Let Them Eat Cake
Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre
Jonathan Raymond Popp
The cast of "Let Them Eat Cake," a production by Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre.
Playwright Betty Diamond offers up a seriously comic look at women and food. Jan Levine Thal directs a talented 10-person cast as the characters debate the politics of eating, motivations beyond hunger, and the safety of feeding babies food from cans — all while attending a birthday party, of course, with cake close at hand. A production of Kathie Rasmussen Women’s Theatre.
press release: The Cast: Molly Vanderlin, Janine Gardner, Sarah Whelan, Martha E. White, Brigit Boywid Doxtater, Liz Light, Christen Cook, Tom Kastle, and Bryan Royston
TEN Performances (most shows followed by talkbacks)
Friday, May 4, 8pm; Saturday May 5, 8pm; Sunday, May 6, 4pm matinee
Thursday May 10, 8pm; Friday May 11, 8pm; Saturday May 12, 8pm; Sunday, May 13, Mother’s Day, 4pm
Thursday, May 17, 8pm; Friday, May 18, 8pm; Saturday, May 19, 8pm
Audience members who want to delve more deeply into the issues may want to stay for these speakers. The talkbacks will begin immediately after these performances:
Saturday May 5 & Friday May 18 - Betty Diamond: The playwright will be answering questions about the inspiration for the play and the process of writing it, which included interviewing many Madison residents.
Sunday, May 6 - Jaycee Haas has been a customer service and operations management professional for 15 years - ranging from non-profit, entertainment, to food and catering. She is currently the retail sales /special orders / marketing manager at Batch Bakehouse. Jaycee specializes is creating new operational policies and procedures for small businesses.
Thursday, May 10 - Nola Pastor currently works at UW-Madison in interpersonal violence prevention, focusing on peer education and bystander intervention with undergraduate students. She has a background in gender studies, culturally-specific domestic violence advocacy, and sexual assault prevention with rural high school students. Her own relationship to food has been fraught, nuanced, and deeply entangled with experiences of family, relationships, mental health, and - more recently - self-care and healing.
Friday, May 11 - Nancy Worcester is a UW-Madison Emerita Professor in Gender & Women's Studies and Continuing Studies. Her "early life" experiences including earning degrees in nutrition (USA & England) and working for the food industry. For the last 40+ years, activism, writing, and teaching about the complexities and contradictions of food issues, especially the politics of food and women and food, have been a core part of Nancy's work and life in London and Madison.
Saturday, May 12 - Barb Perkins, along with her husband and children, is an owner and manager of Vermont Valley Community Farm. She is responsible for the harvest and all aspects of getting food from field to share box.
Sunday, May 13 - Jan Levine Thal, the director, and members of the cast will answer questions about how we discussed and rehearsed the play.
Thursday, May 17 - Sue Schneider a global nomad who has always embraced stories as windows to truth. She has been an ordained Lutheran pastor for 16 years, and presently serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Madison. Prior careers include teaching high school English and working in public relations at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Her husband David Gipson is a freelance theatrical lighting designer, which keeps her grounded in the dramatic world. She has a complicated relationship with food.