KAYODÈ

By Samuel D. Hunter

Directed Daniel Elihu Kramer

Chester Theatre Company

Kayodè Soyemi (Keith) Steven Lee Johnson (Ryan)

Travis George(Scenic Design), Lara Dubin (Lighting Design), James McNamara (Sound Design), Charles Schoonmaker (Costume Designer) Deidre Benson (PSM) Danny Logue (ASM) Molly Heichel (Dramaturg, Director’s Assistant)

“Chester Theatre Company's production of A Case for the Existence of God is finely tuned and precisely enacted.” - Fred Sokol, Talking Broadway

“The two actors are exceptional. […] Kayodè Soyemi as Keith deals with other factors in his performance. He portrays a man who overlooks the precedence of professional behavior to help a new friend who was never a friend before in spite of youthful circumstances. His slow decline into near madness was a beautiful thing to watch, and his ultimate breakdown was devastating. As “a case for the existence of God,” Soyemi’s interpretation of this role sets up the road to eventual damnation for both men. Neither one gets what he wants, but both develop a friendship that goes on for generations.” - J. Peter Bergman, The Berkshire Edge

“We see each actor exploring a wide range of emotions through this ninety-minute play, with Soyemi as Keith breaking down more frequently and unexpectedly at the prospect of losing his foster daughter. He moves from professional and helpful to erupting in anger and physical destruction of his office. […] Both actors have well-developed characters.” - Paula Kaplan-Reiss, Berkshire on Stage

“Kayode Soyemi’s Keith clearly knows his way around banking rules, mortgage charts, the value of credit and the rules of the game when it comes to lending. He is doing his best to hold on to what life he has as he battles a system that is on the verge of turning his foster daughter over to her birth mother. As portrayed by Soyemi, Keith is calm, in control, competent, but never quite removed from the emotions that are roiling within him.” - Jeffrey Borak, The Berkshire Eagle

“The show is just short of 90 minutes, but under Kramer’s astute direction and Soyemi and Johnson’s smoothly calibrated performances, it takes its time.” - Jeffrey Borak, The Berkshire Eagle

PRODUCER & DIRECTOR

Levi & Toonk by Kia M.

A live children's book reading sponsored by the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration. Featuring Abigail C. Onwunali and Alexandra Maurice as the voices of Levi and Toonk.

By Witold Gombrowicz
Translated From the Polish by Louis Iribarne

La MaMa in partnership with The Polish Cultural Institute in NY
Jan Kochanowski Powszechny Theater of Radom
Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM)

DIRECTOR
Zishan Ugurlu

FEATURING
Bill Bowers
Celeste Ciulla
Gardiner Comfort
Annie Hägg
Conor Andrew Hall
Anna Podolak
Alex Scoloveno
Jackson Scott
Kayodè Soyemi

DESIGNERS
Michał Dracz (set and lighting design)
Krystian Szymczak (costume design)
Sam Sellers (sound design)

DRAMATURGS
Alexandra Chasin
Shari Perkins

PRODUCTION/STAGE MANAGER
Dakota Silvey
Producer for “The Marriage”: Tomek Smolarski and Małgorzata Potocka

ASSISTANTS
Lillie Schenkel: Assistant to Production / Stage Manager
Samantha Tonn: Assistant to Production / Stage Manager
Lily Taggart: Assistant to Set / Lighting / Costume Designers

Presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute NY, Jan Kochanowski Powszechny Theater of Radom, and Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM).

PRODUCTION MANAGER & PRODUCER

By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Martavius Parrish

The Billie Holiday Theatre

Felicia Curry (Undine) Kedren A. Spencer (Undine Replacement), Kimberlee Walker (Mother and Others), Evander Duck Jr. (Father and Others), Alex Gibson (Accountant and Others), Sharon Hope (Grandmother and Others), Roland Lane (Flow and Others), Tito Livas (Hervé and Others), Mariyea (Stephie and Others), James A. Pierce III (Male Understudy), and Mia Y. Anderson (Female Understudy)

Khali Sykes (Associate Director), Shiku Thuo (Stage Manager), Rodrigo Escalante (Set Designer) Germán Martinez (Sound Designer), Amara McNeil (Lighting Designer) Jorge Rosario (Props Designer), Josh F.S. Moser (Dialect Coach), Christopher Vergara (Costume Designer), Nikiya Mathis (Hair & Wig Designer), Miranda Holiday (Dramaturg), Jonathan Cottle (Technical Director), Omar Jaslin (Technical Director)

By Loy A. Webb

Directed by Christina Franklin

Chester Theatre Company

Kayodè Soyemi (Rashad) -Berkshire Critics Association ("Berkies") nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play

Kala Ross (Genesis)

Suzu Sakai (Scenic Design), Lara Dubin (Lighting Design), James McNamara (Sound Design), Kelsey Rainwater (Intimacy Coordinator)

“Rashad is played by Kayodè Soyemi in this production at Chester Theatre Company. He has a natural charm that lights up the stage. He is handsome, graceful, well-built, and speaks with a voice that illuminates thought.” - J. Peter Bergman, Berkshire Edge

“Chester Theatre's latest production, The Light, knocks the ball far, far out of the park. In fact, I have no reservations in saying that this show was the most moving, funniest, and best-acted production of all of the 37 reviews of local theater I've published since I took up this hobby in 2014. Honest. My companion said it best when he exclaimed "WOW!" when the lights darkened at the very end. Wow indeed!” - Max Hartshorne, ReadUpOnIt

“I saw Kayode Soyemi, (Rashad) who is a first-generation Nigerian-American actor, star last year in Chester Theater Company's production of Pass Over, a much different character than Rashad but played with the same intensity.” - Max Hartshorne, ReadUpOnIt

“Both of the actor's physical comedy chops added immensely to the laughs they got, and for the first 20 minutes or so, we had a simple scene, with two lovers sharing niceties and teasing each other.” - Max Hartshorne, ReadUpOnIt

“Her boyfriend Rashad (an amiable, sincere and engaging Kayode Soyemi), a single father and Chicago fireman, is ahead of the game on this evening.” - Jeffery Borja, Berkshire Eagle

PRODUCER

Yale Cabaret Season 55: Parachute

Jason Gray, Executive Artistic Producer
Kayodè Soyemi, Producing Artistic Director
Ashley M. Thomas, Producing Artistic Director

Yale Cabaret 55 is a transition; a space to place your art and watch it transform. We do not suggest that your art begins or ends with us, but it will change with us. We invite our community to take risks with us. Failure is not an option; it is an illusion. Like Pantone Color of the Year: Very Peri, we know that “as we emerge from an intense period of isolation, our notions and standards are changing, and our physical and digital lives have merged in new ways.” We seek to be a holding space to explore these changes. Cabaret 55 is a shared experiment of what it means to come back to theater.

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, producing hundreds of plays, old and new, alongside musicals and musical revues, comedy shows, dance, performance art, and genre-defying performance. Artists who spent the early days of their careers at Yale Cabaret include Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Wendy Wasserstein, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Durang, John Turturro, Lynn Nottage, Anna D. Shapiro, Henry Winkler, David Alan Grier, Tony Shalhoub, Paul Giamatti, Liev Schreiber, Trip Cullman, Melissa James Gibson, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Lupita Nyong’o, and many hundreds more. Each generation of School of Drama students renews the Cabaret with their talent and energy.

Every year, a new student leadership team curates its season from School of Drama student proposals—uplifting peers’ passions, impulses, and curiosities. With evening and late night performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, our basement offers ever-changing, ever-surprising experiences to all who enter.

"Notable among their many accomplishments were the reintroduction of food and beverage service, the championing of community building activities, dynamic fundraising, and, most of all, the curation of an adventurous and provocative season of 11 shows in what remains a deeply challenging environment for theatrical production. Their consistently resourceful and optimistic approaches to their work and their audiences were precious gifts to us all." - Dean James Bundy

yalecabaret.org

Book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Music by Tom Kitt
Directed by James L. Fleming

David Geffen School of Drama at Yale (University Theater)

Olivia Cygan (Diana), Augustine Lorrie Alexandrite (Gabe), Mihir Kumar (Dan), Shimali De Silva (Natalie), Samuel DeMuria (Henry) Kayodè Soyemi (Doctor Fine/Doctor Madden)

Jill Brunelle (Music Director), Mitchell Dublin (Associate Music Director), Gabrielle Neiderhoffer (Choreographer), Kim Zhou (Scenic Designer), Risa Ando (Costume Designer), David Anthony-Ken DeCarolis (Lighting Designer), Mike Winch (Sound Designer), Sam Skynner (Projection Designer) Emma Bee Pernudi-Moon (Production Dramaturg) Luke Tarnow-Bulatowicz (Technical Director) Chloe Xiaonan Liu (Stage Manager)

Photos by T. Charles Erickson

By Dylan Guerra
Directed by Christina Franklin

Yale Cabaret

Jacque Brown (Miranda, Joyelle, Daniel, Hannah, Cassie, Frank, Marsha), Kayodè Soyemi (David, Mary, Danny, Beth, Tanner, Nancy, Lanny)

Adrian Hernandez & Fanny Abib-Rozenberg (Producers), Suzu Sakai (Scenic Design), Aidan Griffiths (Costume Designer), Graham Zellers (Lighting Designer), Evdoxia Ragkou (Sound Designer), Hannah Tran (Projections Designer), Lily Haje (Dramaturg), Adrian Hernandez (Stage Manager)

Photos by Suzu Sakai

By a.k. payne

Directed by Jacob Basri

Yale Summer Cabaret

Alexus Coney (PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER) Charlie Lovejoy (STAGE MANAGER) Ashley M. Thomas (DRAMATURG) Marcelo Martínez García (SCENIC DESIGNER) Yichen Zhou (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Evdoxia Ragkou (SOUND DESIGNER) Camilla Tassi (PROJECTIONS DESIGNER) Kitty Cassetti (COSTUME DESIGNER)

Whitney Andrews (SKY ) a.k. payne (SKY II) Kayodè Soyemi (JOYNER) Anthony Grace (WILLIAM) Jacque Brown (CHAR) Abigail C. Onwunali (MYRNA)

By Antoinette Nwandu
Directed by Christina Franklin

Chester Theatre Company

Queen Chevy (Stage Manager), Nadir Bey (Scenic Designer), Madeleine Hebert (Lighting Designer), Kelsey Rainwater (Fight and Intimacy Director), Sarafina Bush (Costume Designer), James McNamara (Sound Designer), Andrew Greto (Photos)

Kayodè Soyemi (Moses), Austin B. Sasser (Kitch), James Barry (Mister/Ossifer)

“Soyemi and Sasser are perfectly matched as two young Black men whose survival depends on their friendship and bond of trust.” -Jeffrey Borack, Berkshire Eagle

“For all the strength and savvy displayed by Soyemi’s Moses and Sasser’s Kitch, there is an endearing innocence and vulnerability in their game-playing, their tussling.” -Jeffrey Borack, Berkshire Eagle

“The most stimulating, challenging and heartbreaking play I’ve seen this year” -Chris Rohmann, Valley Advocate

“Both actors did a good job sounding so real and the dialogue never felt forced. It was all as real as the profanity-laced rants they both throw out. No reason to sugarcoat this shitty life.” -Max Hartshorne, ReadUpOnIt

“Austin B. Sasser is the more wide-eyed, optimistic of the pair and his hopefulness makes you wish for the best while Kayodè Soyemi seems to know the price required to enter the Promised Land and watching him puts you on edge for the reckoning. The two have a blast playing off each other and fill the house with joy early in the play which makes the trip the play takes us on that much more profound.” -Patrick White, Nippertown

“Kayodè Soyemi is brilliant as Moses. Given the name of a leader of his people, Soyemi runs away with the play, leading the excellent Austin B. Sasser through the adventures on a street corner that both characters live through.” -J. Peter Bergman, Berkshire Edge

DIRECTOR

Long Way Down

A new musical by Jason Kisare adapted from the New York Times Best Seller by Jason Reynolds

Yale College (Off Broadway Theater)

Will’s older brother, Shawn, has been shot. Dead.

In their neighborhood, there are “street rules” which Will is expected to follow. So, he is expected to go after the murderer of his brother. However, Will is conflicted, and trying to decide if he is truly prepared to commit murder. After finding his brother’s gun, he explores this dilemma in the long elevator ride down from their eighth-floor apartment. Along the way, he is visited by the ghosts of influential people from his life that seek to guide his decision.

SIXTY SECONDS.
SEVEN FLOORS.
THREE RULES.
ONE GUN.

William Romain (William Holloman), Armanti Reed (Buck), Kali Jupiter (Dani), Danielle Doss (Uncle Mark), Maxwell Brown (Pop), Jordan Mincy (Frick), Zach Redhead-Leconte (Shawn Holloman)

Jason Kisare (Composer, Music Director), Kayodè Soyemi (Director), Elsie Harrington & Serena Feniger (Producers), Lula Talenfeld (Stage Manager), Kemar Jewel (Choreographer), Caroline Twyman & Tyler Schroder (Assistant Stage Managers), Emily Liushen & Soomin Kim (Orchestrators), Austin Riffelmacher (Dramaturg), Doaa Ouf & Ein Kim (Projections Designers), Kara Amar (Lighting Designer), Xavier Guaracha (Sound Designer), Paula Toranzo Paredes (Props Designer), Tyler Schroder (Technical Director), Sound Engineer (Bryn Scharenberg)

Brandon Niederauer (Guitar), Nora Hylton (Bass), Jordan Miller (Keys), Jason Kisare (Drums), Michael Ying (Clarinet)

Photos by Elishevlyne Eliason

ACTOR, EDITING & DRAMTURGY

By Lisa B. Thompson
Directed by Marshall Jones III

The New School
In partnership with Black Studies at the University of Texas

Dinner spotlights the first meeting between the parents of engaged couple Joanna and Jonathan. As Joanna struggles preparing an elaborate meal to impress her future in-laws, she finds herself at the center of a battle between the Black middle class and the Nigerian upper class. “Guess who’s coming to dinner” and discover what’s on the cultural and political menu when the African diaspora gathers to dine.

Lizardians, 2021 3-channel 3-D animated short 00:30:00
By Young Joo Lee

Exhibition Brochure – 탈영역 우정국 Post Territory Ujeongguk, Seoul, Korea

Siggraph Asia 2022, Art Gallery, Daejeon, South Korea (upcoming- December 2022) Supernova 7th Dimension Digital Animation Festival 2022, Focal Competition Grand Prize, Denver, CO, USA Seoul Indie Animation Festival, Independent Walk, Seoul, South Korea DAFT × A&T Festival, Taiwan & Korea Video Exchange Festival, Taipei, Taiwan Athens International Film & Video Festival 2021, Athens, OH, USA GLAS Animation Festival 2021, US Competition, Online Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Animation Festival 2021, Competition 5, Vienna, Austria

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Leyla Levi

Shakespeare Repertory Project (Iseman Theater)

Charlie Lovejoy (Stage Manager), Dani Mader (Technical Director), Jiahao (Neil) Qiu (Lighting Designer), KIMKIM Juhee Kim (Scenic Designer), Kelsey Rainwater (Fight and Intimacy Director), Kitty Cassetti (Costume Designer), Lily Haje (Production Dramaturg), Michael Rossmy (Fight and Intimacy Director), Stan Mathabane (Sound Designer)

Daniel Liu (Romeo/Abram), Kayodè Soyemi (Capulet), Madeline Seidman (Lady Capulet), Malachi Beasley (Paris/Benvolio), Nefesh Cordero Pino (Nurse/Prince/Friar John), Patrick Ball (Montague/Peter), Samuel DeMuria (Tybalt), Tavia Elise Hunt (Juliet), Thomas Pang (yao) (Friar Laurance/Sampson), m. imani west (Mercutio/Gregory)

Photos by Leigh Busby & Kim Zhou (Scenic Photos)

By William Shakespeare
Directed by James Fleming

Shakespeare Repertory Project (Iseman Theater)

Costumes: Meg Powers, Scenic: Cat Raynor, Lighting: Yichen Zhou, Sound & Composor: Matthew Suttor Photos: Leigh R. Busby & Marcelo Martinez Garcia

Adam Siddiqui Shaukat (Malvolio), Alexandra Maurice (Viola), Jessy Yates (Sir Toby Belch), Kayodè Soyemi (Orsino), Madeline Seidman (Olivia), Reed Northrup (Feste), Samuel DeMuria (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Sola Fadiran (Sebastian), Tavia Elise Hunt (Maria), Yao (Antonio)

1m/f/nb

In a very distant or very near future, the possible last Black person on Earth navigates an ordered retelling of Black history.

Productions:

• Yale Cabaret, 2020
• Shaking the Tree, 2020
• New World Theatre, 2020
• Actors Theatre of Louisville, 2019

Shakespeare, stand-up, and a little bit of chaos. It takes Nick Bottom and fools from Shakespeare's other plays and flips them inside out— blending verse, improv, and sharp comedy to poke at minstrelsy, the white gaze, and how the Black body moves through performance. Originally a character study, and now a full-on experiment in flipping the script, inspired by Ayanna Thompson’s Passing Strange.

By Aleshea Harris
Directed by Christopher D. Betts

Yale Cabaret

Costumes: April Hickman, Set: Stephanie Bahniuk, Lights: Tully, Projections: Erin Sullivan, Photos: BlaqPearl Photography & Erin Sullivan

Racine (Ciara Monique McMillian), Anaia (Tavia Hunt), God (Abigail Onwunali), Man (Brandon Burton), Riley (Anthony Brown), Scotch (Kayodè Soyemi), Chuck Hall (Matthew Webb), Angie (Gloria Majule)

EDITING & DRAMATURGY

By Greg Lam

The Earth has become uninhabitable. The last escape ship from Earth (Seattle, to be exact) arrives to their new home centuries after all the others. They are not prepared for what they find there: A planet full of unimpressed people of color who are not happy to see them. A dark science fiction comedy, Last Ship to Proxima Centauri asks us to examine 21st Century America, including white supremacy and cultural appropriation, through the lens of futurist neo-colonialism, 2000 years after the end of Must See TV.

Part history, part myth, all magic. A play that dives into the life and legend of Richard Potter, America’s first Black celebrity magician. Inspired by the few records of his real story— and the wild mysteries he spun around himself— it brings his world to life with illusions, spectacle, and a touch of the impossible.

Productions:

-Part One - Yale Cabaret, 2021

EDITING & DRAMATURGY

By Noro Otitigbe

A multi-genre fiction piece (including prose, plays & poetry) that borders on magical realism about how one family experiences multi-generational trauma, suicidal thoughts, and the the daughter who liberated them from it. ideations follows Miney Kurentsi, and her family as they contend with mental health, intimacy, and identity crisis across generations. Beautifully told through prose, plays, and poetry, ideations skews the line between reality and fantasy, as a family uncovers deadly secrets that leave them with more questions than answers.

By Stefani Kuo 郭佳怡
Co-Directed by Jisun Kim and Stefani Kuo 郭佳怡

Yale Cabaret

Costumes and Scenic: Miguel Urbino, Associate Scenic: Jihane Fareseddine, Associate Scenic: Micah Ohno, Lighting: Suzu Sakai, Sound: Samantha Wolf, Composer: Soomin Kim, Dramaturg: Jisun Kim, Choreographer: Rudi Goblen, Co-Producers: Ro Burnett and Annabel Guerva, Technical Direction: Joe Chiang, Stage Manager: Kevin Jinghong Zhu

Beshouy Botros (Tub), Shimali De Silva (Sad Oatmeal), Kayodè Soyemi (Gravel)

Photos by Suzu Sakai

3:59 AM: A Drag Race for Two Actors, We’ve Come to Believe, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I AM NOT YOUR TEACHER, Everybody Black, Pipeline, Same Time Same Place

“…a tour de force of mirrored physically and vocally adroit performances by Seun (Kayodè) Soyemi & Josh Fulton.” -Keith Waits, Arts-Louisville

“There’s no tokenism here, though Seun (Kayodè) Soyemi’s “I Am Not Your Teacher” plays out a horrifying look at what tokenism can become. Throughout the series, there are multiple takes on immigration, on the black experience, the search for representation and the fears women and people of color feel in a society that’s so violent toward them. The plays don’t shy away from controversy and neither does the cast.” -Alex Roma, Leo Weekly

By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Martin Wilkins

Actor’s Express

“The production showcases an outstanding cast. The dense, lyrical quality of Parks's writing is challenging, and this entire cast is up to the task. Each embodies his role with a sensitivity and authenticity that builds a complex world out of one that is seemingly simplistic.” -Amy Zipper, Broadway World

"The slave ensemble, functioning much like a Greek chorus, sing us in and out of the separate parts. And it is a breathtaking respite from the dense and sometimes painful discourse of the play. The music, like the set, is simple and evocative, bringing our attention to a time and place and highlighting the masterful storytelling." -Amy Zipper, Broadway World

“Director Wilkins also elicits discerning performances from Rob Cleveland (as a father figure to Hero) and Seun (Kayodè) Soyemi, Damian Lockhart and Meagan Dilworth (among the chorus of slaves).” -Bert Osborne, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Claire Carson
Directed by Claire Carson

House Party Theatre

By Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Tre Garrett

Jubilee Theatre

Kayodè Soyemi (Oshoosi) Adam Ace Anderson (Elegba) Rico Romalus Parker (Ogun)

“At first Seun (Kayodè) Soyemi reveals Oshoosi’s anger and bravado. Then, slowly, he unveils his vulnerability, fear of sleeping in a dark cell and yearning for freedom and light.” -Dallas Morning News

“Soyemi, with drawn shoulders and down-cast glances, enhanced who Oshoosi was. His strong vocals and stoic facial expressions portrayed the strong will of Oshoosi. Yet in the next instant he could be reduced to tears and shaking when nightmares of his past blinded him with terror.” -John Garcia, The Column Online

“As Oshoosi acknowledged silently the toil his antics had taken on his brother and he cried, he was joined by members of the audience including this critic.” -Buster Spiller, Broadway World