Coconut Cake Reviews
Conversation, chess and coffee served with ‘Coconut Cake’ at The Black Rep
Mark Bretz, Ladue News
A Chicago-area McDonald’s is the place to be on a regular basis in the summer of 2010 for five elderly gentlemen who gather to play chess, drink coffee and swap stories in their easy-going, conversational manner.
Marty presides over the group, taking his chess game seriously and his relationship with the Lord even more so. He’s a deacon at his church who says that he has a “special relationship” with his wife of many years, Mary. Marty’s brother-in-law, Hank, is a widower who was married to Marty’s sister before she passed.
The St Louis Premiere of COCONUT CAKE at The Black Rep is a Sweet Slice of Theater
Geovonday Jones Directs a Tasty Production of Melda Beaty’s Play
By: James Lindhorst, Broadway World
In the late 1960’s and early 1970s housewives called them a Coffee Klatsch. The stay-at-home spouses would gather at friends' homes to sip coffee, chat, and gossip. About a decade later people began mall walking for exercise. The walkers would gather in food courts post-exercise to gab over their morning joe. Now as the baby boomers have aged, retired people, frequently older men, gather in local fast-food restaurants where the coffee is cheap, and the seating is plentiful. The men, who gather daily, talk about their lives and discuss current events before starting their day.
“Coconut Cake” Tells a Fascinating Character-Driven Story at The Black Rep
The Black Rep’s current production, Melda Beaty’s Coconut Cake, is a character-driven showcase for its performers. It’s almost deceptively simple at first, while ultimately revealing itself to be much more complex as the story plays out. With effective staging and an excellent cast of five, this play holds attention from start to finish with its intriguing tale of aging, regret, conflict, and redemption.
A Bittersweet Slice-of-Life, ‘Coconut Cake’ Offers an Irresistible Ensemble at the Black Rep
by Lynn Venhaus, PopLifeSTL.com
Four retired guys sitting around talking and drinking coffee at a Chicago McDonald’s is intriguing food for thought –a delectable slice-of-life scenario that immediately draws us in to the play “Coconut Cake.”
Playwright Melda Beaty’s flair for dialogue, humor and seamlessly integrating social commentary in her dramedy is irresistible in a compelling and thoughtful presentation in The Black Rep’s intimate A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre at Washington University.
Because of the caliber of its five-male cast, this character-driven work makes a swift and memorable connection. Their nimble delivery and interactions under the skilled direction of Geovonday Jones enhances their personal relationships as their struggles are revealed over the course of the two-act 2-hour show.