As a mom, I rarely get a night out for myself, but this weekend afforded me a night of laughter, tears, and deep reflection as I watched THE CAKE currently playing at the Geffen Playhouse.
Bekah Brunstetter’s beautifully written play centers around Jen (Shannon Lucio) who comes back home to North Carolina from New York to ask her deceased mother’s best friend, Della (Debra Jo Rupp), a bakery owner, to make her wedding cake. Della is so excited to make Jen’s wedding cake because Jen has always been the daughter she never had. But once she learns that Jen’s fiancé is a woman named Macy (Carolyn Ratteray), Della struggles with her religious beliefs.
Della discusses her dilemma with her husband Tim (Rod McLachlan) who unequivocally states that Della can’t make the wedding cake. But Della, for the first time in her life, has to think for herself as she struggles with the disconnect her heart has with her head while questioning aspects of her own relationship.
As a liberal who was born in the Deep South, it struck me how authentic Brunstetter’s characters are written. Some of the dialogue had me gasping with its sincerity- most notably when Della tells her husband that she “DIDN’T vote for that man!” There is often an understanding in the South that women are supposed to vote for whomever their husband’s vote for at the ballot box. Many wives will say that they did, but behind the curtain will vote with their hearts. And I was moved by Jen’s compassion at respecting Della’s decision not make her wedding cake, and by her torment with what she was taught is a proper relationship versus what her heart told her was her truth.
Without giving too much more away, what I love about THE CAKE is that no matter what your political beliefs, you are forced to feel moments of equal sympathy for both sides. And as this topic seems to be a heated debate in our current political climate, I left this play wishing our politicians could find the mutual respect, despite differences, that these four characters have with each other.
THE CAKE is currently playing at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles now through October 21, 2018. Don’t miss out!