The Cake

Silverthorne Theater Company presents the final production of our 2023 season, Bekah Brunstetter's *The Cake*. Directed by Gina Kaufmann, performances will take place at the Mainstage Theater at Hampshire College in Amherst, from June 9th - 17th. Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/thecake23 at $25 general admission, with discounted tickets for students, seniors, and audience members 25 and under. Silverthorne Theater Company is a proud participant in the Card to Culture program, offering $5 tickets to SNAP/EBT, WIC, and ConnectCare cardholders.

The cast is anchored by Elizabeth Aspenlieder*, a company member at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, where she has performed in over 30 plays over the past 20 years, including Regan in *King Lear*, Hermia in *A Midsummer Night’s Dream* and Hermione in *A Winter’s Tale*.  She won Boston’s prestigious Elliot Norton award for her solo performance in the comedy *Bad Dates* and won a 2019 Berkie Award for best supporting actor in *The Waverly Gallery*.  In *The Cake*, Aspenlieder will be taking on the role of Della, a conservative baker who faces a crisis of conscience.

Rounding out the cast are four veteran actors, listed here with their previous Silverthorne Theater credits: Tahmie Der (*The Taming*, *Christmas at Pemberley*, *Intimate Apparel*), Gabriel Levey (*Intimate Apparel*), Claudia Maurino (*Christmas at Pemberley*) and Sam Samuels* (*The Mystery of Irma Vep*, *Tar2f!*).

When Della, a North Carolina Baker and devout Christian, is asked to bake a wedding cake for her best friend’s daughter, she is overjoyed. But that joy is short-lived when she learns that the intended is another bride and realizes she is faced with an agonizing choice between faith and family. Struggling to reconcile her deeply-held belief in “traditional marriage” and the love she has for the woman she helped raise, Della finds herself in strange new territory.  Inspired by a story still in the headlines, this marvelously funny play is proof that love is the key ingredient in creating common ground.