Cake is Bittersweet With Layers of Rich Emotions Sprinkled With a Dash of Grounding Realism. Yep I Cried at Theatre in the Round

The Cake isn’t your play-it-safe, fairy-tale-ending play about bringing social consciousness to “The South”. You know what I mean when I put “The South” in quotation marks. I’ve made enough comments in these reviews and on the YouTube show that you probably know which side of the bed I fall out of. If you’re reading this, I assume you either land on the same side or at least respect the differences in our sleeping arrangements.

This isn’t really a play about changing someone’s views. It’s about personal growth, and about learning to push back against the things that feel wrong, even when doing so is uncomfortable.

Della, a Southern baker with strong Christian values, is asked to bake a wedding cake for her late best friend’s daughter, Jen. The complication? Jen is marrying another woman, Macy. Della who has trouble supporting this, is supported by her husband Tim. Jen, meanwhile, tries to appease everyone in her life, including Macy, who does not quietly suffer fools. It’s safe to say the situation turns all of their worlds upside down.

What follows is a tender, funny, and complicated reckoning with faith, friendship, love, and tradition. You may think you know how it ends, but it isn’t as neat and tidy as we expect. The play repeatedly subverts expectations, taking turns I didn’t anticipate.

As Della begins to question her stance, she’s also forced to confront other aspects of her life, including her marriage. There’s a pivotal scene in which she confronts Tim, beginning with their sexual relationship and expanding into questions of power dynamics. Depending on your age and relationship experience, their marriage may feel either deeply wrong or deeply real. I don’t personally agree with their dynamic, but there’s a difference between someone imposing a patriarchal structure and a couple who have simply been raised to believe that’s how things should be. Playwright Bekah Brunstetter deserves credit for wading into these murkier waters and embracing nuance. It allows us to see Della and Tim as a real couple, not just a couple from “The South.” By the end, both show a willingness to try, even if neither transforms into a tree-hugging leftist exploring gluten-free veganism and queer theory.

Jenny Ramirez as Della and D’aniel Stock as Tim deliver what we used to euphemistically call “brave” performances. This is where I warn you that this show contains strong language, sexual situations, and partial nudity. Since I doubt I have many 13-year-old readers, I don’t feel like I’m driving exploitative ticket sales by saying so. Ramirez and Stock deserve real credit for their vulnerability, which is what those scenes are about. These scenes are not about titillation, pardon the pun, but about two people opening up to each other in ways they haven’t in years. That’s difficult and deeply human. Is it necessary? I think it’s not only effective but appropriate in this play. It grounds the play and gives the audience a way in. Like Endometriosis The Musical last summer, it creates space for conversations we should be having more openly.

The entire cast is strong, but Ramirez especially impressed me. She plays the character who we assume in most audiences minds has it wrong. She never completely changes, but she does grow, and her performance allows us to view the character sympathetically and to understand her, even if we don’t agree with her. Stock likewise keeps Tim recognizable and grounded, never slipping into caricature.

Natavia Lewis brings confidence and clarity to Macy. She isn’t militant; she’s persuasive, thoughtful, and firm in who she is. Via Logan gives a moving performance as Jen, caught painfully in the middle. She beautifully captures the difficulty of embracing an identity that challenges everything she was raised to believe, not just about her sexuality, but about how those in her orbit think about people from “The South.” It’s an emotionally raw performance that hit home. And yes, I cried. Big surprise.

I’ve avoided mentioning Kjer Whiting as George until now because he provides something entirely different: delightful bursts of comedic fantasy that act as perfect palate cleansers between heavier scenes. It’s impeccable casting. It’s hard to imagine anyone else frosting those lines with quite the same flair.

Director Jennie Ward and Intimacy Director H. Ashley deserve enormous credit for bringing this production to vivid life. Ashley handles the intimacy between Della and Tim with a clear understanding of how longtime partners differ from young lovers. In contrast, the physicality between Jen and Macy emphasizes passion and immediacy over familiarity. Ward makes a particularly effective choice in overlapping Jen and Macy’s love scene with Della lying awake in bed, trying not to think about them. It deepens the emotional resonance of a later moment and ties the themes together beautifully.

The Cake is thoughtful, funny, and deeply human. It doesn’t hand you easy answers, and that’s precisely its strength.

The Cake runs through March 15th at Theatre in the Round. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/thecake/

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