its artists as we explore this new paradigm together.

For more information, please visit our website, or call Managing Director Sarah Scafidi at 203-432-8338.

217 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 432-1566 || yalecabaret.org