Playwright: Bekah Brunstetter
At: Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Ave. Tickets: 773-334-7728; RivendellTheatre.org; $28-$38. Runs through: May 20
Cake Wars aren't just for the Food Network anymore. In The Cake, Bekah Brunstetter ( whose resume includes writing/producing for the hit NBC series This Is Us ) uses the highly publicized cases of bakers who refuse to create cakes for same-sex weddings as her dramatic launch pad. But Brunstetter's play ends up as a kumbaya confection that dodges harder questions about how we can make peace across social divisions.
Despite some saccharine moments in the script, Lauren Shouse's staging for Rivendell Theatre Ensemble features stellar performances. Chief among them is artistic director Tara Mallen as Della, a bake-shop owner in Winston, North Carolina, slated to appear in the U.S. version of The Great British Bake Off. When Jen ( Tuckie White ), the daughter of a deceased friend comes back from Brooklyn with her African-American fiancee Macy ( Krystel McNeil ) in tow and requests that Della make their wedding cake, it sets off a series of soul-searching explorations for Della.
The play gets off to a rough start by first introducing Macy, who sits scribbling notes in Della's picture-perfect shop. ( Arnel Sancianco's pastel set and Danielle Myerscough's toothsome prop cakes may cause drooling. ) We sense that Macy, who only tells Della that she's visiting from New York and is a writer ( she doesn't mention Jen ) plans to write a story about Della. But Macy's self-righteous pronouncements about how bake shows are "fetishizing an industry that's killing thousands of people" put a thumb on the scales here. We're predisposed to feel sorry for Della in the face of Macy's liberal shaming.
Ironically, Brunstetter's play is at its best when it focuses on the shame spirals in which all the characters find themselves. Even Della's blunt plumber husband, Tim ( played by Mallen's real-life spouse, Keith Kupferer ) carries wounds from knowing that he's the reason they've never conceived a child. Della carries scars from being the teased fat kid. White's Jen delivers a terrific moving monologue about how she dissociated during sex with men and only felt truly herself when she found Macy.
The instincts here are laudable. Brunstetter clearly thinks we'd all be better off if we just listened to each other, rather than rushing to cultural/political battle stations. Yet as Macy points out, as a Black queer woman, she's the most marginalized of all. Brunstetter never really acknowledges that there's a difference between someone like Della, who is uncomfortable with other people's private lives, and Macy, whose human rights are under public siege. ( In fairness, the play was written before Trump took office. )
But despite this pulled-punch aspect of the story, The Cake still offers delectable morsels of vulnerability, performed with gusto and compassion.
Related article: www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/THEATER-The-Cake-a-very-personal-play-for-lesbian-director/62547.html .