New Harlem Productions presents

CAKECAKECAKECAKE By Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and director Clare Preuss

“Cake brings the complexities of global power structures into a captivating visceral experience, engaging

audiences on intellectual, poetic, and human levels.”

~Nisha Ahuja, Jungalee Gal Productions

PRODUCTION CREDITSPRODUCTION CREDITSPRODUCTION CREDITSPRODUCTION CREDITS

Playwright: Donna-Michelle St. Bernard Director: Clare Preuss

Associate Director: Aura Carcueva

Actors: Neema Bickersteth (Femi)

Ash Knight (Aarif) Jamie Robinson (Oba)

Nana Boateng Frimpong (Mabo) Arthur Kisenye (Mabo)

Set and Costume Designer: Isidra Cruz Lighting Designer: Michelle Ramsay Sound Designer: Kevin Centeno Stage Manager: Sarah O’Brien

Production Manager: Sandra Lefrancois

Workshop photos by Isidra Cruz

“Painful and sensitive, cruel and beautiful, insidious and

stark … the action is between the lines and the silence is

deafening”

~Nina Lee Aquino, Cahoots Theatre Company

SYNOPSISSYNOPSISSYNOPSISSYNOPSIS

“A man earns. However little, however nefari-ously, he earns.” (Oba)

~ ~ ~

Oba holds together the last shreds of his dignity with trembling hands under the watchful eyes of his progeny. Torn between pride and need, he

ultimately chooses the burden of survival.

~ ~ ~ Cake humanizes the dynamic between Niger and Iran around the clandestine trade in uranium. A scathing allegory that examines Niger's complicit

dealings in uranium, international aide and Iranian interests, Cake presents a critical assessment of oppression imposed by conditional assistance.

~ ~ ~

A stylized storytelling scored with lyric physicality and stark design. This play addresses both local and global scenarios, in which aid is offered to

persons and nations in exchange for the perpetuation of systemic poverty.

“Your father wrote, “I will fill this dried well with tears to wash

your children’s homecoming feet; I will weep the moon’s mercy

as this new river flows out over your delta; I will sink to the wrist

in your earth and rise refreshed from resting in your hills.”

:FEMI

“Especially in these hard times, we must stay open minded

about opportunity. For instance, have you considered learning

to speak Chinese?”

:OBA

LOGISTICSLOGISTICSLOGISTICSLOGISTICS

Cast size: 4 Crew size: 2

Duration: 75 minutes

Set: The set design is flexible, portable, unique,

strong and adaptable to presenter spaces.

Lighting and sound are self contained onstage and do not require the use of the grid or board. Three extension cords with power bars provide sufficient

power to run the show.

It is our preference to play in studio theatres with a capacity no larger than 200 in order to preserve the

intimate feeling established by the style.

Outreach: The company actively reaches out into various communities through promotions and arts workshops to create networks, alliances, receptive audiences for our own work and intercultural/

interdisciplinary work in general.

"Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is more than a compelling

story-teller; she's an unapologetic truth-teller. Audiences

should not expect to be entertained by Donna-Michelle's

work; they should expect to be thrilled, horrified, shaken

and stirred by it."

~Sonja Mills

DEVELOPMENT HISTORYDEVELOPMENT HISTORYDEVELOPMENT HISTORYDEVELOPMENT HISTORY

Cake was workshopped in 2011 and presented in

various stages of development at:

University of Toronto’s Festival of Original Theatre:

Performing Postcolonialities Toronto, Ontario

Springworks Festival—Stratford, Ontario

Mayworks Festival—Toronto, Ontario

Bayimba Festival—Kampala, Uganda

Development has been generously supported by

Ontario Arts Council's Theatre Creator’s Reserve Program. Recommenders: Cahoots Theatre, MT Space Theatre, Obsidian Theatre Company and

Summerworks Theatre Festival.

Toronto Arts Council’s Theatre Program

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is an emcee, playwright, director and arts adminis-

trator working for change through the arts. Notable works for the stage in-

clude Salome’s Clothes, Give It Up and Cake. Her play Gas Girls was a Gover-

nor General’s Literary Award finalist (2011), won a Dora Mavor Moore Award

for outstanding new play, an Enbridge PlayRites Award at Calgary Theatre Pro-

jects, and earned second place in the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition.

She has been playwright-in-residence at Obsidian Theatre, lead vocalist for

Belladonna & the Awakening, and general manager of Native Earth Performing

Arts. DM is now a vocalist with ergo sum and artistic director of New Harlem

Productions in Toronto.

ABOUT NEW HARLEM PRODUCTIONSABOUT NEW HARLEM PRODUCTIONSABOUT NEW HARLEM PRODUCTIONSABOUT NEW HARLEM PRODUCTIONS

New Harlem Productions is an artist centred

company based in Toronto whose directive is

• to represent marginalized voices

• to contribute to vital dialogues through artistic expression

• to create a platform for necessary stories to be told

Artistic DirectorArtistic DirectorArtistic DirectorArtistic Director

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Advisory CommitteeAdvisory CommitteeAdvisory CommitteeAdvisory Committee Brenda St. Bernard, David Yee, Joan Kivanda,

Isaac Thomas, Kern Albert, Philip Adams, Raine Liliefeldt, Sandra LeFrancois, Tara Beagan

http://newharlemproductions.wordpress.com newharlemproductions@gmail.com

416-804-1702

The work of New Harlem Productions is supported through project funding from